The elite field of the 2012 Ultra Race of Champions 100k forged from the Wintergreen Ski Resort starting line and toward the famous Blue Ridge of Virginia in the pre-sunrise clouds of 7 am. Once on the Blue Ridge, alternating bouts of asphalt and singletrack trail awaited as runners pressed toward the turnaround on the rocky, wooded Dragon’s Back ridgeline singletrack. Sixty and some-odd miles later, the race finished exactly where it started at the ski resort.

After a couple days of rain and thunderstorms here in Virginia, the weather held steady in the 50’s Fahrenheit with some clouds, some sun, a bit of fog, always a lot of humidity, but only a couple drops of rain.

Max King (pre-race and post-race interviews) and Ellie Greenwood (pre-race and post-race interviews) proved to be the day’s dominators, or the two that best dealt with this race’s variables: a lot of elevation change, the humidity, the roads, and the trails. Each emerged as victors and winners of the $5,000 champion prize.

In addition, you can find our full play-by-play of the race as well as a collection of our pre-race interviews and preview on our UROC 100k Live Coverage page.

As usual, we’ll be updating this article with additional results as well as links to UROC 100k-related articles, photo galleries, and race reports.

Thanks to Injinji for sponsoring iRunFar’s coverage of the race.

Ps. To get all the latest ultra news from iRunFar.com, subscribe via RSS or email.

2012 UROC 100k Men’s Race

A whole host of boys set the first miles’ pace, but going too far beyond an out-and-back’s turnaround at roughly mile 6 set the majority of the men’s leading field back. In a show of outstanding sportsmanship, the off-trail boys gathered together and re-started at the same time. From there, only a couple of the front men took brief-but-not race-changing bits of time off the race route.

King and Sage Canaday (pre-race and post-race interviews) assumed a shared leadership position not long after mile 20. By the turnaround, King had broken from Canaday and he steadily built the 15-ish minute lead he had at the finish. King and Canaday were both 100K rookies this morning, but that didn’t seem to matter as Canaday, too, stayed steady and far in front the rest of the men’s field.

The prize money went five-deep today, and the race for 3rd, 4th, and 5th place was tight, making each of those men work for the greenbacks. 3rd place Jorge Maravilla spent the early miles at or just outside of the top 10, but the combination of him staying strong and carnage in front of him propelled him to his finish. Ian Sharman used the same strategy as Maravilla from the beginning of the race until the end. Sharman was hot on Maravilla’s heels, finishing 4th and just one minute back. Montreal, Quebec’s David Le Porho ran aggressively for most of the day, staying in the middle of the top 10 men’s positions and inside the money at the finish.

Rounding out the top 10 included 6th place Nick Clark, who we think smiled about as much as quintessential smile-ers Maravilla and Scott Jaime; 7th place Dave Mackey (pre-race interview), who battled stomach issues for the second half of today; 8th place Quebequois Alister Gardner, who loved the course but says he suffered the pounding pavement; 9th place Shinji Nakadai, who ran steady and also picked off carnage throughout the day; and 10th place Frank Gonzalez, the fastest finishing local and another dude who seemed content all day long.

2012 UROC 100k Men’s Results

Max King (Montrail) – 7:57:14 (pre-race and post-race interviews) Sage Canaday (Scott) – 8:12:05 (pre-race and post-race interviews) Jorge Maravilla (Salomon) – 8:24:17 (post-race interview) Ian Sharman (The North Face) – 8:25:28 David Le Porho – 8:28:49 Nick Clark (Pearl Izumi) – 8:55:21 Dave Mackey (Hoka One One, Injinji) – 8:57:25 (pre-race interview) Alister Gardner – 9:08:16 Shinji Nakadai – 9:12:02 Frank Gonzalez – 9:22:23

2012 UROC 100k Women’s Race

Ellie Greenwood ran in the women’s lead and without challenge from start to finish. She, too, was among the group of frontrunners who went a little too far past the mile 6-ish turnaround. In the early miles, she sat in roughly 15th place overall but not really around any other runners. Her claims of being lonely out there were short-lived, as she would soon move up within the field and spend time in the proximity of men. Early on, Greenwood also demurred when asked how she felt, but she seemed to come on stronger with each passing mile. Her dominance at this year’s UROC shows that she is a nothing but a force to be reckoned with in the ultra world.

Ragan Petrie also ran from start to finish unchallenged for her 2nd-place finish. She made jokes about her race early on, saying the hills were big and she was “too old” for this distance. All self-deprecation aside, the 2011 UROC champion and this year’s 2nd place finisher is no joke. 3rd place Anne Spillane was just one more example of a woman running without contention for her position all day long.

At the time of publishing, only three women had finished. We’ll continue to update this post as the top women arrive.

2012 UROC 100k Women’s Results

Ellie Greenwood (Montrail) – 9:04:19 (pre-race and post-race interviews) Ragan Petrie – 9:51:15 Anne Spillane – 11:02:00 Jacqueline Palmer – 12:13:40 Krystle Martinez – 12:53:59

2012 UROC 100k Articles, Race Reports, and More

Articles and Photo Galleries

Race Reports