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USATF holds COVID-friendly trail half-marathon championships

More than 200 runners raced in Wisconsin over the weekend at the USATF nationals

Photo by: Instagram/itsallablurrrr

The USATF Half-Marathon Trail Championships were held in Cable, Wis., on Saturday with more than 200 participants. The event featured a staggered start with waves of 30, each running five minutes apart. The race was won by Andy Wacker on the men’s side and Dani Moreno on the women’s, with the pair crossing the line in 1:13:55 and 1:21:28. Moreno’s time was not only the fastest of all the women, but it was also good enough for third place overall. 

The women’s race 

The women’s race was close for a while, with Moreno, who hails from Santa Barbara, Calif., running alongside Janelle Lincks of Boulder, Colo. The duo ran the first 7K together, with Lincks leading Moreno by a few seconds. Far clear of third place, it was a two-person battle for much of the run. Moreno eventually pulled away from Lincks, ultimately winning the race by close to two minutes. Lincks finished in second, and third place went to her fellow Coloradan Bria Wetsch

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With her win, Moreno adds to her impressive list of trail and mountain running results. In 2019, she was the top woman at the North American Central American Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships in Mexico, leading Team USA to the overall team victory. She is also the 2019 USATF 50K trail champion, and she won the XTERRA Trail Running World Championships in 2018 and 2019. 

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The men’s race 

Unlike the women’s race, the men’s event was never very close. Wacker led by two and a half minutes after the first 7K, and in the final two thirds of the race he extended that lead to more than four minutes. He was followed by Wisconsin‘s Adam Condit, who finished in 1:18:26. Third place went to Patrick Brady, another Wisconsinite, who crossed the line in 1:21:33, five seconds behind Moreno’s finishing time. 

RELATED: Canadian wins USATF Trail Marathon Championship

A former runner for the University of Colorado, Wacker has had a lot of success in off-road racing. Like Moreno, he won the NACAC Mountain Running Championships in 2019, and he has many FKTs to his name. He is also married to Canadian trail and mountain runner Karley Rempel. Rempel ran with Wacker and Moreno at the NACAC Championships last year, where she finished in sixth place to help Team Canada win a bronze medal in the team event. 

Full results from the USATF event can be found here

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