The 2009 Bergkönig Trail Run went off without a hitch. The weather was marvelous and the participants were too. Thank you to everyone who came out to run, walk, ski or spectate.  View the results HERE.

This race was unique because of the extreme difficulty of the course. We spent a lot of time squeezing as many hills as possible into each mile at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafield, WI. Unfortunately, the estimated distance was a little off and the course was slightly long (5.9 miles instead of the estimated 5.0). Next year we will be sure to have two course options: maybe a 3 mile and a 6 mile.

Men's Winner, Scott Mueller, 37:21

2nd and 3rd place on the home stretch, Erik Teig and Chad Tolbert, Respectively

Women's Winner, Renee Schaefer, 53:42

Finish Area

Margaret Layo and Lori Trader smiling at the finish

Carrie Furry and Josh Mundt charging hard

John MaCarthy checking his watch at the finish line

It was a relatively small race, but good sized for the first year with 64 people registered. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped make this race possible especially my little brother, Thomas, who was a gigantic help. He lives in Waukesha now and he helped me do all the things that I could not do from out of town. Mike and Jane Mandli, Sean Becker, Josh North, Mike Eckert, Yuriy Gusev, Bryan Cook, Jenny Melville, Scott Olsen, and Ben Lund were my race day volunteer force. They devoted their whole day to this event and it would not have been possible without their effort and organization on race day.  Also, Shane Mundt of MundtArts did a wonderful job designing the Bergkönig Race Website and logo.  He donated this to the cause and his handy work is greatly appreciated.

I’d also like to say a big thank you to all the local businesses and organizations that contributed to this event: 10 Feet Back, 4imprint, Salomon, PowerBar (courtesy of PowerBar athlete Chris Cook), Wheel and Sprocket, InStep, Great Harvest Bread Co., Bicycle Doctor, WIN Racing, MundtArts, Be Fitness, Brennan’s Market, CXC Skiing, Pick’n Save, West Wood Health and Fitness Center, Stone Creek Coffee, and Starbucks Coffee.

It feels great to have planned my first big event. I had fun learning the in’s and out’s of event planning and hopefully I can do an even better job on this race in the future.

InStep is a running and walking specific physical therapy and performance footwear place that has many locations the Milwaukee area.  Check out their website HERE.  InStep is much more than just a shoe store and we are very excited to have them on board with our running race.

Several items will be donated to our raffle by InStep, including but not limited to: certificates for videotaped running evaluations performed by an InStep physical therapist and gift cards towards running shoes.  In addition, InStep will have coupons in the race participant goodie bags that can be used at their Delafield store location, less than one mile from the race.  Be sure you join us on Oct. 17th to support the cause, win a raffle prize, and get great deals on running shoes or apparel at InStep.

After a very long car ride, the CXC team made it to Lake Placid, NY, on Monday, September 28th.  We’ve been training very hard and resting well.  The only other nordic team in the training center right now is Sun Valley and we’ve had a little fun playing volleyball and sharing the cafeteria with them.  Unfortunately, we got our butts kicked in Volleyball.  We will continue to work on our serving and hopefully give them a better run next week.

Today we did some very hard itervals up a steep mountain road.  It has rained a lot the past two days and looks like rain the rest of the week.  Today it was snowing in the morining.  I wish I would have brought more warm cloths.

***NEW: Click HERE to read about and participate in the 1st annual BERGKÖNIG 8K Trail Run at Lapham Peak State Park on October 17th, 2009.  Online registration can be found HERE or the mail-in registration form can be downloaded HERE.