LOTO TURKEY TROT (posted November 29th)

For the second year in a row, multiple records fell at the LOTO Turkey Trot 5K & 1-Mile Fun held at Camdenton High School on Thanksgiving Day. 

The first to fall was the race turnout, with 293 5K and 65 one-mile finishers.  The total of 358 easily beat last year's record of 282.  

Race registration totaled 384 participants.  That was just barely below the all-time Lake-area record of 392 registrants at the 2014 Night Glow 5K put on by the Children's Learning Center.  (Night Glow had 327 timed finishers, including runners and walkers.  LOTO Turkey Trot only timed the 5K participants, which totaled 293.)

Last year's men's winner, Hunter Stahl, became a two-time winner, and broke his own race and course records.  Hunter is a 17 year-old cross country runner at North Point High School in Wentzville.  (He placed 23rd in the Missouri Class 5 cross country championship earlier this month, finishing in 15:54.)  He finished the Turkey Trot in 16:05, breaking his race and course records of 16:33 set last year.  (His 16:05 also ties what is believed to be the fastest 5K ever run in the Lake area, namely Casey O'Connor's victory at the 2013 Give 'Em The Bird 5K in Versailles.)

Tucker Seise was our fastest local finisher.  He crossed the line in 17:29.

The women's race record of 18:38 set last year will live another year.  Georgi Carolus, a 2023 Camdenton High School graduate and cross country runner, won this year in 19:37--over a minute ahead of her nearest rival.

Georgi was one of many current and former Camdenton High School cross country runners competing in the race.  For most of its 16 years, this race has been like a Laker cross country annual reunion. 

Complete race results can be found here.

Looking at the race results, I couldn't help but notice a lot of names I hadn't seen in any race results in a long, long time. It was especially nice to see some of my fellow geezers' names among them.

The LOTO Turkey Trot was hardly alone in experiencing a jump in participation over last year.  The table below of Thanksgiving Day Races shows that nearly every turkey trot across the state saw an increase.  The 2025 statewide total of about 40,000 was up 10% from 2024.   (I started tallying Missouri turkey trot participation numbers in 2014.  The peak year was 2018, when the total was about 43,000.) 

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THANKSGIVING DAY RACES (posted November 24th)

The biggest race day of the year in the U.S., and the last chance for runners to race in the Lake area until late February, comes up this Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.

The 16th annual LOTO Turkey Trot takes place at Camdenton High School. The one-mile fun run starts at 7:45 a.m.; the 5K starts at 8:30 a.m.  Race-day registration opens at 7:00 a.m. Scroll down to the race listing at the very bottom of this column for links to all the details.

Temperatures will be in the low to mid 30s on Thursday morning.  Fortunately, the breezy and gusty winds on Tuesday and Wednesday should be gone by Wednesday night.

For those of you traveling for Thanksgiving, here's a virtually complete list of the turkey trots taking place across Missouri.  (Events without an active web link are no longer held.)

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NCAA DIVISION I CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (updated November 24th)

The NCAA Division I cross country championships were held at the University of Missouri's purpose-built Gans Creek cross country course in Columbia on Saturday, with a national TV audience viewing the races on ESPNU. 

Last year's women's champion, Doris Lemngole of Kenya, running for the University of Alabama, repeated as champion with a winning time of 18:25, thirteen seconds ahead of Brigham Young University freshman Jane Hedegren.  They distanced themselves from the rest of the field at the 5K mark (of the 6K race), and with about 0.5K to go, Doris sprinted ahead to take the victory.

In the women's team standings, North Carolina State took first (their third title in four years), and Brigham Young (the only other team to win a championship in the last five years) took second.

The men's race, which covers 10K, ended much like the women's.  In the last 1K, Habtom Samuel of the University of New Mexico made a gutsy move to break away from the pack, and managed to hold on to the finish line. He won in 28:33.

Oklahoma State took home the men's team championship.  

Results and videos of the races can be found here. 

The TV coverage gave me my first look at the Gans Creek course.  That is one helluva facility, and besides hosting the annual Missouri state high school championships, it should see more NCAA events being held there in the future. 

Watching the spectators literally sprinting between parts of the course to see more of the action was rather amusing.  I've never seen that at a race.  Cross country spectators must be the fittest of any sport. 

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4 FORE 30 INFINITY BACKYARD ULTRA (posted November 18th)

The final finisher for the final, swan song edition of the 4 Fore 30 Infinity Backyard Ultra (Facebook) was Nicholas Steel of Mankato, Minnesota. Nicholas, despite being only 23 years old, has a long, impressive list of ultramarathon and backyard ultra finishes.  In the fifteen events he's competed in within the last twelve months, he was the overall winner five times, and finished lower than fifth just once. He's registered for two more backyard ultras in coming months, including the Queeny Backyard Ultra in February. (Queeny is a silver ticket race for those hoping to  join the U.S. national team for the Big Dog's Backyard Ultra World Team Championship next fall.)

Nicholas needed 32 hours (133.3 miles) to dispatch his sole remaining competitor, Brett Rinehart of Chanute, Kansas and claim victory.  Brett went beyond his previous personal backyard best of 107 miles; Nicholas' personal record was 137 miles.  This was the first appearance at 4 Fore 30 for both.

