Jamie Dial spent much of Saturday morning in the 15^th Annual Mountain Mist 50K Trail Run trying to get rid of a former Bulldog, but to no avail.

David Rindt, a 37-year-old landscaper from Roswell, Ga., and a former University of Georgia runner, would not let Dial maintain his few brief leads in the race and won the 31-mile contest in 4 hours, 7 minutes and 5 seconds. Rindt, who was second in this race last year, used his superior strength on the up hills to finally pull away from Dial who finished second in 4:09:04.

“David was faster on the down hills and caught me at the bottom of MacKay Hollow, but I was able to build a lead on Rest Shelter hill,” Rindt said.

MacKay Hollow is a noted feature on the last leg of the race, about 2 miles from the finish.

Dial’s wife, Wendi, won the women’s division in 4:53:55, more than three minutes faster than her second place finish here last year. The 39-year-old art teacher from Franklin, Tenn., pulled away from the other women after the first 6-mile leg and was never threatened for the lead again.

Dana Overton, 34, of Albertville finished second in 5:16:51 and 27-year-old Beverly Brower of Ridgeland, Miss., took third in 5:24:32.

Huntsville’s DeWayne Satterfield, 44, won the master title for the fifth straight year. Satterfield also is a 9-time overall winner of the race. He finished third overall this year in 4:17:07. Kristine Whorton, 43, of Chattanooga was the top woman master and fourth overall among the women in 5:27:26.

The race, with a course that used trails in Monte Sano State Park and the Huntsville Land Trust, started at 8 a.m. in a slight rain with some wind, but by 10 a.m. the sun had come through giving runners good conditions.

“I thought the trails were a little wet for good times, but we were fortunate that it didn’t rain throughout the day” said race director Dink Taylor.

Taylor was disappointed that many registered runners did not start the race. Out of 360 entrants, only 275 started with 258 finishing the entire distance.

“Since the race filled up back in October, I guess a lot of people got injured before today,” Taylor said.

Other award winners included David Yon, 53, of Tallahassee, Fla., who was the top grand master in 5:14:36 and Sally Brooking, 52, of Marietta, Ga., the women’s grand master winner in 6:47:00. This was the third grand master win for Brooking.

           Hudson Cornelius, 16, from Huntsville was the youngest finisher in 7:08:27 and the oldest finisher was Sergio Bianchini, 67, from Chattanooga.