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2019 Gristmill Grinder

Registration is Closed for the 2021 Gristmill Grinder!

We look forward to seeing you on April 17th, 2021!
Thank you all for your kindness and support of the Babcock Gristmill Grinder over the past 16 years.
Donnie Hudspeth, Race Director

 

And now here is your 2019 Race Recap - - - What another amazing Gristmill Grinder race at Babcock this year! With a threatening forecast looming for the weekend we kept plugging along to put all the pieces in place. Flagging was going well and the trees were even starting to bloom! Volunteers popped up right when they were needed (Thank You!) and the course was in fine shape. In the final day before the race the forecast began to improve. As we met at ACE Adventure Gear in Fayetteville for our packet pickup the general conversation revolved about the updated weather as folks laughed and smiled about the Grinder coming. It was awesome to see so many folks at Ace Adventure Gear, thanks for having us you guys.

Race morning and at 6:30 I’m driving to pick up food and head to the park. There was blue sky and sunshine, THERE WAS BLUE SKY AND SUNSHINE! I had to try to calm down driving, going 80mph on the old Clifftop Road to the campground isn’t a good idea. Folks were already there ready to unload and like a well oiled machine all the pieces were going where they needed to be. A final round in the park to finish putting up arrows and cones and it was almost time to run the 2019 Gristmill Grinder! This year we had so many new folks in the field, that was exciting. Of course many of the veterans Grinders were in attendance too! Our start for the half-marathon and the 5k went smoothly and it wasn’t too long before we saw our first runners at the finish. Once again finishing first overall was Adam Coon with a time of 1:29:58 and a pace of 6:53. A scant 2 minutes behind him was Zach Beckett with a time of 1:31:59.8. Rounding out the top 3 Male finishers was Eddie Neel from Chesapeake, OH with a time of 1:36:47.9. Amazingly fast times for this course, congratulations on your results. The Women’s field was led again by Audrey Larrimer from Athens, OH with a time of 1:56:39.3. Finishing second for the women and only 5 minutes back was Sydney Wait with a time of 2:01:55.9. Completing the top 3 female finishers was Paula Kaufman at 2:03:59.9 – excellent job and strong effort for all of you! The field this year had a wide spread of ages once again with our youngest runner being Jack Bailey at 13 years old and our most senior runner being John Sheets at 74. Our youngest female runners this year were Nola Todd and Lily Bostic both at 14 years old! Our most senior female runner was Marjorie Palmrose-Mace at 64 years young. Marjorie also traveled the farthest distance to run at Babcock with us coming from Hillsboro, OR. Thanks for coming Marjorie!!

Having said all of this, let me again say thanks to you all for keeping the Gristmill Grinder alive and well! To all the Volunteers and Participants – I owe you one (or two;-)

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