Andrew Bustos was running fast and free last Sunday morning in the 9th annual Wade Mountain Marathon, and it showed with his easy win in the area’s toughest trail event.
Bustos, 34, of Huntsville, finished in 4:50:28 to win by more than 45 minutes. The event takes place at the Wade Mountain Nature Preserve in north Huntsville. It’s not an easy course. Technical is generous. Some runners have unprintable words for it. It’s a heck of a great challenge that 17 in the field completed on a cool-to-hot day in the woods.
“This was my last big week before the Pinhoti 100,” Bustos said. “I did a 2-hour 45-minute run on Saturday and ran Wade Mountain on Sunday. I went out easy on the first lap. When I completed the first lap, the leader was eight minutes ahead of me. I filled up my water bottles and began the second lap.
“I passed him 20 miles into the race, taking the lead. As I started going up the last climb, I was stung by a yellow jacket on the top of my left foot. Somehow it got under the tongue of my shoe. I had to reach inside the shoe and pull it out. Once I made it to the top of the mountain, I knew the race was over.”
Put on by Running Lane Events, the marathon requires runners to make two loops on the course. Some of the trail is clean and zippy. Other portions are “hmmm, that’s a trail?” rocky scramble. It requires a climb to the top of Wade Mountain and loop around the Devil’s Racetrack, which offers quite cool views of north Huntsville.
Olly Orton of Huntsville and 3-time Wade winner Craig Smith of Madison tied for second, crossing in 5:36:55. Smith never has finished lower than fourth and owns two of the Top 10 times. Aaron King of Huntsville was third in 5:58.
Emily Kennedy of Huntsville won the women’s title in 6:44, and was 8th overall. Meghan Sottolano of Huntsville was right behind, in 9th at 6:48. Colleen Wilson-Hodge was third (13th) in 7:07.
The marathon field had runners from five states including Wisconsin and New Jersey.
Wade Mountain Half
Daniel Hopkins, 48, of Harvest, got the win in the Wade Mountain Half-Marathon in a sprint to the finish line.
Hopkins crossed in 2:18:39, a fine time on the course, just a few steps ahead of Levi Davies of Huntsville. Davies, 27, finished in 2:19:15.
Kat Coffey, 29, of Petersburg, Tenn., was third in a T10 time of 2:20:34 to grab the final podium spot and women’s title. Her time is third-best on the women’s list for the half.
The solid field of 64 runners came from seven states including Ohio and Texas.
Wade Mountain 10K
Jake Wilson, 43, of Owens Cross Roads, won the 10K race by almost five minutes, finishing in 51:51.
Ella Carter, 16, of Madison, was second in 56:36. Jeronimo Nisa Luna, 60, of Huntsville, was third in 58:54.
The 10K race had a field of 66 hailing from four states including Florida and Tennessee.
Results
See all of the marathon results here.
See all of the half-marathon results here.
See all of the 10K results here.
