Joe Gray, Grayson Murphy Headline U.S. Team At World Mountain & Trail Running Championships

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Joe Grey and Grayson Murphy are lastly going to get a possibility to defend the hard-fought victories they earned three years in the past in Argentina.

Whereas it looks as if endlessly in the past, the highest two U.S. mountain runners have been lots busy racing — and infrequently profitable — quite a lot of occasions around the globe since then. Again in November of 2019, the American stalwarts gained the World Mountain Operating Championships in Villa La Angostura, Argentina. It was the second title for Grey and the primary for Grayson in her debut at worldwide competitors.

RELATED: Grayson Murphy Talks Psychological Well being

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and canceled the championships slated in Lanzarote, Spain. As working races had been totally on hiatus, World Athletics, the sanctioning physique for worldwide working, collaborated with the World Mountain Operating Affiliation (WMRA), Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners (IAU) and Worldwide Path Operating Affiliation (ITRA) to carry the disciplines of mountain working, vertical working and path working collectively in a single official championship occasion for the primary time. 

The First World Mountain & Path Operating Championships

It was no straightforward job, given the impartial agendas of every group.  Studying between the traces, it’s straightforward to know that World Athletics, the supreme ruling physique of all issues working, is as excited by serving to off-road working develop — each in participation and monetization — as the opposite organizations.

All of it got here collectively in mid-2021, and regardless of and regardless of being delayed twice due to the lingering affect of COVID-19, the inaugural World Mountain & Trail Running Championships will lastly be held November 4-6 within the mountains close to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Whereas it ought to be an incredible spectacle of off-road working on a world scale, what it means for the Grey, 38, and Murphy, 27 is that they’ll lastly have the prospect to defend their mountain working titles. They’re the headliners of a really robust American workforce of 39 off-road runners who might be competing in one in all 5 totally different races in Thailand, and each are scheduled to run the vertical and traditional mountain working races.

“It’s going to be a whole lot of enjoyable,” Grey mentioned. “It’s going to be an action-packed three days with a whole lot of the world’s greatest runners.”

The excellent news is that the mixed championships are going ahead. Subsequent yr’s World Mountain & Path Operating Championships are already being deliberate for Innsbruck, Austria.

“As off-road working continues to develop in reputation throughout the globe, and as we regularly look to extend participation in any respect ranges of our sport,” mentioned World Athletics president Sebastian Coe. “Every of our organizations shares the widespread ambition of selling working in all its guises. We’re working collectively to create extra alternatives for distance runners throughout the globe to compete in a variety of breathtaking landscapes and tackle totally different challenges. Chiang Mai, with its placing mountains and historic temples, is a good place for this inaugural occasion.”

Greater than 900 elite athletes from 46 nationwide federations are anticipated to race in the course of the four-day pageant, which incorporates 80km and 40km path races plus 8.5km uphill mountain races for senior athletes, and 11.2km and 6.4km traditional up-and-down mountain races, respectively, for senior and U20 junior athletes.

The U.S. workforce was chosen through automatic spots earned at highly competitive U.S. selection races and résumé submissions for at-large spots.

Meet the Group

Vertical Mountain Operating Race

• 8.5km uphill mountain working race with 3,280 ft of vertical acquire
• Friday, November 4 (10:15 a.m. native time)

Lauren Gregory (Fayetteville, AR) – A scholar on the College of Arkansas, Gregory gained the inaugural USATF Vertical Mountain Operating Championships, has a profession better of 15:48.38 at 5,000m on the monitor, is an NCAA silver medalist within the 3,000m (9:01.67) and gained a bronze medal within the junior race on the 2017 World Mountain Operating Championships.

Joseph Grey (Colorado Springs, CO) – A world-class uphill runner and two-time winner of the World Mountain Operating Championships, Grey gained the inaugural USATF Vertical Mountain Operating Championship and Italy’s historic Problem Stellina Mountain Race in 2022 and the 2021 Pikes Peak Ascent, simply to call a number of. Grey will even be racing the up/down mountain race.

Allie McLaughlin (Colorado Springs, CO) – McLaughlin gained the 2021 and 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace VK races, took first on the 2014 and 2021 Pikes Peak Ascent and was the 2014 and 2018 USATF Mountain Operating Champion. She gained a bronze medal on the 2014 World Mountain Operating Championships and helped the U.S. ladies’s workforce take the bronze medal. She claimed a record-setting victory on the prestigious Mount Marathon in July and likewise holds the ladies’s file on the Manitou Incline route.

