The USATF Trail Half National Championships took place last weekend in conjunction with the Lake Padden Trail ½. If you’re a Northwesterner, you must have heard about the “epic” storm set to annihilate the Northwest, with estimations of 60 mph winds, inches of rain, etc. And you also know that basically the double storm inception ate itself and didn’t actually pan out. It was enough that several participants dropped out prior to, enough for felled trees and power outages, and we were biting our nails in anticipation of how the course would suffer whatever weather pattern showed up, but all in all, it was a success. $50,000 dollars was raised for Rebound of Whatcom County since the race first started!

Al Coyle and Tad Davis have served as the Race Director’s for the past 3 years, and “are responsible for bringing the National Championships to the Lake Padden Trail ½ Marathon and Bellingham three years straight. No other venue has been awarded this honor for the half marathon distance.”

The Al Coyle Community 5k went out right as two major trees were cleared from the course. We owe a huge thanks to the quick work of the Parks Dept! Leading the pack was a fierce group of women. Results (once ready) will be posted HERE!

In the USATF Trail ½ Champs, our athletes Hazel Clapp (23rd), Scarlett Graham (10th) and Maria Dalzot (7th) kicked some ass, with Graham and Dalzot making the podium with top 10 finishes. Leading the pack by a few minutes by the end, Any Wacker of Boulder, CO took 1st, your Trail Half National Champion, in a time of 1:21:02. Wacker is an endearing, wonderful person and we’re happy to have had him. The women’s champion was Renee Metivier of Bend, OR in a time of 1:34:36, and only 4 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher, Ladia Albertson-Junkans. Full Results can be found HERE!

In 2017 the race will be managed by the Sentinella family and NW Endurance Events.

To see the race’s beautiful photograph’s check out Takao Suzuki’s photographs HERE! Here are some of our favorites: