Hinson Lake ultra field fills up fast

Nearly one-third of field are ultra rookies

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

* Click here for list of confirmed entries (subject to change)
Click here for 2014 photos, videos and stories

Well that didn’t take long.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday, the race director for the 10th annual Hinson Lake 24-Hour Ultra Classic posted the initial list of confirmed entries for the September event in Rockingham.

On Dec. 30, Jerry Lindstrand told The Pee Dee Post that once the race reached 240 entrants, he’d pull the mail-in entry form off the Hinson Lake ultra website. The form was made available shortly after midnight early on New Year’s Day — and was pulled the night of Jan. 5.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com A beautiful sunrise greets runners in the final hours of the 9th annual Hinson Lake Ultra Classic in September 2014.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
A beautiful sunrise greets runners in the final hours of the 9th annual Hinson Lake Ultra Classic in September 2014.

The initial list of entries contains 336 names — this after only the U.S. Post Service deliviring on Friday, Jan. 2, Saturday, Jan. 3 and Monday, Jan. 5. Runners hail from North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia and Massachusetts.

Lindstrand explained Tuesday morning on the event Facebook page that he would add to the list the names on entry forms that are postmarked on Jan. 6 or before.

“Any entries with a postmark of Jan. 7 or later will not be accepted,” Lindstrand wrote. “I will contact those individuals to see if they want to be placed on a wait list. Our goal is to keep the number of participants to as close to 300 as possible. As you can see from the list … we have already exceeded that number.”

Lindstrand noted that initial list is by no means the final one, as “there will be cancellations and no-shows on race day.”

While the race is certainly one for the average runner, the contest also attracts some very competitive — and fast — people. In 2014, 40-year-old Rich Riopel, of Morganville, N.J., completed 94 laps and tallied 142.725 miles for the overall win. The performance left a single name — course record holder Mike Morton — who has logged more miles in Hinson Lake’s nine-year history. Morton ran 153.89 in 2010 and returned a year later to tally 163.9.

MacKenzie Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com Food is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a big draw to the Hinson Lake ultra marathon.

MacKenzie Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Food is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a big draw to the Hinson Lake ultra marathon.

Vikena Yutz, 43, of Columbus, Ga., finished with 106.367 miles — good for first place in 2014 and seventh an the list of all-time performers among women at Hinson Lake.

Neither Riopel nor Yutz, however, are on the initial list of confirmed entries for the 2015 race.

Of the 336 early entrants, 108 of them — fully 32.1 percent — hope to be first-time ultra runners. In order to earn the title of ultra runner, they must complete 18 circuits of the 1.5032-mile loop. An ultra is generally defined as any distance longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles. Eighteen laps would give a runner 27.058 miles.

Among the list are 11 Richmond County residents, including: Krista Edwards, 43, of Ellerbe; John Porter, 49, of Rockingham; Kevin Spradlin, 36, of Rockingham; Lee Watson, 61, of Hamlet; Frank Sherrill, 78, of Rockingham; Duane Brown, of Rockingham; Rosemary Baxley, 52, of Hamlet; Gerry Baxley, 61, of Hamlet; Evan “Bones” Baxley, 13, of Hamlet; Chris Kubiak, 53, of Rockingham; and Justine Seabolt, 46, of Rockingham.

 

 

 

 

Filed in: Latest Headlines, Outdoors, Sports

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