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The largest Race Thru the Redwoods in history was won by an Arizona native looking to move to Felton after he graduates with a professional degree.
Brent Wood, 26, won the race with a time of 38 minutes, 45 seconds and averaged 6 minutes, 15 seconds per mile over the 10-kilometer course.
“Maybe it was just the sea level, or the potatoes I ate for breakfast,” Wood joked about his first Race Thru the Redwoods. “I think I just had a good day.”
Seven-hundred runners competed in the Sunday, Aug. 21, race, and organizer Gary Hafley had to cap registration because of the growing popularity.
Wood does not consider himself a long-distance runner. He ran track and field and cross country at Arizona State University, and excelled in the 800- and 1,500-meter runs.
Wood said he enjoyed the race and the pancake breakfast at the Felton Firehouse following the race.
“It was beautiful,” he said. “The downhill was the hardest. It’s hard on the joints.”
Wood is studying to be a physicians assistant at Touro University Nevada in Las Vegas. He will graduate in November and hopes to move to Felton where his girlfriend, Heather Wilhelm, has lived for about a year. Both are originally from Tempe, Ariz.
Wood beat out Matthias Mesner of Palo Alto (39:18) who took second. The top valley finishers were Gary McCormick, 53, of Ben Lomond (43:04) and Nick Sherrell, 18, of Ben Lomond (43:25) who finished ninth and 10th respectively.
On the women’s side, Sarah Meyer, 30, of Santa Cruz, crossed the finish line first in 44:16. The top valley women were Abbey Utic, 17, of Scotts Valley, in 48:57 and Sarah Shirley, 19, of Scotts Valley, in 49:20.
In the kid’s mile that took place before the full race, 11-year-old Jason Gomez of San Jose won in 5:33, followed by Brian Robbins, 14, of Ben Lomond, in 6:11 and Jessica Jensen, 14, of Ben Lomond, also in 6:11.
For complete results: www.racethrutheredwoods.com.
