Keep it in the family: Congratulations to brother and sister Shiloh Mielke and Meadow Tarves of Hendersonville for taking first place, respectively, in the male and female categories at the Shut-In Trail Run on Nov. 4. Mielke, 26, finished the 17.8-mile course in 2:28.20 and Tarves, 28, finished it in 2:47.54. This, of course, is not to overlook the strain and struggles of the 180 others who finished the grueling race, which climbs 3,000 feet from Bent Creek to Mt. Pisgah.
On the waterfront: While the siblings Mielke were scrambling up Pisgah’s flinty spine, paddler Pat Keller was giving the Green River Narrows the what-for.
The Asheville 20-year-old swept the annual race, winning with a time of 4:36 in his Dagger kayak. Andrew Holcombe took second, and former champ Tommy Hilleke took third.
Keller also won the short-boat division and the “Greenman” division, a combo of the long and short classes. Close to 500 spectators turned out for the spectacle. Proceeds from the sale of event T-shirts went to help Asheville paddler Katie Hilleke, 26, in her battle against cancer.
The cure for the tryptophan haze: If you’re planning on overindulging this Thanksgiving, you might feel a little bit better about yourself if you warm up for the annual feast by running in the Bent Creek Gobbler 50K, this Saturday, Nov. 18. If that doesn’t work up an appetite, we can’t help you.
Runners should meet at Bent Creek’s Ledford Branch parking area before 9 a.m. for route information and carpooling/caravanning to the start/finish area. There’s no entry fee, and the organizers insist the more the merrier.
