Paleozoic Trail Runs
Ordovician Spring III

14th Annual Spring-Season Paleozoic 50-Km and 25-Km
Trail Runs!

Twenty-sixth semiannual Paleozoic Trail Runs...
This fourteenth annual spring-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. One lap = 25-Km; two laps = 50-Km. 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. Ordovician Spring III marked the fourteenth time on our south racecourse.

Race Day Stats...
Official statistics for our 2026 Paleozoic Trail Runs - Ordovician Spring III...
Sunrise, 6:54 am CDT...
Meeting up at Palos Park Woods-North grove, eager volunteers Tim Yuska, Scott Finger, Walter Wendel, and Wojciech Jonczyk (with his pup, Baia) sprang-to-action setting up tents, banners, and the entire start/finish area. Meanwhile vols Traci Lambert-Cwerenz and her hubster, Mike warmly greeted and checked-in all runners. Following signs as set up by Paleo-Vet Brian Sheridan, Mike Cwerenz & Michelle Thom helped shuttle runners from remote-spillover parking to the start area. Two 50-Km runners, and thirteen 25-Km runners opted for an early start. Under command of race starter Scott Finger the 50-Km had an official start time of 8:30:03.93 am; Michelle started the 25-Km precisely at 9:31:03.28 am. Including late-arriving runners, by 9:58 am 134 runners were off-and-running.

Race day unfolded...
Runner-friendly racing conditions persisted throughout the day with temperatures warming from 46° - 75° F, moderate-to-brisk winds, and a mix of sun and scattered clouds. Runners endured a sometimes dry, sometimes wet-n-soft trail, with stretches blanketed under fallen leaves. Paleozoic runners are an opportunist breed and this version, Ordovician Spring III posted an impressive finish rate of 97%!

The 25 Kilometer event...
From the start three runners set off in a somewhat loose pack to the satellite aid station turnaround... Oliver Gladfelter (M, 30), Joseph Sues Jr (M, 43), and Lauren Boudreau (F, 30). Joseph ran negative splits from the turnaround finishing in first place overall; Lauren moved into second place finishing as first place female; Rob Kennedy (M, 50) finished in third place overall as male top masters; Oliver came in fourth overall. In her second Paleozoic Claudia Davila (F, 33) finished as second place female; with Lynda Stinson (F, 39) third female. Nicole Fritz (F, 42) finished as female top masters, closely pursued by Shelli Blenck (F, 48) as fifth female.

The 50 Kilometer event...
A classic dual materialized between Matthew Santiago Meifert (M,32) and Matt Luff (M, 44), who were separated by no more than two minutes throughout their checkpoints. Matthew (2nd Paleozoic) finished in first place overall; Matt (3rd Paleozoic) second overall as male top masters. Luke Babich (M, 31 - 2nd Paleozoic) came in third place overall. In her Paleozoic debut Mahalia Dalmage (F, 27) led the female race from start-to-finish. Lily Medina (F, 44 - 5th Paleozoic) finished second place earning female top masters; with Krista Johnson (F, 51 - 2nd Paleozoic) third female.

Paleozoic Milestones...
Edna Vazquez finished her 15th lifetime Paleozoic Trail Runs, earning a "15-Time Finisher" baseball cap.
Morgan Mader finished her 10th lifetime Paleozoic Trail Runs, earning a "Ten-Time Finisher" pint glass.
Earning their "Five-Time Finisher" zipper-draw-string shoe bags were... Scott Fabian, John Connelly, Lily Medina, Christopher Russo, Alvin Frank, Benjamin Mollin, Jacob Muth, Andrew Masciopinto, Shelli Blenck, Michael Czuba, Linda Lopez, and Naomi Copeland.
Seven brand new ultra-marathoners earned "My First Ultra" pint glass awards... Zachary Cordes, Alvin Frank, David Pace, Victoria Aguilar, Beatriz Anguiano, Humberto Ramirez, and Renata Jablonski.

