Mammoth athletes ready for Olympic trials
If you frequent the trails of Mammoth’s Shady Rest Park, chances are you’ve been passed at least once by an Olympic contender.
Eight members of Mammoth’s Aasics Track Club qualified to compete in the trials for the 2016 Summer Olympics on Saturday, Feb. 13 in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, Feb. 10, Track Club member and Olympic marathoner Deena Kastor, 43, announced that an injury would keep her from competing in the trials, bringing the number to seven.
Kastor, whose husband, Andrew, is the coach of the Track Team, is a three-time Olympian. She took home a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The qualifying race, which will be run the day before the L.A. Marathon, will determine who represents the United States in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The top three finishers (men and women) in the race will go on to the Olympics, said Kastor.
Kastor’s finish in Athens, along with the silver medal brought home by Mebrahtom “Meb” Keflezighi, turned attention to Mammoth Lakes as one of the world’s premier high-altitude training destinations—both Kastor and Keflezighi trained for the 2004 Olympics in Mammoth.
“That Meb and I not only made the Olympic team but also came home with medals was a huge testament to how altitude training and our team environment breeds success,” Kastor told The Sheet.
The seven Mammoth Track Club members competing on Feb. 13 are Adriana Nelson, Lauren Jimison, Bria Wetsch, Gabe Proctor, Daniel Tapia, Shadrack Biwott and Josphat Boit. Meb, who now lives in San Diego but trains in Mammoth, is not currently a member of the Track Club, but will be participating in the Olympic Trials. Tim and Lindsay Tollefson, also Mammoth runners sponsored by the Nike Trail Team, will be racing as well.
