Tim Van Orden, 43, Bennington, VT, and Megan Lund-Lizotte, 27, Basalt, CO, are the 2011 USATF Trail Series award winners. The USA Trail Marathon Championships on November 6, in Ashland, OR, sealed the fate of the award this year.
Going into the USA Trail Marathon Championships, the women’s series was led by Marci Klimek, 23, Phoenix, OR, with Lund-Lizotte just seven points behind based on series’ scoring which included USA Trail Championships at the 15km, half marathon, 10km, and marathon distance, as well as the USA Mountain Running Championships.
The only other woman in contention for the series who, like Klimek and Lund-Lizotte, had run at least two of the championships was Emily Uhlig, 24, Bellingham, WA. There were 101 women who participated in at least one of the first four series’ events this year.
Klimek opted not to run the championships in Ashland, while Lund-Lizotte toed the line and raced to a women’s course record of 3:03:46.
The men’s series ended up as a two-man competition with Mario Mendoza, 25, Cambria, CA, just twenty points ahead of Van Orden. Both men raced the first four championships, but only Van Orden raced in Ashland finishing in sixth place. There were 259 men who raced at least one of the first four series’ events this year.
This was the second year for the USATF Trail Series award. In 2010, Mario Mendoza and Gina Lucrezi were series champions.
Van Orden and Lund-Lizotte will be feted during the USATF Annual Meeting in St. Louis during the Mountain Ultra Trail Council meetings.
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