Quick hits for a Thursday:
— Flagstaff ultra runner Georgia Porter, part of the Aravaipa Racing team, currently is in the early stages of a fastest-known time attempt on the 800-mile Arizona Trail.
Porter is running north-to-south and, as of Thursday morning, is well past the Grand Canyon and Tusayan and headed toward the north side of Humphreys Peak on the AZT. She’s on pace to break the supported FKT set by Helen Galerakis in 17 days 11 hours 3 minutes.
Relatively new to ultrarunning, Porter, 35, was an NCAA Division 2 standout at Western Colorado University and ran in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, finishing 28th. More recently, on the trails, Porter finished second in March at the Black Canyon 60K and fifth at the Gorge Waterfalls 100K in Oregon.
On her Go Fund Me page, Porter shared her motivation for the effort: “I’m drawn to the Arizona Trail because of its beauty and rich history. And I hope to showcase this beauty and inspire others to chase big goals and to go play outside. Longer trail races and projects are often male-dominated. I’m seeking to shake up this narrative and promote and inspire female-bodied athletes to go out and do big things.”
You can keep track of Porter’s progress here.
— A month after running the Chicago Marathon in 2:30:12 (18th place), Flagstaff and Crested Butte’s Sara Hall, 41, will turn around and run the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon on Nov. 9, according to event organizers.
— “Running Up the Mountain: Northern Arizona Altitude, Lumberjack Attitude, and the Building of a Distance Dynasty,” by NAZ Elite’s Matt Baxter and former NAU coach Ron Mann, has been named Best Sports/Recreation Book of 2023 by the New Mexico–Arizona Book Awards.
According to a press release by Soulstice Publishing, the book’s publisher, “Almost 1,000 books competed in 47 categories or genres. Every book was judged by at least three judges, made up of booksellers, librarians, teachers, book marketing experts, as well as avid book readers.”
Click here for our review of “Running Up the Mountain” from last February.
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