The Kokanee Trail Run is honored to have two new beneficiary’s that joined us this year: Awaken and Girls on the Run. Awaken conducts outreach and provides direct services to women and girls to help them transition out of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). They help program participants with long-term and emergency needs including basic outreach, mentorship services, counseling, transitional housing, transportation, financial aid for college, legal and medical assistance, drop-in center (detail below) and much more. Girls on the Run inspires girls to recognize their inner strength and celebrate what makes them one of a kind. Trained coaches lead small teams through research-based curricula which includes dynamic discussions, activities and running games.
This is the 37th running of the Kokanee Trail Runs and this event has been a favorite among the running community for years in the Lake Tahoe Basin. This year’s fall colors were absolutely breath taking. The Half-Marathon, Tadpole Trot, 5k/10k on the shore of Fallen Leaf Lake are one of the many exciting and cultural events that take place during race weekend. With the fall fish festival and the Camp Richardson Octoberfest events on the same weekend it is one of best weekends to be in South Lake Tahoe for a running event.
This is also the third year that we have partnered with the Flume Trail Half Marathon that is held the day before the Kokanee. It is billed as a “marathon in a weekend at Tahoe”. In the inaugural year we had 3 participants, This year we had 18 runners completed both races and received a very cool Patagonia Beanie with the 2 day logo on it. Congrats to all of those who completed the challenge.
This is a Tahoe Mountain Milers running club event and we also had volunteers from the Silver State Strider running club. Both clubs were well represented. We had volunteers from both Awaken and Girls on the Run. We have always had amazing volunteers that help us mark the course, work the registration table, help with aid stations and help with on course direction. We couldn’t put on the race with the success we have had without our volunteers, thank you for all that you do!
The weather forecast was for lows in the high 20’s and the highs in the high 50’s. After two years of cold and rainy weather we were blessed to have what was forecasted and it was a little warmer than expected with cool temperatures and crystal clear blue skies, no wind. That is a recipe for a perfect day of running.
Needless to say the kids were excited to get the race started. This is one of my favorite events. The kids range in age from 2 years to 8 years old and they run a 1/2 a mile as fast as they can. It is cute and very fun! Thank you to all of the kids and their parents.
Three years ago the Forest Service asked us to create a new course for the 1/2 marathon. We came up with a gem of a course that has the Fallen Leaf Lake highlighted on the east shore and as always and we incorporated Tahoe Mountain into the course. It was an instant hit! Last year Dusty Lachapelle was bested by his brother Branden Fletcher, this year Dusty ran fast and hard to cross the finish line ahead of his brother and claim his 3rd first place finish in 4 years with a time of 1:37:34. Branden was second at 1:40:43. Dusty is from the South Lake Tahoe area and Branden comes up from Auburn, CA. Great job guys.
The women’s top finisher was Caroline Almkvist from South Lake Tahoe with a time of 1:45:57 and we had Christie Jackson from Truckee with a time of 1:50:19 come in second. We doubled our runners for the half marathon and we thank you for coming out to run!
The 10K and 5K started at 8:30am. The 10k course had to be rerouted at the request of the Forest Service last year but this year we were back on track. The 5K did not change from last year. Both the 5K and 10K offer some of the most breathtaking views of the Sierras you will find and fall colors that never disappoint.
In the 5K race overall champion and men’s overall winner was Riley Hacker from Tahoma, Ca with a time of 19:46. Riley was our 2016 champion with a time of 22:27. Great improvement Riley and congratulations. The woman’s overall 5K champion was Kristen Weber with a time of 25:18. Great job to all of the 5K runners.
The overall champion and first place male finisher of the 10k was Michael Sharpe from South Lake Tahoe, Ca with a time of 45:56. The women’s first place finisher was Sarah McMahan from Incline Village, NV with a time of 48:13.
Thank you to all the runners and volunteers that made the 2017 Kokanee trail runs possible. We had great growth in the number of people that ran this year and expect that we will continue to grow. I also want to thank the South Tahoe Forest Service for granting permission for us to use this amazing public land and the Camp Richardson Coral for working with us to hold this amazing event. We will see you all next year!
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