More than 40 Penn State students participated in the Tussey Mountainback 50 Mile Relay and Ultramarathon Saturday at Rothrock State Forest. The race benefited the Centre Volunteers in Medicine, a group that works to serve the health and wellness needs of uninsured citizens in Centre County.
The Ultramarathon could be completed either as ultras (single person) or groups ranging in size from six to eight people.
Andrew Haughton (junior-aerospace engineering) is the president of the Penn State Triathlon club and led the Sofa King Fun, a group of seven people, into the race. Unlike other racers, this group's objective wasn't necessarily to finish first.
"We were doing it mainly to participate and have a good time. There were a lot of ultras who finished before us, which was pretty crazy," Haughton said.
The single loop, 50-mile course was run through Rothrock State Forest, about five miles from the University Park campus. Since it was run during the fall, the beautiful landscape showed a picturesque view of the park.
"It's beautiful up there," said Kevin Geneva (sophomore-engineering). "The fall foliage was visible throughout the course."
The 50-mile relay consisted of 12 legs. Boshank's Buds employed a strategy to help them compete in the lengthy ordeal. Each of the six members from Boshank's Buds picked a number and that number determined what order they ran. For example, No. 1 ran the first leg, and after the sixth person ran, the order would start over again, meaning that Geneva, who ran third, also ran the ninth leg.
"I only ran about seven miles, which was less than the twelve miles I ran in last year's race," Geneva said.
Geneva's group performed very well, finishing third overall among 80 teams and coming in first among groups with five to six people.
Participants in the Ultramarathon come from all over the globe, with South Africa and Canada represented, as well as 27 states from the United States and 160 communities within Pennsylvania.
Julie Stover is a Penn State student who lives in Redersburg, and she teamed with partner Bianca Baier to form the PSU Chickadees.
"I only ran 23.3 miles, while Bianca ran 27.7. I'm in pretty good shape, so I wanted to attempt it," Stover said.
Running with only one other partner meant that the two would have to cover a lot more ground than their competitors. As a result, the tandem didn't place as highly. Still they were pleased with their performance.
"We did well. Our time was 7 hours, 39:46 minutes, and we expected it be eight hours so we did better than expected," Stover said.
Stover said the 23.3 miles she ran was the most grueling physical activity she'd ever taken part in.
The same course the competitors ran on was recently chosen by USA Track & Field to host the 2008-09 50 Mile National Championships. This appealed to freshman Lyle Ressler.
"It was pretty cool running on the same course that U.S.A. Track and Field designated the site for the championships," she said.
The running of the Ultramarathon wasn't the only site to behold that day. Some teams arrived in costumes to match the group names. Sofa King Fun was a group that did just that.
"The team name, mentality and the outfits all based around the '70s gym class theme, everybody had old stuff on. I had an Afro on. I looked pretty ridiculous," Haughton said.
