June 19, 2022
Rothrock State Forest
by Mike Casper
Low fifties temperature and a gentle breeze provided ideal conditions for the 10th Eager Seeger Half Marathon, the longest and final run of the 2022 Tussey Teasers Series. The entire route is unpaved forest roads. Runners take on a 3.5+ mile hill near the beginning, with streams, ridgetop vistas and more hills along the way. Humidity was low and much of this course was in cool shade.
A small pack set a perky pace up the long hill on Seeger Road. There are shorter ascents on the back half and some long, gentle descents that pay back the early effort. The finish line saw Winter Parts set a non-binary course record and finish within 12 seconds of the overall course record. In the men’s category, Elijah Kamermans took first, Michael Palumbo second, and Zach Ramassini third.
In the women’s category, Adeline Leason took first, with Emma Maras second and Victoria Maras third. Victoria also took 14 minutes off her 2021 time.
Adeline Leason was the day’s youngest runner at 17, and Jeff Schiesler the oldest, at 66. Having run all 5 official Tussey Teasers, plus the optional February Teaser #0, Jeff won the Tussey Teasers series prize, an ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery. Congratulations, Jeff!
Thanks to Doan’s Bones, Appalachian Outdoors, and Webster’s Café for donated prizes that were given away.
Race Director Mike Casper ran this race to raise funds for Centre Volunteers in Medicine. For details on CVIM’s work, visit http://www.cvim.net/. You can support Mike’s effort to raise $1,000 by visiting his page: https://cvim.ejoinme.org/1082071.
Thanks to those who made donations today to the Dyslexia Reading Center, the beneficiary of this year’s Tussey Mountainback 50 Mile Relay and Ultramarathon. You are helping your neighbors to triumph over a challenging disability.
A big thanks to Tom Lechleitner and Jeanie Kim for certifying this course before this running.
Thank you to valiant race day volunteers Amy Bader, Marie, Eddie and Larry Garmat, Theresa Hunter and her two young helpers, Michelle Hutnik, Keith Jervis, Tom Lechleitner, and Pamela Luu for their energetic service at the course’s three water stations and finish line, and to Amy and Pam for outstanding race day photos.
Runners, stay tuned: There are more festive forest frolics coming up! The Discovery Training Series uses informal group runs on eight Saturday mornings, beginning Aug. 20, to cover the entire 50 miles of the Tussey mOUnTaiNBACK course. You can visit this schedule to get the run distances, start locations and driving directions: http://tusseymountainback.com/events/mountainback-discovery-series.
We hope to see you there. Just for the hill of it!
Overall Order of Finish
Place First Last Gen Age Town State Time
----- ----- ---- --- --- ---- ----- ----
1 Winter Parts NB 24 State College PA 1:21:02
2 Elijah Kamermans M 36 State College PA 1:37:18
3 Michael Palumbo M 26 State College PA 1:42:20
4 Adeline Leason F 17 Selinsgrove PA 1:46:00
5 Zach Ramassini M 22 State College PA 1:57:00
6 Emma Maras F 21 State College PA 1:57:05
7 Alan Effrig M 43 State College PA 1:57:44
8 George Lesieutre M 63 State College PA 1:58:34
9 Doug Schunk M 40 State College PA 2:02:00
10 Jim Maras M 60 State College PA 2:04:32
11 Victoria Maras F 24 State College PA 2:16:43
12 Jared Ali M 39 Port Matilda PA 2:20:19
13 Mike Casper M 63 State College PA 2:24:25
14 Jeff Schiesler M 66 Port Matilda PA 2:30:01
15 Don Halke M 63 Newport PA 2:45:16
16 Sarah Zweig F 41 New Bloomfield PA 2:48:23
17 Kendra Washburn F 34 State College PA 2:51:17