Cameron Smith (Crested Butte, CO) – Smith gained the 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace VK and completed third on the Damaged Arrow Skyrace 26K simply two days later. Cameron has additionally taken wins on the 2022 Run the Rut 28K, 2022 Imogene Move Run and 2021 Kendall Mountain Run.

Grayson Murphy (Bozeman, MT) – An achieved uphill runner and the winner of the 2019 World Mountain Operating Championships, Murphy gained Italy’s 2022 Problem Stellina by greater than 2 minutes and completed second to multi-time world mountain working champion Andrea Mayr (Austria) on the 2021 Vertical Nasego. Murphy additionally holds a 5,000m PR of 15:25.84 and ran a 9:25.37 and positioned sixth within the 3,000m steeplechase on the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials. Murphy will even be racing the up/down mountain race in Thailand.

Dan Curts (Norwich, VT) – A relative newcomer to mountain and path working, Curts completed 2nd to Joseph Grey on the 2022 USATF Vertical Mountain Operating Championships, took sixth place on the 2022 Trofeo Nasego Mountain Operating World Cup race in Italy. Curts additionally has a 3:59.2 private greatest within the mile and has run 13:38 for five,000m on the monitor.

40K Path Operating Race

• 40km path working race with 9,110 ft of vertical acquire
• Saturday, November 5 (7:30 a.m. native time)

Michelle Merlis (Albany, NY) – Merlis gained the 2022 Breakneck Level 42K to earn her spot on the workforce. This yr she additionally gained New York’s well-known Escarpment Path Run and simply completed 2nd on the Flagstaff Sky Peaks 10K.

Kristina Mascarenas (Colorado Springs, CO) – In 2022, Mascarenas has gained the Pikes Peak Marathon for the second time in 5 years, whereas additionally taking victories on the Collegiate Peaks 25 Mile Path run and Rattler Path Race 25K.

Stevie Kremer (Crested Butte, CO) – Amongst her many accomplishments on the paths, Kremer is the 2012 World Lengthy Distance Mountain Operating champion. Previously six months, she gained and set course information on the Westminster Path Half Marathon, Mountain Ridge Path Race and Emerald Mountain Epic Marathon.

Kimber Mattox (Bend, OR) – Mattox stormed onto the path scene again in 2015 when she completed sixth on the World Mountain Operating Championships, main the U.S. ladies’s workforce to a silver medal. That very same yr she gained the XTERRA Path Run World Championships in Hawaii. Previously 18 months, she gained the 2021 USATF 50K Path Championships, completed second on the Chuckanut 50K and fourth on the JFK 50 Mile.

Ashley Brasovan (Golden, CO) – Brasovan has twice raced the World Lengthy Distance Mountain Operating Championships, ending as excessive as eighth in 2018. She additionally gained the 2017 USATF Half Marathon Path Championship and 2018 USATF 30K Path Championship. In previous 18 months, she gained the Speedgoat 50K, completed second on the Approach Too Cool 50K and took third on the Damaged Arrow Skyrace 26K.

Max King (Bend, OR) – Maybe path working’s most versatile athlete, King is the 2011 World Mountain Operating Champion, 2014 IAU 100K World Champion and bronze medalist on the 2016 NACAC Cross Nation Championships / Pan American Cross Nation Cup. King punched his ticket to Thailand by profitable the 2022 Breakneck Level Path Marathon. Simply over a yr in the past, King completed second on the USATF Mountain Operating Championship.

Jonathan Aziz (Colorado Springs, CO) – Aziz earned his spot on the workforce by profitable the 2022 Pikes Peak Marathon. He additionally ran 2:15:30 on the roads at Grandma’s Marathon, gained the Energy of 4 50K, and completed third on the JFK 50 Mile.

Noah Williams (Leadville, CO) – Williams gained the Leadville Path Marathon, Sage Burner 50K, completed eighth on the Silver Rush 50 Mile and thirteenth on the Leadville Path 100 Mile Endurance Run. Lower than two weeks in the past, he completed a detailed second on the Pikes Peak Marathon.

