2021 Lake Sonoma 50 Recap!
by Chase Parnell — September 5, 2021 — 📸: Luis Escober
What a day! Wow, these races never cease to amaze me. It never ever gets old watching runners pour their hearts out on the trail. Nikki and I zipped around the course as best we could, hitting the start line, Warm Springs aid at mile 11.6, Madrone overlook point at mile 30, and then the finish. So fun watching it unfold.
First of all, spoiler alert, the elite fields from the preview I wrote were just simply not there. Our sport isn’t perfect, ultrasignup doesn’t allow for runners to pull themselves off entrant lists, runners get injured, plans change. I guess I’m just sorry that we projected a certain race and it didn’t end up being accurate due to a variety of reasons. But! What we did have was AMAZING, kind of perfect in a way. A couple late entrants entered some spice into the competition and the elite fields ended up having some really fun storylines.
Skip Brand at the helm. 📸: Luis Escober
The Lake Sonoma 50 Men’s Race
Preston Cates of Boulder, Colorado. You will be seeing a lot more of this 24 year old, I can guarantee that! He ran Track and Cross Country at the distance running powerhouse of University of Arkansas and is now launching himself head first into ultrarunning. He was 6th earlier this year at Canyons 100k where he ran with all the big boys deep into the race and definitely caught their attention based on finish line interviews. Yesterday, despite all the talent in the field, Preston went off the front and charged from the gun! He came into Warm Springs aid station (mile 11.6) with a two minute gap on Mario Mendoza, a very strong and experienced ultrarunner from Bend, Oregon, who has ran well here in the past with two third place finishes.
It was clear early on that this was a two man race but Logan Williams of Salt Lake City and Kieran Nay of Colorado, two other very promising young runners, hit Warm Springs in third and fourth just four minutes back. We scooted out of Warm Springs and made a mad dash for Madrone overlook (mile 30) along twisting turning narrow roads that weave through this incredible landscape. Little vineyards tucked away, Spanish villas perched up on grassy knolls, enchanted oak trees blanketing the hillsides, trucks taking loads of freshly harvested grapes in for processing. It felt something like Tuscany with vert.
At mile 30, Preston was still looking GREAT. He was flying, lots of pep in his step, and good energy. Once he passed the clock started ticking. I was shocked that Mario had fallen back to 12 minutes behind Cates. I honestly thought the race was over! But I should’ve known better. Mario is a grinder, he’s experienced, he knows how to run 50 miles in the heat.
We zoomed back to the finished line and arrived around the time of previous years’ winners. But it quickly started to dawn on us all that a September Lake Sonoma 50 is not apples to apples with an April one. The heat would strengthen in force, all that early morning fog was long gone, and the runners were left with a really really tough final 20 miles back through Warm Springs and to the finish on this out and back course.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, we passed the seven hour mark and still no arrivals. The crowd was standing on picnic tables and rocks and cars to get a better vantage point to see the distant trail where the first runner would materialize. We received word that Mario Mendoza shaved the lead to just two minutes by the Island View aid station at mile 45.5. Holy smokes! He’s doing it!
Race director Skip Brand was on the mic, cow bells were ready to clang, and sure enough, somewhere out on that buttery singletrack, Mario surpassed Preston Cates and hit the finishing stretch in first. Mario’s finish was one to remember, collapsing and going into a full-body cramp. He was carried over to the shade with a smile on his face. So happy for him, his wife Jade and son Jair who were there at the finish to greet him. After the race he said, “Not gonna lie, I really wanted to win this one for my family.”
Meanwhile, Preston Cates did not crater. He didn’t give up. He fought hard and finished just five minutes back. Like I said, this feels like just the beginning for him.
Also want to mention that third place Joey Defeo of Flagstaff pulled off an amazing come-from-behind race in the style of Tyler Green. Joey was in 9th at Warm Springs (mile 11.6), 5th at half way, and moved up all the way to 3rd by the finish; ran it like a veteran despite being 22 years old! Similarly Grant Hotaling showed off his 100 mile legs (2021 Tahoe Rim Trail 100 winner), moving from 10th to 5th in the latter stages. This moment of Grant crossing the line with his daughter was pure gold.
Huge congrats to the finishers of this deceivingly tough course on a hot day in September.
