Inaugural USA Half Marathon Trail Champions Crowned at Dirty Half

(6-14-10) This year's inaugural USA Half Marathon Trail Championships were held in conjunction with the 9th Annual FootZone Dirty Half in Bend, OR. The event is capped at 800 participants and fills each year - and in 2010 that field included some fast runners from across the region vying for the national title and their share of the $3000 prize purse that was up for grabs.

On the men's side, Bend, Oregon's Max King shattered the previous course record with a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes, three seconds. King is the reigning USA Trail Marathon Champion and also the U.S. and World XTERRA Trail Half Marathon Champ (2008 and 2009). "We (leaders) stayed together until about mile five," King told RaceCenter after the race. "Then I put a gap on them, but had to stop to tie my shoe. Total rookie mistake... I forgot to double knot them." Twin brothers Carlos and Esteban Truillo of Eugene finished rounded out the top three.

Eugene's Sopanga Eap nabbed the women's title and a $600 payday besting the rest of the field by nearly a minute with a finish time of 1:22:22, which was also good for a course record. Eap considers herself more of a road racer and was the top women's finisher at the Eugene Half Marathon in May. Morgan Arritola of Ketchum, ID, who is an Olympic skier that has been training in Bend for the past several weeks, finished just behind Eap, with hometown favorite Lisa Nye taking third.


Place Name Time City, State
TOP OVERALL MEN

1 MAX KING 1:11:03 Bend, OR
2 CARLOS TRUILLO 1:12:17 Eugene, OR
3 ESTEBAN TRUILLO 1:14:02 Eugene, OR




TOP OVERALL WOMEN

1 SOPAGNA EAP 1:22:22 Eugene, OR
2 MORGAN ARRITOLA 1:23:14 Ketchum, ID
3 LISA NYE 1:27:54 Bend, OR

Complete results HERE.