Race Team Member, Sam Linhoss, Paced Hard for a 4th Men's Overall Finish at the River Gorge 10.2 Mile

With near perfect running weather; the Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2 was another great race in the Wilderness Trail Association-Rock/Creek Trail Series. As always, this race is a first class event and never fails to bring out large numbers of trail racers, both local and some out-of-towners.

With such a large number of racers and about only 300ish meters from the gravel road start to the entrance of the trail, this race always starts with a bang. In order to enter the single-track trail in a good position I usually have to start a little faster than I want to and this year was no different.

As the race started, I entered the single-track in 8th or 9th position. I quickly settled into my race pace and begin navigating the twists and turns, and ups and downs of first few miles of the trail. After a mile or so a nice group had formed consisting of myself, Kevin Boucher, John Wiygul, and Neal Hanley. I set a hard, but maintainable pace and we began pulling back runners who had started faster than us, eventually catching the third place runner just after the first aid station.

It was in the next trail section from the 1st to the 2nd aid station that Bouch and I opened up a little separation from Wiygul and Neal. Bouch and I traded off the pulls and words of encouragement and slowly extended the time on our chasers. We were running in 3rd and 4th place, and I was hoping we might sneak up on 2nd place. (I knew Nick Selbo (eventual winner) was in great shape and the chances of catching him were very, very slim.) Before we knew it we were at the Haley Road climb. Bouch took the lead, focused on the top and set a solid tempo. We motored by the 2nd aid station taking no fluids. As we passed the aid station, I told Bouch that once we got to the top of the climb we were going to run hard the last couple of miles hard. And that we did! Over the last mile Bouch was a bit stronger than me finishing 3rd overall with me rolling in for 4th in 1:16:46 by my watch – 26 seconds behind him.
Overall, a great race on my favorite trail!!!

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