📸: Luis Escober
Top Ten Finishers:
1st: Mario Mendoza – 7:10:14
2nd: Preston Cates – 7:15:48
3rd: Joey Defeo – 7:31:36
4th: Grant Hotaling – 7:46:05
5th: Logan Williams – 7:51:29
6th: Jeffrey Stern – 7:54:28
7th: James Scanlan – 8:21:14
8th: Nicholas Hilton – 8:31:57
9th: Michael Hamlin – 9:11:21
10th: Dante Godinez – 9:29:41
The 2021 Lake Sonoma 50 Women’s Race
Keely Henninger put on a show out there! Wow, she took the lead from the gun and never relinquished it. Just 10 weeks after her 9th place finish at her debut 100 miler at Western States, she was able to bounce back to this kind of form; such an impressive double. She must like running in this HEAT!
Her lead was just a minute at Warm Springs (mile 11.6), ten minutes at Madrone overlook (mile 30), but what was really wild was how much better than the competition she handled the final miles, finishing with a 55 minute lead over second place! That’s an average of over a minute per mile faster over the course of 50 miles. Really incredible.
If you watch our YouTube video closely (at the bottom of this article), at the finish line Keely says, “I wanted sub-7, but not today!” Here’s something to consider: Mario Mendoza ran 6:25 on this course when he finished 3rd in 2018, he won yesterday in 7:10, that’s a 45 minute difference, largely it sounds like because of the heat. He said after the race that it ran so much harder than normal. If you apply that 45 minute bump to Keely’s time, she’d have been well under seven hours! She ran 7:13 in 2018. I really believe she has it in her to be the first to run sub-7 with the right conditions! Hope she comes back and takes another swing. Either way, a win is a win and the time doesn’t really matter all that much. She was on fire yesterday. Soak it up and enjoy this one!
Sarah Cummings and Kristina Randrup battled it out throughout the day for 2nd and 3rd place. Note: there was some question at the finish about whether Kristina finished 2nd or 3rd based on communications she received at the prior aid station. We are reporting what the ultralive.net results show, and that still shows Sarah Cummings finishing 2nd and Kristina Randrup finishing 3rd. If the race organization makes a change in the results, we will update this post. *9/8/21 Update: After some deliberation by the race organization, it was determined that Sarah Cummings accidentally missed a small out and back section to the Island View Aid Station at mile 45.5. Instead of a DQ, Sarah was given a 15 minute time penalty, which bumped her back to 3rd place in the final results (updated below).
But no matter what, I got the impression that both these women really went to the well yesterday. They hit that finish line completely depleted. What more can you ask for? Big congrats to both for a podium finish at Lake Sonoma. That’s huge!
Marianne Falk of Portland, Oregon and Mercedes Siegle-Gaither of Colorado outlasted the others suffering in the heat to round out the top five. Marianne was getting a lot of love on the socials from the Portland ultrarunning contingent and Mercedes won the positive energy of the day award. The stoke was high!
📸: Luis Escober
Top-Ten Finishers:
1st: Keely Henninger – 7:40:20
2nd: Kristina Randrup – 8:40:10
3rd: Sarah Cummings – 8:49:23
4th: Marianne Falk – 8:58:35
5th: Mercedes Siegle-Gaither – 9:06:28
6th: Natalie Chirgwin – 9:11:22
7th: Lizi Bolanos-Nauth – 10:05:13
8th: Sarah Thacher – 10:05:23
9th: Teresita Gomez – 10:10:20
10th: Melissa Surman – 10:15:27
2021 Lake Sonoma 50 Top Finishers YouTube Video
Hope you enjoy this video recap. Have to say the highlight is Mario Mendoza’s finish line effort and celebration at 3:09 into the video. So fun to watch!
Alright, that’s a wrap from Sonoma County! Now that the “work” is done we’re going to dip our toes in the Pacific, hit up a vineyard (or seven), and maybe even get a run in tomorrow morning before taking the coastal highway 101 route back north to Bend. I want to give a sincere and heartfelt thank you to Skip Brand for inviting us down to take part in the event and setting us up with a place to stay with Brandelle and Dave. We had the funnest little guest house to stay at that really put a bow on the whole experience.
Another big shout-out to all the volunteers, crew, Healdsburg Running Company staff, Tropical John Medinger, Luis Escobar behind the lens, and of course the runners who toed the line. This is a special community down here, they have something going on that’s not easy to replicate. I have no doubt that this race (which will have a new race director in 2022–Trail Sisters founder Gina Lucrezi!) will continue to be one of the annual classics for many years to come. For what it’s worth, Nikki says she’s definitely coming back in 2022, not with a baby strapped to her chest, but to RUN!
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