Viewing Run Report Title: 2011 Des Plaines River Trail Races Date: Saturday October 22nd, 2011 Author: Bill Thom "2011 Des Plaines River Trail Races! The first edition of the DPR Trail Races took place on May 22nd, 2010 on a beautiful spring day. However seasonal-pattern flooding caused last-minute course rerouting and stretches of running through ankle-deep runoff of the swollen Des Plaines River. Even under such "soggy shoes" conditions the inaugural running DPR Trail Races was well received and deemed successful beyond expectations. Fast forward to 2011... Race directors Terry Madl and Ed Kelly (both veteran ultra runners) took a deep breath, then made the executive decision to move race date to October. Moving a race date comes with inherent risks, including a chance that the participant base might not return, and the fact that betting on more favorable weather patterns does not gaurentee improved race-day trail conditions. Happily it was participation level that swelled, nearly tripling to 472 pre-registrations. As for the river, well, it ebbed remaining within its banks and off of the trail. Runners took advantage of the sunny day with temperatures that hit highs of mid-60° F, with lazy fall breezes. Top performers of 2011 DPR Trail Races events were... DPR Trail 50 Mile Ultramarathon: Zach Gingerich, M, 32 of Aurora, Illinois with a time of 5:37:17. Traci Falbo, F, 39 of Charlestown, Indiana with a time of 7:02:25. DPR Trail Marathon: Jim O'Brien, M, 32 of Chicago, Illinois with a time of 2:52:23. Emily Hansen, F, 27 of Chicago, Illinois with a time of 3:14:01. DPR Trail Half-Marathon: Mermoud Nicolas, M, 65 of Annecy, France with a time of 1:22:55. Sarah Barker, F, 53 of St. Paul, Minnesota with a time of 1:39:21. Timing and finish-line scoring was provided by RunRace.net. Check out complete Results through the link... Results: Results on RunRace Webcast: Webcast on RunRace (with Checkpoint Splits where available) Click the "View Photos" tab above to see a gallery of photo images taken at the 2011 Des Plaines River Trail Races. Note: These photos have been optimized for display on the internet... if you'd like a "high-resolution" original contact me and I'll send you a copy. Congratulations to all runners, spectators, and volunteers who took part in the 2011 Des Plaines River Trail Races! Long may you run, Bill: bill@runrace.net Alternate Web: http://desplainesrivertrailraces.com/  Go there or Go there in new browser Posted: October 24th, 2011 12:06 pm Viewed: 41143 Last View: May 25th, 2013 4:32 pm Unless otherwise indicated, all content, photos and art work published on this website are copyright property ©2004-2013 of Run Race and may not be republished without verifiable authorization from webmaster@runrace.net. Click for our: Terms and Conditions.