Joseph DeMoor (Carbondale, CO) – DeMoor not too long ago gained the Skyrunning World Championships VK and completed sixth within the Skyrace. He additionally gained the Leadville Heavy Half, America’s Uphill and Dynafit Half Marathon. He additionally completed seventh on the extremely aggressive Trofeo Nasego World Cup mountain race in Italy.

Zach Miller (Columbia, PA) – Miller has completed on the rostrum at lots of the premier ultras within the nation and overseas. In his quiver of victories: JFK 50 Mile, Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, CCC 100K (the little “sister” of the UTMB), Madeira Island Extremely Path and back-to-back wins on the North Face 50 Mile Championships. In late August, Miller completed fifth at UTMB — his third top-10 end on the planet’s premier ultra-distance race.

80K Path Operating Race

• 80km path working race with 16,404 ft of vertical acquire
• Saturday, November 5 (6:30 a.m. native time) 

Jennifer Lichter (Whitefish, MT) Lichter earned her spot on the workforce by profitable the 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace 52K. She additionally gained the Lake Sonoma Marathon and the Run the Rut 50K in 2021 and 2022.

Brittany Charboneau (Denver, CO) – Charboneau punched her ticket to Thailand by ending 2nd on the 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace 52K. She additionally gained the 2022 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, Run By way of Time Marathon and Moab Purple Sizzling Extremely 55K. Lower than two weeks in the past, Charboneau completed second on the Pikes Peak Marathon.

Addie Bracy (Denver, CO) – Bracy was the 2016 and 2017 USATF Mountain Operating Champion and 2016 USATF Path Marathon Champion. She’s been a member of U.S. groups on the World Mountain Operating Championships and World Lengthy Distance Mountain Operating Championships together with 2017 when she helped the U.S. ladies’s workforce to a gold medal. Extra not too long ago she gained the 2022 Golden Gate Soiled 50K, 2021 Run Rabbit Run and 2020 Quad Rock 50 Mile.

Kaytlyn Gerbin (Issaquah, WA) – Kaytlyn simply completed third at UTMB, gained the Yakima Skyline Rim 50K and completed within the high 10 of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run thrice, together with 2018 when she was second. In 2018 she completed tenth on the Path World Championships, serving to the U.S. ladies to a bronze medal.

Leah Yingling (Salt Lake Metropolis, UT) – Leah has been constructing a stable ultra-distance race resume for quite a few years. In 2022, she earned a Western States 100 Golden Ticket with a runner-up end on the Canyons 100K Endurance Runs and labored onerous to show that right into a sixth-place end on the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Yingling additionally completed second on the 2022 Gorge Waterfalls 50K, third on the Bandera 100K and completed second on the 2021 Bear 100 Mile.

David Sinclair (Truckee, CA) – Sinclair posted a course file on the 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace 52K, securing a workforce place with the win. He took wins on the 2022 Run the Rut VK and 50K, plus the 2022 Speedgoat 50K. David returns to Group USA after serving to each the U.S. Mountain Operating Group and U.S. Lengthy Distance Mountain groups to silver medal finishes on back-to-back days on the 2019 World Mountain Operating Championships in Argentina, with twelfth and tenth place finishes respectively.

Eric LiPuma (Richmond, VT) – LiPluma earned his workforce spot together with his second place end on the 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace 52K. He took the win on the 2021 Vermont 50 Miler and was the 2018 USATF 50km champion on the roads. He has beforehand been on USATF groups for 50K and 100K highway world championships

Adam Peterman (Missoula, MT) – Peterman made an announcement by profitable his debut try at Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run in June. The Western States win got here as no shock after course file wins at Canyons 100K, Chuckanut 50K and Speedgoat 50K up to now yr, plus a JFK 50 Mile win within the second-fastest time within the race’s lengthy historical past.

RELATED: The Path Runner Lightning Spherical 50K: Adam Peterman

Adam Merry (Golden, CO) – Merry might be making his first look on a USATF workforce. He grabbed wins on the 2022 Moab Purple Sizzling 33K, the 2022 McKenzie River 50K Path Run, the Run the Rock 50 Mile and the 2021 Silverton Alpine Marathons in Colorado.

Jeff Colt (Carbondale, CO) – Colt can be making his first look on a USATF workforce. He gained the 2021 IMTUF 100 Mile, completed second on the 2021 Energy of 4 50K and completed eleventh on the 2022 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Jeff additionally posted a third-place end on the 2022 Black Canyon 100K.

