Hundreds Run at Richmond

The XTERRA Richmond Trail Run drew more than 600 runners, with Ryan Witt and Sarah Breevoort taking top honors.

In the chase for the overall title, the 26-year-old Witt, of nearby Midlothian, Va., went out strong and ended up in a pack of three and ran within himself to see how the race would play out.

"I haven't done a lot of trail races, and I hadn't done this one before so I didn't want to go out too hard and get in front if I didn't have to," said Witt, a former harrier at BYU.

Instead, he settled into a two-man duel with Jason Dowdy, 35, of Richmond until just about a half-mile out. When the finish was in sight he turned on the jets and crossed the line in 1:29:39, just 33 seconds ahead of Dowdy.

"Loved this course, all the different obstacles made it really fun," said Witt.

In the women's half-marathon Sarah Breevoort, 26, of Charlottesville, Va., finally won it all.  In each of the last two years she had finished second in this race.

"I got in front early and felt really good and was chasing down some of the boys and never saw anybody behind me," said Breevort, whose winning time of 1:33:10 was more than eight minutes faster than runner-up Meghan Gebke from Portsmouth.

In the XTERRA Fugitive 10k race Jacob Gustafsson, 27, of McLean sprinted out of the gates and seemed to get faster after that, posting a 36:16 winning time.  Gustafsson, an auditor by trade who also ran at BYU, was running in just his first trail race but certainly not his last.

"The variety out here is fantastic - staircases, singletrack, switchbacks, rocks and logs to hop over, brutal stairs, bridges, you name it," said Gustafsson.  "I'm hooked."

Jenn Ennis, a University of Richmond grad who just earned her degree in psychology a few weeks ago, hadn't had the chance to run in this race before because her collegiate training schedule was so busy.  Ennis qualified for the NCAA regionals in the steeplechase and used some of that agility in today's race.

"I'm glad I know how to run and jump because there was a lot of that going on today.  This was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be but so much fun," said Ennis. "I run these trails all the time so I know how great they are and how well maintained they are, but the rest of the course is just the epitome of Richmond - so much diversity.  It makes you realize just how cool this city is."

Indeed, visitors and locals alike laughed and gasped their way through the myriad of man-made and natural obstacles of the Richmond course, no doubt why it was named among the top 32 trail runs in America by Runner's World Magazine.

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