A battle between two Daves

            Shortly after 11 a.m. on Saturday January 28, 2006, there were at least two good reasons that few gave Dave Welsh of Westmont, N.J., a chance to win the Mountain Mist 50K Trial Run on Monte Sano Mountain. First, he had sprained his ankle about 12 miles into the 31-mile race, and second, he was running 12 minutes behind the leader and race favorite, Dave Mackey of Boulder, Colo.

But a 31-mile race is not over at 25 miles, which is where Welsh was at 11 a.m.

Somewhere on his way to the Natural Well in McKay hollow, Mackey paid the price for his killing record-setting pace on an unusually warm January morning and leg cramps slowed him to a walk. He was passed by 18 runners before he could make it to the finish.

The first to pass and the race winner in 4 hours, 4 minutes and 24 seconds was the 28-year-old Welsh, who collapsed at the finish and had to be helped to a chair near the finish line. After apply some ice to his ankle and downing some fluids, Welsh expressed satisfaction in winning, but said he did not expect to defend his title.

“That last half was the hardest course I have ever seen,” Welsh said. “I will not be back next year.”

Welsh ran in college at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., starting out as a 400 meter hurdler, but found out he was too slow and moved up to the 3,000 meter steeple. He majored in material engineering and worked as a shoe developer for New Balance for two years after graduate school. He now is owner of a running store in New Jersey.

“This was my first trail ultra,” he said. “My coach ran part of this race a few years ago and told me about it and said he thought I would enjoy it. But he dropped out before the last half of the race, so he didn’t know about that part.”

Brent Lorenzen, 33, of Nashville finished second in 4:06:45 improving on his 11^th place finish here last year. David Rindt, 34, of Roswell, Ga., was third in 4:09:10 and defending champion DeWayne Satterfield, 41, of Huntsville was fourth in 4:19:44.

Ragan Petrie, 39, of Atlanta was the early leader in the women’s competition, but by the half-way point at Fearn Drive, she had been reeled in by 31-year-old Patricia Smith of Maryville, Tenn. Smith continued to increase her lead for the last half and finished in 4:50:14 for the win. Petrie was second in 5:07:02 and Beverly Barber, 24, of Jackson, Miss., took third in 5:18:11.

Smith said she did not enjoy pure running but likes adventure sports. Her long-run in preparation for Saturday’s race was only 15 miles. She is preparing for an adventure race through the swamps of Florida this spring.

Former Huntsville resident, Kristine Whorton won the women’s master title in 5:19:31.

Although the warm temperatures were not conducive to fast times, Jay Manwiller, 51, of Oley, Pa., broke the Grand Master record by three minutes with a 4:59:33 finish. Huntsville’s Janet Duncan took the women’s Grand Master title in 7:33:51.

The race began with 290 runners, and 267 finished, up from 224 finishers last year. Included among them was Rob Apple, 44, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., who finished his 441^st ultra in 7:20:42 and Janice DeHaye Anderson who completed her 100^th ultra in 7:22:38.