Haliburton Forest Trail Runs
West Guilford, Ontario
September 1, 2001
by John Remington

RD Helen Malmberg's race was her 8th in the beautiful private Haliburton Forest and included the 100 mile option for the 6th time. 35 runners signed up for the 100 miler which involves two loops of the 25 mile out and back course. Near perfect weather came on race day with dry, firm footing the whole way and temperatures that never reached the highs of previous days.

Joe Hildebrand, 44, of Urbana IL beat his own course record in an unchallenged run finishing in a powerful 16:04:08. Second place was Sue Johnston , 35, from Waterford VT in a women's course record of 18:47:20. Both received nice trophies, as did all the overall winners in the other two races.

For the 6th time an American finished first but Scott Myers from Burlington came third in a strong 19:39:50. Next year the Canadian men will try to come out on top in Canada's premier 100 miler with Dom Repta and John Remington promising to peak for the race. Hopefully Scott will join in with our quest! Monica Scholz, 34, of Jerseyville was fourth and top Canadian female with 22:18:20 in her fourth 100 miler in four weekends. Monica is planning a further five 100 milers over the next five weekends. Ultra Runner of the Year!

David McConkey, 46, from Peterborough should have won the 50 mile last year but got lost. Well only the flying Joe H beat him to the 50 mile mark this year as David earned his redemption winning in 7:15:00. Patricia Sommers, 48, from Kitchener broke the course record in an impressive 8:52:55 as the previous holder, Paula Burchat, upgraded to a successful completion of the 100 miler.

The youngest runner was Trevor Harthun who is ten years old from Hamilton. His 50 miler took him only 13:36:19 as his 12 year old brother Taylor trailed him by three seconds at the end.

The 50 km is no wimp race here and is one of the toughest 50k trail races in the OUS. Christian Gundlack, 34, from London took just 3:52:15 to win his trophy. Marianne Perz, 31, of Uxbridge took female honours in 4:35:20. There was some confusion as to where the 25k turnaround point was. Without Ed Alexander's presence the 25k aid crew neglected to direct some of the 50k runners. For those who ran long why not just do the 50 miler next year?

Your humble correspondent recorded his second DNF at this race in my fourth time here. I chose to cease racing in order to join in with the ongoing finish line party. The Sunday morning saw a hung over John blast an hour on trails too tough to race on. Try "The Poacher's Trail" next time you are in the Forest. My score was:
Black Bears 1
Mountain Bikes 3
Stops to breath in first 10 minutes 3
Time to cover trail 32 minutes.
Fun factor 100%