Ancient Lakes draws 500 runners over weekend

QUINCY — The Run Super Series Ancient Lake Trail Run returned to Quincy on April 9-10 and hosted 500 runners over the two days.

“Our runners love this place, it's awesome,” said Dan Bucci, assistant race director for Run Super Series. “We’ll keep coming back here, this race keeps growing in popularity.”

The Run Super Series is a series of 12 races held in Washington. The Ancient Lakes Trail Run is the only race in the series held east of the Cascades.

This is the third time that the Run Super Series has held an event at Ancient Lakes. They originally planned to have the first race at Ancient Lakes in April 2020 but COVID-19 concerns delayed it until November. Their second and most recent race at Ancient Lakes, on April 10-11, 2021, attracted 395 total runners, said race organizers.

The Ancient Lakes Trail Run has four race distance options; 50M, 50K, 25K and 10K. Each race distance features loops through the Ancient Lakes area showcasing the desert landscape and waterfalls. The sagebrush lined trails present a different challenge for the paved races that the series normally sees. Glimpses of the Columbia River Gorge can also be seen as runners follow the rocky trails on the west side of the Ancient Lakes area.

“It’s a little rocky,” said Tami Canfield. “There are some steep, rocky things out there (along the trail), but it’s beautiful.”

Canfield and her husband, Caleb McNamara, are from Moses Lake and raced on day two of the Ancient Lake Trail Run. Canfield participated in the 10K while McNamara participated in the 25K on Sunday.

Canfield said they do several races a year to prepare for a 15-mile beast race they do later on but this was their first trail run.

Sabrina Seher, Jerry Gamez and Bucci are the organizers of the Run Super Series. They each have their own qualifications and experiences with running that help them bring the series to fruition.

Seher is the race director for the series. She’s from Tacoma where she owns her own gym. Seher has also completed more than 300 marathons and ultras in her running career. This is her eighth year directing races, she said.

Bucci said Seher was unable to attend this year’s event because she was at home with a case of COVID-19.

Bucci is also based in Tacoma and is the assistant race director. He joined the Run Super Series Team in 2017. He has almost 200 marathons and ultras under his belt and last year completed an unsupported solo run on the Wonderland Trail. The Wonderland Trail is a 93-mile route around Mount Rainier, he said.

Gamez is the Course Director and has been with the Run Super Series since the beginning. He has decades of experience in race directing, and brings his skills in course development and course marking. Gamez is originally from Moses Lake but now lives in Kent, he said.

Gamez said that the event was capped at 250 runners per day due to the permit by Washington Fish and Wildlife but could have easily seen more runners had there not been a capacity.

Bucci said the Saturday registration sold out as early as February and runners came from all over the U.S. and Canada.

For more information on the series visit https://runsuperseries.com/

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.