Marcus FaudiMarcus Faudi keeps covering new ground as a runner. Saturday he covered it faster than anyone else in the Rock/Creek StumpJump 50k presented by Salomon from Shackleford Ridge Park on Signal Mountain.
Actually, it was a 50-kilometer-plus at just more than 32 miles instead of 31, second-year race director Brian Costilow confirmed, and Faudi was the overall winner in 5 hours, 13 minutes, 29 seconds. He passed Nathan Holland with about two miles to go, and Holland was the runner-up in 5:17:26 with William Ansick of Auburn, Ala., third for the second year in a row in 5:18:59 after finishing fifth in 2014.
Since the nationally known trail race began in 2002, no one has been the top overall finisher twice. But Ansick's wife, Emily, repeated Saturday as the women's winner, finishing in 6:01:51. She was 13th overall.
The Ansicks also like to run the Scenic City Trail Marathon, and William has done the Lookout Mountain 50-miler.
"We love Chattanooga. We love the trails; we love the people," Emily said.
As for the StumpJump course, the 32-year-old said, "The first half was beautiful. All I saw the second half was rocks and dirt."
"But the views are beautiful here," her husband said.
They both took almost 10 minutes longer to finish than a year earlier, despite gorgeous weather compared to the drenching rain of the 2015 race, and Faudi's winning time happened to be the slowest ever. Tom Sell's 2002 win in 4:58:31 was the previous winning extreme to David Riddle's 2011 race record of 3:49:52.
Last year's winner, Brandon Sullivan of Nashville, came in eighth Saturday.
Faudi, a 41-year-old Soddy-Daisy resident who began running at age 33 to counter high blood pressure, overcame a nasty fall four miles into Saturday's race and cramping legs four miles from the finish.
"It was my calves and quads. I thought I was in trouble then," the Automation IG manufacturing manager said. "I just eased off a little, and luckily it went away."
By then he had moved up from fifth to second, and as he kept going he overtook the race leader, who also had been hit with cramps, plus a very upset stomach. Holland, 32, said he threw up at about the 25-mile mark, "and I started going downhill after that. He passed me with about two miles to go and I couldn't stay with him."
The 2010 StumpJump was Holland's first 50k, and last year's race was the only time he's missed it since then. He does have top-five finishes to show for it, but no first place.
"This is my black-sheep race," the Ooltewah resident said with a smile. "It's always been a tough race for me. It always kicks my butt."
Faudi ran it for the first time Saturday. It was his second 50k.
"I ran the Upchuck 50k in 2009 and finished second. Then I retired," Faudi said. "Then last year I turned 40 and decided to get serious again."
His is a running family. He and his wife, Crystal, ran the Chattanooga Half Marathon on their anniversary in March, and they and their three kids all ran the 5k for FCA on Sept. 3. Crystal finished 52nd, sixth among women, Saturday.
Nathan Sexton had been impressive in the Chattanooga Marathon and in another half marathon in California in July, and he continued his amazing story Saturday. In his first race longer than 13.1 miles, the 29-year-old Signal Mountain man fighting brain cancer finished 11th in 5:51:40.
He had said late in his training that he was hoping to beat six hours.
"I feel pretty good," he said afterward. "I think my legs died on the climb back up, starting at Suck Creek Road, but I was aerobically fine."
He goes every two weeks to Birmingham for his Phase 1 Trial and said that is keeping his tumor from growing.
The StumpJump 15k and a 2-3-mile kids run are scheduled for 8 this morning from Shackleford Ridge Park, and on-site registration will be available.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.