Once again Running Bear went to Birmingham to help race director Scott Parker put on the Oak Mountain 50K. Specifically, he took Ann to work an aid station with good friend Marty Spellicy while he ran. The day turned out to be very hot (~85º), causing a lot of dropouts and slow times. There was very little shade on the course and no cloud cover. This is a tough race, as it is rocky and steep in places, and there is reportedly 3,300' of climb, almost as much as the 3,600' at Mountain Mist.

 
Dennis Bisnette (red shirt), Randy Saxon (adjusting knee), and reptillian Raz Estridge (shivering in the 65º morning chill) from Laurel were also there. Spyder Tynes (red jacket), formerly from Hattiesburg but now living in Atlanta was there to run sweep.

Scott calls the runners to the start. 115 people signed up to run this year, a big jump from 66 last year. But 10 runners (who are probably really too smart to be ultra runners) decided to DNS, and 34 almost as smart folks DNF'd (36% of those who started), so there were only 71 official finishers. See complete results

And they're off! Note the short bandido runner with no number in the grass.

Running Bear waves to the camera as he leads Terri Hayes and Rob Apple

Sweeper Spyder arrives at the North aid station

Spyder helps DeWayne Satterfield refill at the aid station

Sure, ultra runners are just normal folks?

Running Bear used the same aid station, just a little later

Raz looks fresh at the aid station

Tim Lee and Davy Kennamer were second and third overall. John Cobbs, who was second at the recent fabulous Mississippi Trail 50, was first overall. DeWayne Satterfield led for 3 legs, then dropped to fourth because of the heat.

Running Bear finished just just behind the bandido runner. This was another P.R. for Running Bear, as he almost broke through the very tough nine hour barrier (note that the clock is reading 8:57, not as you might naturally assume, 3:57) which very few runners are able to break in a 50K, and got his first DFL award!.