Sunday, September 20, 2015

XTERRA Trail Run National Championship

XTERRA Trail Run National Championship , Liz Stephen

Patrick Smyth of Salt Lake City successfully defended his XTERRA Trail Run National Championship las Sunday at Snowbasin Resort. He finished the half-marathon distance in just 1 hour, 13 minutes, 55 seconds. This is his 2nd title in 3 years. The runner-up Travis Morrison is behind by more than 3 minutes.

Smyth said after winning, "The course is in beautiful shape. Now that I've run a lot of trail races all over the world it's safe for me to say that this is definitely the best, funnest, flowiest downhill out there. You just zone out and before you know it you've knocked out three miles."

Park City's Liz Stephen won the women's national title at 1:28:39. She is a two-time cross country skiing Olympian and she is training for the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.

"Today, I was smiling and really enjoying the run itself. I absolutely love to run," she said after winning her second straight title. "Deep down I think I'm a runner at heart. Skiing is darn fun too, but running is a one heck of a sport."