Paleozoic Trail Runs
Cambrian Fall III

13th Annual Fall-Season Paleozoic 50-Km and 25-Km
Trail Runs!

Twenty-fifth semiannual Paleozoic Trail Runs...
This thirteenth annual fall-season celebration of "going long on trails," made use of our `south racecourse` within the Sag Valley forest preserve. Our south racecourse is a wonderful mix of wide crushed gravel paths and sometimes narrower more rugged dirt trails. We prefer to chart these trails for fall Paleozoic racing. Each out-n-back lap totals a running distance of 15.534 miles. 50-Km = two laps; 25-Km = one lap. Set up with its start/finish aid station at Palos Park Woods-North Grove #1, and satellite aid station at the intersection of Will-Cook Road and the Green Trail. Cambrian Fall III marked the thirteenth time on our `south racecourse`.

Race Day Stats...
Official statistics for our 2025 Paleozoic Trail Runs - Cambrian Fall III...

Sunrise, 6:31 am CST...
Meeting up at Palos Park Woods-North grove, eager volunteers Walter Wendel and Wojciech Jonczyk (with his pup, Baia) sprang-to-action setting up tents, banners, and the entire start/finish area. Meanwhile vols Jeni Goodwin, Traci Lambert-Cwerenz, Jacob Muth, and Amy Pointon warmly greeted and checked-in all runners. Brian Sheridan & Michelle Thom helped shuttle runners from remote-spillover parking to the start area. Two 50-Km runners, and fourteen 25-Km runners opted for an early start. Under command of race starter Traci Lambert-Cwerenz the 50-Km had an official start time of 8:30:05 am, and the 25-Km 9:30:05 am. Including late-arriving runners by 10:06 am, 175 runners were off-and-running.

Race day unfolded...
Pleasant racing conditions persisted throughout most of the day with temperatures ranging from 45° - 47° F, moderate-to-brisk winds, and a mix of clouds with occasional sunshine. Late in the afternoon rain moved into the area. Runners enjoyed a dust-free, mostly-dry trail, with stretches blanketed under fallen leaves. Paleozoic runners are an opportunist breed and this version, Cambrian Fall III posted an impressive finish rate of 96%!

The 25 Kilometer event...
In his Paleozoic debut and first-ever attempt at a 25 kilometer run Isaac Luff (M,14) led all runners to the halfway turnaround aid station in 52:44. A few strides behind young Isaac were Maria Luevano (past overall champion), Dan Kittivanichkulkrai (multi-time past champion), Owen Graham-O'Regan (50-Km 3rd place spring 2025); all well under one hour at the halfway mark. Mileage-tested-veteran Dan ran negative splits finishing first overall, with Maria in close pursuit establishing a new Paleozoic 25-Km record time of 1:47:11.9 (beating her record of last year by 4:45)!  Owen was third overall, with Isaac fourth. Marcin Virus finished in sixth place as `Masters Top Male`. Sasha Villagrana-Frost was second female representing Venados Run Club, and Jara Kern was third female earing `Masters Top Female`!

The 50 Kilometer event...
From the start, building a 50-meter lead on the parade loop Dan Regalado was on record setting pace. Three of his four 7.77-mile splits were under 49 minutes; his four 7.77-mile splits were faster than all other runners this day. Dan crossed the finish line in a new Paleozoic Trail Runs 50-Km record of 3:15:14.6 (beating his record of last year by 2:54). Going back in history to November 2013, Danny has eight Paleozoic finishes and has always finished in First Place!  Oliver Gladfelter finished second overall with a time of 4:21:12, with Joseph Sues Jr third overall in 4:31:58.8 as `Masters Top Male`, and Chris Dudik in fourth. In their Paleozoic debuts Sasha Zawadsky-Weist finished as first female with a time of 4:44:56 sporting a fabulous pair of dinosaur shorts, Claudia Davila second in 4:59:16. Margaret Rivera was third female in 5:18:02, which placed her as `Masters Top Female`.

