USA championships attract top female mountain runners.

Melissa Moon and Anna Pichtrova compete in the USA Championships

 The NACAC and USA mountain running championships were held in Vail Colorado in cold snowy conditions on June 4th.
The entrants featured Anna Pichrtova, Czech Republic the runner-up at the 2004 World Mountain Running Trophy, and european champion, and Melissa Moon, New Zealand, a two-time World Mountain Running Trophy champion. They duelled throughout the race with Moon gaining distance on the uphill and Pichrtova pulling away on the downhill. Pichrtova was victorious in a time of 52:19 with Moon just 20 seconds back.
A few hours after her finish Moon reflected on the course, “For someone like me who has never run at altitude, the conditions on the day coupled with the altitude in Vail (8,000 plus feet) and the nature of the descents made it one of the tougher races I have done in my career. I felt really strong the whole way and in fact probably held back possibly a little too much in the first half since I was unsure how the altitude would affect me. Having said that, Anna was just incredible on those descents and she just got me at the finish. I am looking forward to my race on Mt Washington on June 18, (the World Trophy)where Anna and I will meet again.”