U20 Mountain Operating Race

• 6.4km up/down mountain working race with 738 ft of vertical acquire
• Sunday, November 6 (8 a.m. native time)

Samantha Blair (Eagle, CO) – Blair completed eighth within the junior ladies’s race on the 2019 World Mountain Operating Championships. She additionally completed fifth on the 2019 Worldwide U18 Mountain Operating Cup main the U.S. ladies to a workforce bronze medal.

Oakley Olson (Boise, ID) — Olson has run 17:50 for 5K cross nation, 4:57 for 1600 meters on the monitor and a pair of:18 for 800 meters on the monitor.

Willow Lott (Durango, CO) — Lott attends Durango Excessive Faculty (Colorado), ran 11:29 for 3,200 meters on the monitor and 18:33 for 5km in cross nation.

Christian Groendyk (Fort Collins, CO) – Groendyk has run 14:48 in a 5km cross nation race, has a 4:17 PR for 1,600 meters on the monitor, is a 3-time convention champion, 3-time all-conference, 4 top-10 state finishes and is ranked high 25 nationally for sophistication of 2023 for 3,200 meters.

Ignatius Fitzgerald (Missoula, MT) – Fitzgerald has a 14:55 5km cross nation PR, has run 4:12 for 1,600m, is a 2019 Footlocker Finalist, two-time state champion and 2021 NASF Nationwide Qualifier.

Michael Maiorano (Medford, OR) – Maiorano attends Gonzaga College and has a 5k cross nation PR of 14:48, has run 4:06 for 1,600m and is a Stumptown Twilight Elite 3,200m race winner in 8:51.3.

Dalton Kaines (Fort Collins, CO) – Kaines has run 15:05 for a 5km cross nation race and 4:15 at 1,600m on the monitor.

Mountain Operating Race

• 11.2km up/down mountain working race with 1,558 ft of vertical acquire
• Sunday, November 6 (9:45 a.m.)

Grayson Murphy (Bozeman, MT) – Murphy is the defending World Mountain Operating Champion, two-time USATF Mountain Operating Champion and up to date winner of the historic Problem Stellina Mountain Race in Italy.

Joseph Grey (Colorado Springs, CO) – Grey was the winner of the 2016 and 2019 World Mountain Operating Championships and winner of a number of U.S. nationwide titles in mountain, extremely, path and snowshoe working.

Tabor Hemming (Kremmling, CO) – Hemming is the 2022 USATF Mountain Operating Champion, completed third on the 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace VK and was a member of the U.S. junior ladies’s workforce that gained a silver medal on the 2014 World Mountain Operating Championships.

Andy Wacker (Boulder, CO) – Wacker is the 2022 USATF Mountain Operating Champion, winner of a number of USATF path championships and podium finishes in recent times. He additionally gained the 2022 Damaged Arrow Skyrace 26K.

Rachel Tomajczyk (Williams, AZ) – A relative newcomer to mountain working, Tomajczyk stormed onto the scene in 2021 ending second on the USATF Mountain Operating Championships. She additionally completed second on the 2022 USATF Mountain Operating Championships, however not earlier than taking the highest step of the rostrum on the 2021 USATF Half Marathon Path Championships.

Eli Hemming (Kremmling, CO) – An expert triathlete, Hemming is not any stranger to stepping onto the rostrum at elite stage mountain and path races. He completed sixth at his first USATF Mountain Operating Championship in 2021, however he has since stormed up the leaderboard with second-place finishes on the 2022 USATF Mountain Operating Championships, Damaged Arrow Skyrace 26K & VK, Approach Too Cool 50K and Bobcat 25K Path Race.

Corey Dowe (North Conway, NH) – A daily high New Englander at mountain races in her yard – Loon Mountain, Mount Cranmore and Waterville Valley – Dowe fought her solution to 4th place end on the 2022 USATF Mountain Operating Championships. Earlier this month, she gained the technical Kismet Cliff Run for the second time.

Morgan Elliott (Salida, CO) – Elliott earned his spot on the U.S. Group by ending thrid on the 2022 USATF Mountain Operating Championships at Whiteface Mountain in New York. He has additionally gained many high-profile mountain races together with the Mt. Mitchell Problem, Georgia Demise Race, Energy of 4 50K and Flagstaff Sky Peaks 55K.