This past weekend a group of 11 runners headed out to the China Beach to tackle the challenging 47km Juan De Fuca Marine Trail. A few of the the runners had done the trail before and had their eye on the course record of 7hr15mins set by Rumon Carter a few years back. With great weather on their side and the help of some comaraderie a group of three set off at record pace and had a great morning of running. Shawn Nelson, Jeff Hunt, and Rafael Albert ran together from China Beach to Sombrio Beach which covers most of the hilly sections of the run. The next 20km from Sombrio Beach to Botanical Beach is mostly rolling hills covered in technical root footing and lots of mud! Shawn started to put some distance between himself and his running partners along this section and held himself together really well over the last part of the run to finish in an amazing time of 6hrs15mins to chop 1hr off the previous course record! Jeff Hunt had his best ultra run to date with his time of 6hr25mins which bested his previous time of 7hr40mins set earlier in the year. Rafael also ran under the previous course record with a great run of 6hr33min.

For a full report on the run check out Jeff Hunts blog here.

Shawn Nelson, Jeff Hunt, and Rafael Albert on Sombrio Beach.  25km into the Juan De Fuca Trail.