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, 17, 528.301;  5th) Edna Jackeline Vazquez, 15, 466.295;  7th) David Curtin, 14, 435.226;  8th) Sharon Scaletta, 13, 264.215;  10th) Jeni Goodwin, 13, 326.354;  11th) Heather Debelak, 13, 202.009;  13th) Jodi Haefner, 12, 357.424; 17th) Boris Tannenbaum 310.689.  Search past participant finishers under our "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 Scott Finger, Tim Yuska, Traci Lambert-Cwerenz, Elizabeth Foster, Jason Venckus.
• Will-Cook Road Satellite Aid Station: Walter Wendel, Wojciech Jonczyk.
• Runner Check-In Packet Distribution: Traci Lambert-Cwerenz, Scott Finger, and Tim Yuska.
• Race eve Packet Stuffing: Michelle Thom.
• Finish-line Greeters / Medal Presenters: Elizabeth Foster, Michelle Thom.
• Finish-line Audit Trail: Elizabeth Foster.
• Red Beans and Rice Chef: Michelle Thom.
• Post-race Red Beans & Rice Overseer: Michelle Thom.
• Supplies Delivery, Aid Station Shuttling: Michelle Thom, Brian Sheridan, Mike Cwerenz.
• Warming Tents Set up / Tear down: Walter Wendel, Wojciech Jonczyk, Tim Yuska, Scott Finger.
• Spillover remote parking shuttling: Michelle Thom.
• Remote parking guidance signs: Brian Sheridan.
• Course Marshaling: Traci Lambert-Cwerenz (Racine / Sparkles) who toured the racecourse supporting all runners.
• Racecourse Cheer Zone: Trail Blazin Crew, as managed by group leaders Eric Salinas and Thelma.
• Racecourse Marking / Course Cleanup: Bill Thom, Elizabeth Foster.
• 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.]

Very special thank yous...
To those who made an extra monetary contribution to our beneficiary Friends of the Forest Preserves!  Brenda Bland, Humberto Ramirez, Hardik Prajapati, Jeni Goodwin, Logan Boudreau, Mike Anglin, Lauren Boudreau, Mike Harrison, and Matthew Ruhl. $110 total contribution!

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 spring version - Ordovician Spring III!

Video Coverage...
Paleozoic Trail Runs Playlist on our RunRace Network YouTube Channel

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

• #616 Mark Walker: Thanks again for another great trail race. At my Tuesday night Run Club group run, a couple ladies loved the dinosaur shirt. One even said, she could wear that as an everyday shirt. I told her I do. T-Rex(my oldest kids favorite dino), Triceratops(my favorite dino), and Brontosaurus/Brachiosaurus. Looking forward to the fall dino.
• #197 Michael Czuba: Thank you again for a fantastic race just over a week ago. My friends Liam, Luke and I all enjoyed it. I am amazed by the calm demeanor and positive vibe that you maintain throughout. Anyway, much appreciated to both you and Michelle. Job well done!
• #60 Zachary Cordes: Even though my pacing blew up in the second half this was a great race and my first ultra effort coming back from injury recovery. The aid station crew were fantastic and helped me diagnose my race in real time which was extremely helpful. This course was great, I appreciate that it was not multiple short laps but longer efforts and the trail/elevation is exactly what I was looking for. Most of my running is done on the comparatively flat 606 trail so it's nice to get a real trail race in without having to travel far away.
• #62 Mahalia Dalmage: I just want to say that I loved the race. Out of all my races it has been one of my favorites so far. It was really well done. According to my coros the course was 31.33 miles with 1,913ft of elevation gain! Looking forward to the next time I get to race with you all! Best, MD
• #60 Matt Fisher: Even though my pacing blew up in the second half this was a great race and my first ultra effort coming back from injury recovery. The aid station crew were fantastic and helped me diagnose my race in real time which was extremely helpful. This course was great, I appreciate that it was not multiple short laps but longer efforts and the trail/elevation is exactly what I was looking for. Most of my running is done on the comparatively flat 606 trail so it's nice to get a real trail race in without having to travel far away.