Strickler Gets Course Record at Cougar Mountain Series

The 3rd race in the Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series kicked off last weekend and when the dust settled on a very competitive men’s race a new course record was established. Edward Strickler(27) who was 4^th in the 2^nd race(8.20 miles) of the series a few weeks ago, notched the win over the challenging 10.48 mile course with a time of 1:14:54 at King County’s Cougar Mountain Regional Park. Not far off Strickler’s record pace was Keegan Symmes(17) in 1:16:20 and Gareth Jones(17) in 1:17:23. Rounding out the Top 5 were Dominic Smariassi(25) in 1:17:58 and Justin Wade(29) in 1:23:08.

Though Iliana Sach(35) was well off Chris Kimbrough’s 2006 course record of 1:26:32, she still posted an impressive win in the women’s race. Sach completed the course in 1:35:24, almost 5 minutes ahead of masters athlete Maureen Anderson (47) who finished in 1:40:00. Larissa Kolasinski, who is just 15, ran a strong race that put her solidly in 3^rd place with a time of 1:40:33. Sarah Roberts(29) and Tracey Straight(26) finished 4^th and 5^th with times of 1:42:09 and 1:43:08.

The next race in the Cougar Mountain Trail Series will take place on August 11 and will cover 13 challenging miles. There is still plenty of time to sign up.

139 finishers completed the 8.20 mile course on Saturday.