Ben Blankenship 2nd US trail marathon champs

Not trying to bash on him, but I would have thought that with a 2:16:01 PR and continued big miles in training on a course with only +2000' vert he would have done quite a bit better than this.

technical running is a different skill set than road running. The aerobic engine helps, but only so much.

There was a time when Max King was fully sponsored, winning races, living in Oregon's High Desert country and I honestly thought, "that is better than being 6th at the Olympic Trials" (which he was as well, in the Steeple). Check out his accolades below. His off-road running is way more impressive (and fun) than his track bests, in my opinion. But that is my idea of "living your best life."

Sometimes you have to find your niche. It looks like Blankenship has found a way to be happy, have success, stay sponsored, and make podiums. That is a win-win-win-win.

THIS ^ all the way.
Letsrunners have a tendency to get super negative and judgemental, but seriously, running is about enjoying it, having fun, and doing what you love. Trail running is great. I'm happy to see BB having a great time.

who won?

Yeah. And where was the race? I cannot find anything about it.

I guess. Not like this was a 100 miler with 30k vert over talus and scree fields. They ran on some forest trails for 26 miles with slightly more vertical than the OG marathon. And Ruxton, I totally agree, seems like a great life and awesome that he’s happy. All I’m saying is that I would have expected him to be faster than Brian Whitfield (???)

my.raceresult.com

Birkie Trail Run, 09/28/2024 : : my.race|result

Birkie Trail Run, 09/28/2024, Cable

Link:my.raceresult.com/310637/#3_44CF8A

Place
Gender
Bib
Name
Age
Gender
Age Place
AG
City, State
GunTime
Individual Marathon
1.
1
104
Whitfield, Brian
27
M
1
0
Colorado Springs, CO
2:59:04
2.
2
125
Blankenship, Benjamin
35
M
2
0
Eugene, OR
3:03:46
3.
3
113
Spaulding, Jack
25
M
3
0
Clinton, MA
3:14:35
4.
4
116
Boykin, Kyle
29
M
1
0
Atlanta, GA
3:21:19
5.
5
119
Trammell, Chad
40
M
1
0
Anchorage, AK
3:22:31
6.
1
123
Dalton, Anna
35
F
1
0
Anchorage, AK
3:24:02
7.
6
143
Wetzel, Evan
27
M
2
0
Madison, WI
3:32:10
8.
7
105
Ladson, Jonathan
33
M
1
0
woodbridge, VA
3:38:09
9.
2
122
Sich, Gracia
36
F
2
0
Saint Paul, MN
3:38:23
10.
8
115
Powers, Cody
31
M
2
0
Royal Oak, MI
3:43:22

My lord these are slow times

My lord it’s on a trail.

Who knows? the trail could have been muddy? We look at not just climbing but also trail conditions and total distance. I gotta laugh at the spectrum of what road runners and trail-mountain runners consider "technical" though (especially coming from SkyRunning events in Europe).

On a lot of years the USATF Trail Marathon Champs was on some "fairly technical" trails in Moab. The year I won (sub 3 hours barely) I was only able to pass guys like Joe Gray (28-min 10km runner and World Mountain Champ/legend) because in the last 5km we had a technical section with a rope and a ladder climb. There was also a legit "no fall zone" in the middle of the race were you could literally slip off a cliff and die.

Anyway, being a 2:16 marathoner usually helps in any trail or ultra or mountain race. Although sometimes the 2:25-2:30 guy beats you though!

FYI I believe Max King probably still makes a pretty good living from the sport. He's been one of my idols since I started mountain-ultra-trail running in 2012 as he was already doing Any Surface Any Distance several years before that!

as I know that. My god

Looks like we found our 2025 US Trail Champ. Could be an easy win and maybe some sponsorships for ya, bud. Go for it.

I CAN EASILY RUN A 3 HOUR MARATHON

This is spot on. I did a UTMB type qualifying race in Austria a while back and someone did die mid-race! He had a heart attack (which he could have survived) but fell like 60 feet down a ravine and was killed.

p.s. I was voicing my concern about the unrunabilty of the course to a volunteer and she said in her thick Austria accent, "Well, it is the Ultra Trail." As if the word ultra made it okay to make huge sections technical and unrunable.

Thanks!

Hell yeah. As a fellow Minnesotan, love to see him thriving. Weird to think that 8 years ago we were watching him run an Olympic final in the 1500m – just a great, gritty guy who is fun to root for in all his endeavors.

It's more like a typical cross country course but for a marathon. Steep hills both up and down. It was very dry and not muddy up there, but the birkie trail in the summer is mostly longer grass with some rocky areas. The birkie trail is relatively flowy and fun to ski when it's hardpacked and you have good skis, but it is NOT flowy to run or even bike.

You can never really judge times on trail races unless you were there running them the same day in the same conditions.