Tejas Trails hosts USATF 100 Mile Trail Championships on Saturday

Press release written by Jason Bryant, USATF Championship liaison for the Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile.  Tejas Trails and Altra are American Trail Running Association corporate members.

The USATF 100 Mile Trail Championships will take place this Saturday, February 4, at the Rocky Raccoon 100 presented by Altra and directed by Tejas Trails. This will be the 25th running of the Rocky Raccoon 100 and Rocky Raccoon has hosted the USATF 100 Mile Trail Championships the past three years plus one other time in 2006.

The race course utilizes trails at Huntsville State Park in Texas. The course is five loops with each loop being 20 miles. There is a minimal amount of elevation gain with each loop, but the trails do roll a little to keep racers engaged. The footing is mostly non-technical, soft terrain. Forecasted weather conditions look great for some fast times. At the 6AM start time, temperatures are expected to be in the low 50s, warming to the mid-60s under cloudy skies, with only 20% chance of rain. Course records are 12:44:33 for the men, set by Ian Sharman in 2011, and 14:22:18 for the women set by Nicole Kalogeropoulos in 2015.

Sabrina Little will be returning to defend her National Champion title from the 2016 USATF 100 Mile Trail Championships. Little is from Robinson, TX , so she should be accustomed to the Lone Star State’s weather conditions. Another woman to watch for is Shandra Moore of Lindale, TX, as she won the Cactus Rose 50 Mile back in October. For the guys, look for Zach Bitter, Sacramento, CA, and Mario Mendoza, Bend, OR, to challenge for the national champion title. Both have plenty of big race experience and like being at the front. Will there be any unknown challengers or last-minute additions to join in the chase for the men or the women?

In addition to the overall categories at the USATF 100 Mile Trail Championships, age group championships will be contested in 5-year age groups beginning with 40-44 and going through 70+. These age groupers will be challenging for their national champion titles in the age categories.

You can follow the race in progress on Twitter @USAultrarunning as we plan to do some pre-race interviews and updates during the race. You can get more information at www.usaultrarunning.com and get the post-race recap there. You can also find other information there about Team USA Ultrarunning. A full list of all USA Championship races along with the Mountain Ultra Trail Championships for 2017 are posted at http://www.usatf.org/Events—Calendar/National-Championships.aspx.

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