Tirana, Albania – The USA set the bar at the 27th World Mountain Running Championships today in Tirana, Albania, showcased by the gold-medal performances of Kasie Enman and Max King.
“In my nine years as team leader, I’ve never been more proud of our athletes than I am today,” said Richard Bolt, “Kasie and Max’s performances blew me away. They made winning a World Championship look easy.”
“This is the first time I have represented the U.S. in a World Mountain Running Championship,” Enman said. “I’m very excited. I did not expect to win."
With her victory Enman, of Huntingdon, Vt., becomes the first senior woman from the U.S. to earn an individual gold medal. She led the U.S. women to a fourth place finish with a time of 40:39 over the 8.59 kilometer course.
She was followed by Megan Lund in 12th place with a time of 43:56, Michele Suszek in 21st place with a time of 44:48, and Brandy Erholtz in 26th place with a time of 45:56.
“It’s an historic day for our women,” said women’s team manager Ellen Miller, “Kasie’s victory honors the past 17 years of U.S. women’s mountain running.”
Running in his second consecutive World Mountain Running Championships, King bettered last year’s 16th-place performance with a decisive victory.
“I’m tired, but I feel very good,” he said. “This is my first individual medal (last year’s senior men’s team took the silver), and I’m proud to have it in an up/down year, especially in Albania.” King, of Bend, Ore., is only the second U.S. male to win mountain running's top prize. Jay Johnson, owner of Fleet Feet Sports in Boulder, won gold for Team USA in 1989. He has been an ardent supporter of Team USA since then.
About his gold medal performance King said, “It was a good course for me having both the hard technical uphill and the fast and somewhat technical downhill. I had no idea I was in the lead until I crossed the finish line. The Ugandan runner was 30 seconds ahead of me at the top of the third climb and I passed him with about 800 meters to go. I didn’t think that he was the one I was trying to catch, I thought it was a lapped runner.”
King led the men’s team to a fourth-place finish with his time of 52:06 over the 12.7 kilometer course. He was followed by teammates Joseph Gray in eleventh place (55:33), Ryan Woods in 49th place (1:01:51), Matt Byrne (51st, 1:01:58), Tommy Manning (79th,1:08:10), and Jared Scott (96th place, 1:20:21).
“It was strong team finish, but we were obviously disappointed that we didn’t finish in the medals,” said King.
Prior to the senior races, the junior men and women competed. In the junior men’s 8.59 kilometer race, University of Richmond sophomore Ryan Lee posted an impressive 11th place finish. He was followed by fellow Spyder Billy Fayette in 28th place and Oliver Bear Don’t Walk IV in 54th place.
The junior men finished tenth.
The junior women raced 4.49 kilometers. Krisztina Dearborn, a sophomore at Central Connecticut State University, finished in 24th place followed by Johns Hopkins sophomore Lara Shegoski in 29th place, and University of Richmond freshman Clare Moretz in 30th place.
“I’m tremendously proud of the efforts of our junior athletes today,” said Paul Kirsch, manager of the junior team, “They raced against the best in the world and held their own. I’m grateful to their college coaches who realize the tremendous opportunity this gives a collegiate athlete to race on a world stage.”
To learn more about the U.S. Mountain Running Team, visit us at www.usmrt.com or www.usatf.org. Follow the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usatfmut, or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmrt. The official race website for the 2011 WMRC is /www.wmrc2011.al.