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Larry Pederson, President
Larry has been running for a few years, starting with track in high
school. Back then it was the mile and two mile. He ran his first
marathon in 1976 (Paavo Nurmi) and first ultra a couple years after
that (Michigan 50). Although he trained on trails in northern Wisconsin
for years, his first real trail race wasn't until the 90s when he did
the Superior 50. Now his running is pretty much all on trails. He has
done close to 40 official marathons and probably as many ultras. He,
along with Stan Nowakowski and Kurt Decker, started the MN Trail Run
Series a few years ago to help create more interest in trail running.
Since there were not enough races to make much of a series, he started
the In Yan Teopa 10 mile at Frontenac State Park which he continues to
direct. In 2005 the opportunity arose to take on directing the Superior
Trail 50 mile and Moose Mountain Marathon. The following year he added
the 100 mile to the fall races. He has been fortunate to be able to
work another one of his hobbies, woodworking, into his running by
making most of the awards for the races he directs. This may continue
to grow with some of the additional awards that will be presented by
UMTR.
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Alicia Gordon, At-Large Member
Alicia was founding secretary and now board member for the Upper
Midwest Trail Runners. Alicia starting running 9 years ago after
a friend invited her to try running with her. She started out
with a program that had her run for just 5 minutes at a time.
Little by little, she found herself running longer and one day found
herself hooked. Then one New Years Eve she watched a documentary
on the Marathon Des Sables, being inspired, she said to herself “If
those runners can do that, I can run a marathon!” So she enrolled
in a marathon training course, ran her 1st marathon in 2003, and has
not stopped since. Always looking for a new challenge, her
passion eventually turned towards running trails, and ultra distances
up to 100 miles. In the winter her favorite thing to do is run in
snowshoes, and a highlight for her was competing in the 2007 National
Showshoe Championships, where she won the bronze medal for her age
group. Alicia also helps coordinate the Upper Midwest Trail
Runners Awards Fest, volunteers for the Afton Trail Run, and the
Superior Fall Races.
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Julie Berg, Secretary
After living a sedentary life Julie began running in her 30's. She ran
her first marathon in 2000 and has since run over 24 marathons and over
40 ultra marathons. Her favorite distance is now the 100 mile and she
has finished 9 in the past few years. Julie is training to run 5 100's
this summer. She is now coaching beginning running groups for woman as
a way to give back to the running community and to spark the interest
of running in others. Julie can be found running the trails each day
near her home in Big Lake, with Topaz, her Border Collie.
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Maria Barton, Treasurer
Maria has been running for 33 years, enjoying cross country and track
in high school and college and then getting into marathons once out of
school. She got hooked on trail races in 2003 when she finished her
first ultra, Way Too Cool, and then completed all of the Minnesota
Trail Run Series races. Maria has run mostly trail races since then and
has now run 15 marathons and 30 ultras to date with the 50 mile being
her favorite distance. A 100 mile finish has eluded her twice at
Superior so now she has taken up volunteering for the fall races. She
also volunteers regularly at Afton and FANS. Last year she got involved
with UMTR and was on the planning committee for the Awards Fest. Maria
runs mostly on trails near her home at Lebanon Hills and Murphy
Hanrehan Park with her pooch, Tahoe, and tries to get up to the
Superior Hiking Trail and out West whenever she can. She funds her
trail running adventures by working as a physical therapist.
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Steve Quick, At-Large Member
Steve Quick, director of the Fab 5 Fifties series, tries to live up to
his name. He won his first race at age 7, ran in the Minnesota state
high school cross-country championship, ran for the University of
Minnesota, ran 500 races in 30 years (including a 3K indoors in 8:55
and 5 miles in 25:29) and won the masters division of the 2003
Minnesota Trail Race Series and of the 2008 Fab 5 Fifties series. When
not running, he's surprisingly easy-going.
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Zach Pierce, At-Large Member
Zach Pierce started his running career late in life after living the
sedentary life of a computer geek for many years. After deciding
it was time to get in shape, Zach started running and quickly moved up
to road marathons. After running half a dozen road marathons and
experiencing serious burnout, he jumped into the Superior Trail 50 mile
race to try something different and hasn't looked back. In the
past 2 years he has run over a dozen ultras, and is still in love with
the trails and the people involved in the sport.
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Phillip Gary Smith, At-Large Member
Phillip runs and races on earthen and snow trails. He authored Ultra Superior, a true
story about the Superior Trail
Races. Proceeds from the book go to the Superior
Hiking
Trail
Association to build and maintain the trails we race.
If at anytime on the trails you ask him how he is doing and he doesn't
respond with a positive or thumbs up, he is required to make a cash
donation to the S.H.T.A. He finds creativity in the forests generally
while making way during the middle of the night. Further, even though
unlikely to ever cross the line first, he has never lost while being in
the woods or in an event. "The kindest people and the best comaraderie
are found on trails in summer or in snow," says Phillip. He is a
co-creator of the Fab 5 Fifties race series and the Braveheart Snowshoe
Series and Creator of the Gnarly Bandit Trail Series.
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Joel Button, At-Large Member
Joel almost gave up running after growing tired of
being beaten by
really large and slow people at the Twin Cities Marathon. Then, in
2005, he read Dean Karnazes' book and ran his first ultra; a 50 mile
run starting from home at midnight. It took 12 hours and included a
stop at home, Burger King, and Starbucks. Joel is continually
trying
to balance family, work and running; so he often runs at night.
He
also blogs in an attempt to sort out those priorities. He's been bested
by two Leadvilles but maybe this year he'll get that buckle. One of his
favorite ultras is the Underground Black Dog 50, in western WI, put on
each fall by his good friend and running partner Pete Grimes. Joel
trains around Stillwater, and tries to stay off pavement as much as
possible, so look for him at William O'Brien, Afton, and Wild River
State parks. You'll recognize Joel because he always runs with a
GoLite pack, dirty-girl gaiters, U2, Chris Tomlin, wipes, and a
prodigious number of salt tablets.
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Jeff Allen, At-Large Member
Has been
running for a long time, since high school. After college and doing the
raod racing scene tried Duathlons for 5 years before going into ultras
11 years ago. My first ultra was Afton 50k. Not Good! Didn't understand
that you could walk and eat and drink during a "race". Came back that
same month to run Voyageur 50 mile and had a absolote blast! I run alot
of the time in William O Brien State Park, Interstate Park and Tamarak
Nature center. When not running I love to Geocahe and frisabe golf. The
best thing I love about trail running is kicking Matt Long's but! (yes
that is a challenge)
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