Paleozoic Milestones...
Mark Walker finished his 10th lifetime Paleozoic Trail Runs, earning a "Ten-Time Finisher" pint glass.
Chris Connelly, Siamak Mostoufi, Tan Le, Chris Hedges, Courtney Javorski finished their 5th lifetime Paleozoic Trail Runs, earning "Five-Time Finisher" zipper-draw-string shoe bags.
Twenty-three brand new ultra-marathoners earned "My First Ultra" pint glass awards.
Leading all veteran-paleo-dinosaur-multitime finishers is Les Hockenberry with 21 finishes, 435.092 accumulated miles!  With their finishes at today's race, the following veterans have moved up in all-time Paleozoic-finishing-stats position...  2nd) Sam Severson, 16, 497.233;  3rd) Mark Bowman, 16, 404.091;  5th) Andy McDonough, 16, 247.243;  6th) Edna Jackeline Vazquez, 14, 435.226;  7th) Paul Garcia, 14, 373.137;  9th) Sharon Scaletta, 12, 248.681;  10th) Julie Glowacki, 12, 233.146;  13th) Heather Debelak, 12, 186.475.  Search past participant finishers under the "History" tab.

Nearing the finish line...
Circling the black-walnut-obstacled `parade loop`, through the Paleozoic feather flags, past the race banners, across the finish line timing mats, awaiting all runners... customized finisher-medals, special awards, `red beans and rice`, optional beer, and the drawing-them-in-siren-sound of cowbells and cheering race enthusiasts.

Timing, webcasting, and finish-line scoring...
Check out Results and our race Webcast through these links:
Results...
Paleozoic Results
Webcast...
Webcast with Checkpoint Splits

Making it all happen...
Let's ring a cowbell and give a rousing shout out to our race volunteers, many of which are accomplished runners, all of whom performed "beyond the call!"

• Palos Park Woods-North Primary Aid Station: Captain Jeni Goodwin, Traci Lambert-Cwerenz, Jacob Muth, Amy Pointon, Jason Venckus, Aiah Elessawy, Carolynn Schaefer, Tom Kohler, Brian Sheridan.
• Will-Cook Road Satellite Aid Station: Walter Wendel, Wojciech Jonczyk.
• Runner Check-In Packet Distribution: Traci Lambert-Cwerenz, Amy Pointon, Jacob Muth, Jeni Goodwin.
• Race eve Packet Stuffing: Michelle Thom.
• Finish-line Greeters / Medal Presenters: Jeni Goodwin, Carolynn Schaefer, Tom Kohler.
• Finish-line Audit Trail: Jeni Goodwin, Tom Kohler.
• Red Beans and Rice Chef: Michelle Thom.
• Post-race Red Beans & Rice Overseer: Michelle Thom, Nick Donato.
• Backup Pasta, Spaghetti, and Bread: Trail Blazin' Crew.
• Supplies Delivery, Aid Station Shuttling: Michelle Thom, Brian Sheridan, Mike Cwerenz.
• Warming Tents Set up / Tear down: Walter Wendel, Wojciech Jonczyk, Jeni Goodwin.
• Spillover remote parking shuttling: Michelle Thom, Brian Sheridan.
• Course Marshaling: Traci Lambert-Cwerenz (Racine / Sparkles) and Ed Scheer, who toured the racecourse supporting all runners.
• Racecourse Marking / Course Cleanup: Bill Thom, Jeni Goodwin, Wojciech Jonczyk.
• Friends of the Forest Preserves: Michelle Thom - Board Member, Implementation Manager, Client Onboarding.
• Race Founder/Concept/Communications/Designs, Awards, Medals, Lanyards, Shirts: Bill Thom.

[Did I miss anyone here?... if you notice a missing or misspelled name please let me know.]

Congratulations to all...
Runners, volunteers, crew, and spectators of Paleozoic Trail Runs... summoned by the primordial instinct to go-long, who toed-the-line and answered-the-call, in this fall version - Cambrian Fall III!

Video Coverage...
Paleozoic - Cambrian Fall III, see our full Paleozoic Trail Runs Playlist on our RunRace Network YouTube Channel

---

Commentary, feedback, links, and recaps...
As generously provided by participants of Paleozoic Trail Runs - Cambrian Fall III!

• #52 Dan Meinhart: Had a blast at Paleozoic yesterday, thanks to you & your team of volunteers for putting on another great race! Was wondering if you still had any of those Paleozoic blankets for sale?
• #50 Maria Mauricio: Thank you for such an incredible race yesterday. My friend Ewa Torres and I completed our first 50k.
• #305 Fredric Kaehler: Thank you for hosting these great Paleo races! And we were blessed with great weather. Greatly appreciated!
• #317 Lindy Lorenz: Great race! Thanks for all the hardwork in making this race awesome. It didn't go unnoticed.
• #13 Michael Burns: Thanks for everything you do to help organize these races.
• #90 Rachel Wells: Thank you Bill and Michelle for all your work on these races, I really enjoyed my first ultra!