Course Records Broken at the FJG Race To The Top Of Vermont
Over 600 hikers, mountain bikers and runners assembled at the base of Mount Mansfield’s Toll Road on Sunday morning, August 30th in preparation for the second annual Fleisher Jacobs Group Race to the Top of Vermont. Some of the country’s top hill climb athletes came from as far away as Hawaii, Oregon, and Texas along with 14 other states and Canada to tackle one of the toughest hill climbs in the eastern US. Runners and mountain bikers were setting their sights on breaking the course record while the hikers were just in it for the challenge of reaching the summit parking lot while raising money for the Mobius Mentoring Movement. The big question was, who would be the fastest up the mountain, a mountain biker or a runner?
The weather conditions along the course were near 60 degrees with light winds and clear skies until the last 0.3 miles below the summit. Although Mount Mansfield was blanketed with a thick cloud, it was clear at the finish line that the blistering course record times were to be set by runners this year. Jim Johnson (35:30) of Salem, NH and Kasie Enman (40:12) of Huntington, VT were quick enough to claim the titles of king and queen of the Mountain, easily breaking the previous 4.3 mile course records. Johnson finished almost a minute faster than the top mountain biker, Nathan Ringquist (36:12) of Stowe, VT and Enman’s blistering run time put her over four minutes faster than the top female mountain biker, Marilyn Ruseckas (45:37) of Waitsfield, VT. Ringquist set a new mountain bike male record while Ruseckas tied last year’s women’s record.
Veteran mountain racing champion, Eric Morse of Berlin, VT was second in the men’s running division in 36:21 followed by Shawn Gardner from Dallas, TX in 37:56. Another veteran athlete, Donna Smyers of Adamont, VT was the second fastest female runner (45:56) while Nancy Cook of Belchertown, MA took third in 47:47.
In the mountain bike division, Matt Mainer of Hinesburg, VT claimed second place (36:31) while Doug Jansen of Pelham, NH rounded out the third position in 37:15. All three times were faster than the record set by Jesse Downs of Jericho Center in last year’s race. On the women’s side, Kelly Ault of Middlesex, VT finished in second place (50:07) followed by Rebecca Vandyke of Burlington, VT in third (53:37).
Following the competition, participants were treated to a BBQ chicken dinner and over $7,000.00 in prizes were given away in a raffle. The second annual FJG Race to the Top of Vermont was organized by the Catamount Trail Association and benefited that organization as well as Mobius, a Burlington based non-profit mentoring program.
A special thanks goes out to all our sponsors and volunteers who have made this event possible.