February 2, 2013 (Queen Creek, Arizona) – Jay Jump made his Arizona ultra running debut at last month’s Coldwater Rumble 50 Mile, placing second to winner Dave James in a time of 8:03:45. Jump returned this weekend to take on the San Tan Scramble 50 Km, a three loop course in the foothills of the Goldmine and San Tan Mountains near Queen Creek. This year would be the course addition of a new trail – Dynamite which was installed by the park around the time of last year’s race. The original course featured an out an back trip over Goldmine Pass on each loop which is the most technical, steep and challenging climb in the race. The new Dynamite Trail created a new connection, allowing for a full loop to be incorporated into the race.
Jump took an early 9 minute lead on loop 1 and continued to pull away through the rest of the race, winning in a time of 4:13:15 setting a standard for the new course. Only Matt Schmitt has run faster, with a time of 4:01:40 on the old course. On the women’s side, Shanna Ailes Isnick flew in from Ohio and proceeded to fly away from the competition. She was hot on the heels of Jay after loop 1, just 10 minutes back. Shanna was the 2012 50 kilometer USATF road champion and went on to break the previous 50 km event record with a finish time of 4:41:55, knocking 5 minutes off Paulette Zillmer’s time from 2012.
There were a total of 247 finishers between all three distances this year, the largest San Tan Scramble to date! Stay tuned for next year’s race which will be moved a month earlier to January 11, 2014 to make room for the Coldwater Rumble 100 mile at the end of January. There will also be a new 17 kilometer distance.