Team USA men glitter with gold at World Mountain Running Championships

At the 32nd World Mountain Running Championships held Sunday, September 11, in Sapareva Banya, Bulgaria, Joe Gray, in his ninth consecutive appearance on the US Mountain Running Team, ran for an impressive victory nearly two minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.

Gray covered the demanding 12.7-kilometer course, which boasted 1,468 meters of climbing and 107 meters of descent, in a time of 1:02:12, followed by Mexico’s Israel Morales in 1:03:51, and Ahmet Arslan of Turkey in 1:04:48.

With Gray’s leadership on and off the mountain, Team USA worked as a solid unit to beat rival Italy by just one point in the team competition by placing its four scoring members in the top 20. The remaining USA scoring team members included Hayden Hawks who finished fourth, Brett Hales in seventh, and Andy Wacker in 20th position. David Fuentes and Matt Daniels rounded out the USA men’s team finishing in 30th and 44th respectively in the field of 137. Mexico finished third among the 22 teams.

“It was a dream that became a reality,” said Gray. “The icing on the cake was the team gold.”

With the team gold medal, Gray now has a full set having been on both the 2008 bronze-medal team and the 2010 silver-medal team. The 32-year-old Gray summed up the day with one word, “Blessing.”

Equally blessed were the women of Team USA who, led by ninth-place finisher Kim Nedeau, stood atop the podium in bronze position winning with a one point advantage over Great Britain.

Nedeau navigated the 7.3-kilometer course – complete with 773 meters of climbing and 89 meters of descent – in a time of 42:51. Her teammates Addie Bracy, Ladia Albertson Junkans and Bethany Sachtleben finished in 12th, 15th and 18th respectively to give Team USA a score of 36 over GBR’s 37. The US women were first to finish all of their team members showing the depth of this year’s squad.

The Italian woman won gold with the Czech Republic in silver-medal position among the 13 teams.

In the junior competition, the US men’s team narrowly missed the podium ending in a tied score with France. Because France placed their final scoring member ahead of USA, they received the bronze medal.

Uganda swept the top three positions for gold, Italy was second in the team competition followed by France. There were 15 junior men’s teams.

First for the US juniors was Joseph Benson who finished in 11th place with a time of 38:13, running the same course as that of the senior women. Phillip Rocha was second for USA in 16th position timed in 38:50. Eduardo Herrera finished 22nd in 39:50 to round out the team scoring and Ben Butler, the only returning team member, finished 27th in 40:25.

Equally gutsy were the Team USA junior women who, with young talent, showed their promise for the future of the sport. Claire Graves led the women to eight place among the eleven teams with a 15th place finish timed in 25:31 over the 3.5-kilometer course with a jaw dropping 500 meters of climbing over very rugged terrain.

Soleil Gaylord, the youngest team member at 16, was 30th with a time of 27:07, followed by Sarah Harmon in 34th position in 27:49. Julia Jaschke did not start due to a lingering injury.

Nearly 350 athletes competed in the championships representing 35 countries. Complete results are available here. A full story with quotes from Team USA is available here. For over 350 high resolution photos and videos of Team USA visit Google Photos.

Next year’s championships will be held in Premana, Italy on July 30.

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