Lopez and Fornataro earn silver medals at national trail championships in Wisconsin

Results

The 2021 USATF Half Marathon Trail Running Championships were held on Saturday (25-Sept) in Hayward, Wisconsin in conjunction with the Birkie Trail Running Festival.

Two USATF Niagara members competed in the championships and both won masters silver medals for their second place division finishes.

Christopher Lopez, 51, of Honeoye Falls ran 1:40:11 to finish second in the 50-54 division.  He was also 10th overall in the open men's race.  The winner of the 50-54 division was Kelly Mortenson of Minnesota who ran a very impressive 1:32:29.  Mortenson is a former NCAA all-American while at the University of Wisconsin.

Rob Fornataro, 49, of Pittsford ran 1:46:47 to earn his silver medal in the 45-49 division.  The division winner was Ryan Twomey of New Hampshire in 1:37:05.  Fornataro finished 12th overall in the open men's division

The open men's and women's champions were Joseph Gray (1:14:50) of Colorado and Racheal Johnson (1:28:13) of Virginia.  Full championship results can be found here.

IN THEIR WORDS

CHRISTOPHER LOPEZ

Rob Fornataro and I great time at the 2021 USATF Half Marathon Trail Championships. The race was part of the Birkie Trail Run Festival in Cable, Wisconsin at the famous American Birkebeiner. The fall foliage was beautiful, the weather was crisp, in the upper 40s, and sun was shining. The half marathon course had an elevation gain of about 1,500 feet over a combination of rolling cross-county-like, and winding single-track trails. The race ends with an ascent to the top of Mount Telemark and fast 1-mile descent to the finish. Rob and I represented the USTAF Niagara association this year, and we had a blast running with athletes from across the country. We highly recommend this race to our fellow Niagara association runners.
 

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