William Sickenberger overcame brutal weather conditions to win the Lost Falls 50K by 10 minutes on March 12 at DeSoto State Park in Alabama.
Runners in the 50K, Half and 10K toed the line at the park, which is atop Sand Mountain and north of Fort Payne, amid a winter blitz. Overnight temperatures fell more than 30 degrees as hours of rain were followed by snow and sleet. The single-track tails were a mix of crunchy ice, mud and water puddles. Temps at race time were about 20 degrees, with wind gusts of 20 mph or more and wind chills in the low teens.
Sickenberger and about four dozen 50K runners had a 15-minute head start. Several runners got off track. Complaints varied about signage, verbal directions and blaze orange streamer trail markers. Combined with the course conditions and weather, it made for a long day for some runners. Final finishers in the 50K and Half took more than seven hours, with some 10K finishers needing more than two hours.
Sickenberger, 28, of Chattanooga, finished in 4:57:01, with Fulton Williams, 24, of Birmingham next at 5:07:39. Martin Schnekloth, 50, of Huntsville, was third at 5:10:34. Shala Reifinger, 34, of Smyrna, Ga., was first female, finishing 12th overall at 5:46:53.
See all the Lost Falls 50K results here.
Lost Falls Half, 10K
Jonathan Culwell of Hoover claimed the Half Marathon title, finishing in 1:52:43. Culwell was the only Half runner to finish in less than two hours, an impressive feat given the conditions.
Jeffrey Stanfield of Hodgenville, Ky., and Kristi Confortin of Northport, Ala., battled for the runner-up spot. Stanfield claimed it by a hair, in 2:10:03, as Confortin was third overall in 2:10:40 and first female. In fourth, also grinding to the wire, was Grant Novitske of Valrico, Fla., at 2:10:56.
See all the Lost Falls Half Marathon finishers here.
Luke Hunt of Tuscaloosa won the 10K race in 53 minutes. Michael David Holder of Montgomery and Josh Forrest of Attalla were tied at 57:07 for second and third.
See all the Lost Falls 10K finishers here.
The Lost Falls races were staged by Running Lane Events.