What perhaps most distinguished this year's race from all previous ones is that the final two competitors battled alone for 13 hours, or 54 miles, after five competitors, including two-time winner Cody Eubanks, dropped out after 18 hours (75 miles).  In nearly every year but one, the final two competitors at 4 Fore 30 had company up to near the very end.  (The exception was a 9-hour (38 mile) duel just between Chris Boyle and Cody Eubanks in 2020.)

Another surprise at this year's race was the subdued showing for the women.  The top woman this year was Bobbi Snodgrass of Lake Ozark, who finished 22nd overall, covering 45.8 miles (11 hours).  Except for the first two years of 4 Fore 30, when the top women lasted 68 and 91.7 miles (or 17 and 22 hours), respectively, the top female has always gone 100 miles (24 hours) or more. 

This year's starting field of 58 competitors was down from 2024.  Here are the year-by-year totals:

2018      36
2019      59
2020    103
2021      61
2022      51
2023      77
2024      75
2025      58

The complete race results are posted here.

Twenty-five, or 43%, of the 58 competitors in this year's field were from the Lake area. Here are their results:

Place	Name	City	Miles Completed
3(tie)	Gunnar Rhoads	Camdenton	75
17 (tie)	Tucker Seise	Osage Beach	50
22	Bobbi Snodgrass	Lake Ozark	45.83
23 (tie)	Elaine Mallahan	Montreal	41.67
23 (tie)	Ava Canales	Camdenton	41.67
25	Averie Hotle	Sunrise Beach	37.5
30 (tie)	Dylan Tufts	Camdenton	29.17
30 (tie)	James Newell	Lake Ozark	29.17
36 (tie)	Payton Canales	Camdenton	25
36 (tie)	Natasha Boettcher	Camdenton	25
36 (tie)	Nobel Mallahan	Montreal	25
36 (tie)	Rosie Falter	Lake Ozark	25
44 (tie)	Rob Kucsik	Lake Ozark	20.83
44 (tie)	Logan Blackwood	Camdenton	20.83
44 (tie)	Gracie Ulam	Camdenton	20.83
44 (tie)	Brandon Goring	Camdenton	20.83
44 (tie)	Ellis Pitts	Camdenton	20.83
49 (tie)	Jennifer Renton	Camdenton	16.67
49 (tie)	Katie Roberts	Camdenton	16.67
49 (tie)	Nigher Alfaro	Eldon	16.67
49 (tie)	Curtis Wehmeyer	Camdenton	16.67
49 (tie)	Lauren Moriearty	Lake Ozark	16.67
56	Bret Hotle	Sunrise Beach	12.5
57	Chuck Pitts	Roach	8.33
58	Gary Thompson	Osage Beach	4.17

This year's competitors completed an average of 40.4 miles.  That compares to an average of 43.0 miles last year, and to the lowest average of 39.4 miles at the inaugural race in 2018. (The highest average was 52.2 miles in 2021.)

Expressed in terms of conventional race distances, exactly half the field ended up running a 50K or more.  The most common distance at which competitors called it a day was 25 miles (6 hours).  Eight decided to bow out at that point.

After eight years of 4 Fore 30, three competitors--Gavin Eubank (of Columbia), Rob Kucsik, and Tucker Seise--have the distinction of having participated in every race.

Mile 90 Photography's photos from the race can be found here.

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HONORING OUR HEROES MARATHON, MARATHON RELAY, HALF MARATHON, 10K & 5K (posted November 17th)

A record field of 501 runners turned out on Saturday for the tenth annual Honoring Our Heroes Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, 10K & 5K (Facebook page).  The marathoners started in Salem, the half marathoners started halfway between Salem and Rolla, and the 5K/10K runners started in Rolla.

Three runners were from the Lake area.

April Leonard finished her eighth Honoring Our Heroes marathon, finishing in 5:18:12 and placing third (of four) in the women's 55-59 age group.

Also competing in the marathon, Jordan Quick of Gravois Mills finished in 5:33:37.  That placed Jordan fourth (of six) in the men's 25-29 age group.

Jim McDermott ran the half marathon, and won the men's 70-74 age group by default, with a tim eof 2:17:40.

Two other race participants familiar to many of us, Melissa and Larry Sharp of Waynesville, finished the marathon and 5K, respectively, in 5:53:45 and 55:49.

The complete race results can be found here.

The number of finishers was up 41% from last year.  Here are the number of finishers, by distance, in the race's nine-year history.

Sentimental favorite, veteran Bob Gravley of Salem, Missouri returned to Honoring Our Heroes this year after a one-year absence, and finished it for the ninth time.  Now 88, Bob finished the 10K in 2:01:35. (That's not a Missouri state running record, though, for 88 year-old men.  The record is 1:46:29, set in 2008.)

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LOTO TURKEY TROT 5K (posted November 1st)

The 16th annual LOTO Turkey Trot 5K will take place on Thanksgiving Day (November 27th) at Camdenton High School.   A 1-mile fun run starts at 7:45 a.m., followed by the 5K at 8:30 a.m. Race-day registration opens at 7:00 a.m.

The entry fees are $20 for the 1-mile fun run and $25 for the 5K through Thursday, November 13th. On race day, the entry fees rise to $30.  (Discounts are available to families of four or more.)  Only those who register by November 13th will be guaranteed a t-shirt on race day. 

Online registration and additional race details can be found here.

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