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Spaniard Salvador Calvo set a record over one of the most unusual running courses in the world Saturday to win China’s Great Wall Marathon.

Calvo’s time of three hours, 23 minutes, 10 seconds was two minutes faster than the old mark, and 15 minutes ahead of Frederick Zalokar of the United States, who finished second in 3:38:14. The first woman was Sara Winter of New Zealand - an amazing fifth overall in another course record of 3:50:21.

The old record was 4:12:42.

“For me, the hardest part was running the flat ground here, running on asphalt,” said Calvo, who trains relentlessly over the mountains near his home in northern Spain. “The wall was easy for me because it’s the kind of training I do at home.”

Calvo’s time was sensational, coming in one of the world’s most unusual marathons.

Read the rest at Yahoo! Canada News

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Traces of spring and winter clashed with each other at the entrance to Ullrich Park.

Chilly 19-degree winds bristled through thin trees and newly sprouted seedlings. Runners dressed in knit caps, shorts and tights hopped up and down.

Hardly anyone complained as they prepared for CV Adventure’s first 5K adventure run. The trail wound up, down and around the hilly terrain of the park. Saturday’s run was designed to give the 45 runners a variety of obstacles not normally seen in an average road race, said Jeff Slade, events coordinator for CV Adventure, an outdoors sports promotion group.

“Everything’s pretty much frozen right now so watch the downhills, the railroad ties and everything like that,” Slade said.

The rest of the story is at WCFcourier.com

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When Anne Bonney agreed to run a three-mile relay leg in the 2002 Baltimore Marathon, little did she realize it would change her life.

“I had never run more than a mile in my life,” the 1991 Interlochen Arts Academy graduate said. “But I was relatively fit. I thought I could run three miles.”

She did, and so thoroughly enjoyed the experience she signed up to run a half-marathon soon afterward.

Five years later, Bonney, 33, is still running — and biking and swimming, as it turns out. She’s finished 10 marathons (26.2 miles), 15 triathlons and an Ironman (2&½ mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run). She’s training for another triathlon on May 20 and a 24-hour adventure race (trail running, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, orienteering) on May 26.

Read the rest at the Traverse City Record-Eagle

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A field of 29 runners braved temperatures of 22 below zero to compete in the annual Turkey Trot Fun Run hosted by Running Club North on Saturday morning on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

The 3.3-mile run is a predicted time event. Runners predicted how long it would take them to complete the course and then had to run without wearing a watch.

Mike Simon and Tim Doran came closest to their predicted times by finishing just four seconds off their prediction. Simon was four seconds faster, while Doran was four seconds slower.

Paul Reynolds had the distinction of being the farthest from his prediction, finishing 4:05 faster than he expected.

Laura Brosius had the fastest time of the day in 20:23, while Walt Tape had the top men’s time of 20:24.

Other participants were: Corky Hebard, Arnold Chingliak, Bob Vitale, Sandra Kimbrell, Shirley Winther, Keith Kimbrell, John Petersen, Ken Tape, Niki Greer, Jillian Ladegard, Skye Greer, Joe Little, Nara Hays, Jim and Emma Lee, Jane Lanford, Steve Bainbridge, Elting Russell, Tim Doran, Hal Needham, Bob Eder, Christie Haupert, Pat Kalen, Charles Mantei, Gail Koepf, Rocky Reifenstuhl and Mark Simon.

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

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It’s 72 degrees and sunny, the way it usually is here. In a city full of golf courses and beaches, Mike Pierce is spending his afternoon … in a commercial freezer?

The 42-year-old is training for the Antarctic 100K on Dec. 15, so he needs a place that’s really, really c-c-cold to prepare for the ultra marathon, which will cover 62.1 miles on the f-f-frozen continent on the bottom of the planet.

Mike Pierce runs laps around a freezer at a cold storage facility in San Diego. Pierce is training in the sub-zero temperatures as he prepares for the Antarctic Ice Marathon held in December. (Denis Poroy / Associated Press)

Two or three times a week, he heads down the freeway from his suburban home to a cold-storage warehouse and heads for freezer box No. 9.

There, in a 60-by-40-foot space, among pallets of frozen food piled to the ceiling, with fans blowing in frosty air and the thermometer hovering around minus-5, he can simulate all the discomforts of Antarctica, minus the ice and rock.

Of course, most people think he’s crazy.

Read the rest of the cool story at FOX Sports

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