The Legend of Stonehead

About 12 - 15 years ago there existed a "Northeast Trail Runners Circuit" consisting of all trail runs in the Northeast, about 8 of them (now there are about 40 trail runs in the Northeast). The only trail run FLRC had at the time was the Virgil Mt. Madness 21.1 miler and it was part of this circuit -- and it being part of this circuit brought oodles of runners from New England, where 6 of the trail runs were held. We had 135 finishers at the "Madness" run one of the years back then (including Rick Cleary!), compared to about 50 this year (there were very few trail runs then so folks were willing to travel great distances to do them).

The rankings were done by Peter Gagarin, Stan Wagon, and Fred Pilon, then the editors of UltraRunning magazine. As I recall, you needed to do 4 of the 8 races to be ranked. But a special ranking was done for those that did more than the required 4 -- this was the "Stonehead" division: all races counted, so the more you did the better your chance of being a top "Stonehead". The origin of the "Stonehead" name may have had many possible origins:

(1) Someone so obsessed with running trail runs that his/her brain has turned to stone.

(2) Doing so many trail runs that you often fall and your head hits stones on the trail.

(3) Someone whose IQ is so low that all he/she can think about is running trails.

(4) Someone who loves seeing, feeling, smelling, and eating stones, thus loves trail running.

After the Northeast Trail Run Circuit died away (no doubt because of the explosion in the number of trail runs and thus much more work to do the rankings), I created the Finger Lakes Trail Circuit. At first there were "Ultramarathon" and "Short" divisions, but for the last 7 or 8 years we have combined all our trail runs. Rankings included both the "Stonehead" and "Sensible" (sometimes the latter was called the "Normal" division. But there is nothing "sensible" or "normal" about trail running, so two years ago, at Alan Lockett's suggestion, we changed the name of the latter division to "Pebblehead"). This "Pebblehead" division quite catches the spirit of those top-ranked in it --- they are not as obsessed with trail running as the "Stoneheads" --- they are whimsically fleeting and flirting with trail running when the thought occasionally enters their head. Stonehead rankings include all 9 races: Pebblehead rankings include only each runners' top 3 races. Nine races counted this year: Hector Snow Shoe 7 mile, Tom Bugliosi 13K & 25K, Highland Forest 10, 20, & 30 miles, Tortoise 10K+, FLT Fifties 25K, 50K, & 50 miles, Virgil Forest Frolic 7K & 15K, Monster Marathon & Half Marathon, Virgil Mt. Madness 30K, and the Danby Down & Dirty 10K & 20K.

So here are the 2000 Stonehead and Pebblehead rankings for the Finger Lakes Trail Circuit. And never before has a woman been so close to being the Top Stonehead! Most women (and many men) have more sense than this! But Donna Lockett was ever so slightly edged out for the Top Stonehead Honor by David Jones, of Interlaken. Both were the only concrete craniums to complete all nine of the above events! Past Stonehead winners, Alan Lockett (husband of the above happy, but obviously obsessed woman) and Lorrie Marnell, finished close to the top, but missed two or more races.

The top male Pebblehead was once again Alan Evans, 37, of Beaver Dams NY, with a perfect 300 points. The top female Pebblehead was Linda Grossman,35, of Rochester NY, who just barely edged out Audrey Balander. Last year's top female Pebblehead was Barb Bellows, who wasn't in the rankings this year as she ran only 2 of the 9 races.

-- Joe Dabes

Stonehead Rankings:

(Name,Age,State Total Pts # of Events)

1. Jones David,41,NY 705.66 9

2. Lockett Donna,42,NY 704.12 9

3. Evans Alan,36,NY 699.33 7

4. Lockett Alan,43,NY 598.31 7

5. Dabes Joe,60,NY 581.70 8

6. Balander Audrey,43,NY 568.89 7

7. Reynolds Joe,55,NY 566.58 7

8. Weiss David,51,NY 559.36 8

9. Marnell Lorrie,39,NY 459.60 6

10. Aigen Suzanne,46,NY 451.37 7

11. Miner James,51,NY 418.04 5

12. Booth Mark,45,NY 413.54 7

13. Ryder Andrew,32,NY 399.99 5

14. Gaffney Mark,32,NY 392.72 4

15. Chase Frank,52,NY 370.46 6

16. Meyer Thomas,25,NY 364.75 4

17. Stettler Katie,35,NY 361.12 5

18. Ingall Tim,41,NY 360.38 4

19. VanKerhove Dennis,40,NY 348.92 4

20. McMurry John,57,NY 347.23 5

21. Sharp Gillian,38,NY 331.75 4

22. Koopman Heather,24,NY 322.33 5

23. Stanton Jennifer,27,NY 322.26 5

24. McCauley Deborah,31,NY 319.82 4

25. Ives John,50,NY 306.97 5

26. Martinez Mario,48,NY 300.83 4

27. Bauer Tessa,30,NY 297.29 4

28. Steinbrecher Earl,35,NY 296.90 3

29. Jones James,45,NY 291.49 3

30. Sholeen John,55,NY 289.55 5

31. Burbank Dave,40,NY 281.52 4

32. Nix Tom,50,NY 280.72 4

33. Lopata Daniel,31,NY 277.17 4

34. Alba Sara,31,NY 273.56 4

35. Lawhead Jeff,30,NY 269.17 4

36. Kibby Douglas,55,NY 266.28 4

37. Grossman Linda,35,NY 265.85 3

38. O'Brien Kerry,26,NY 252.25 4

39. Dean Derek,29,NY 251.79 3

40. Dziedzic Douglas,38,NY 251.55 4

41. Cox Christopher,36,NY 246.29 3

42. Stiner John,38,NY 243.56 3

43. Delaney Terry,43,NY 239.23 3

44. Beckwith Paul,45,NY 235.56 3

45. Hoch Jim,50,NY 232.70 3

46. Fogg James,22,NY 230.59 3

47. Sharps Robert,37,NY 227.48 3

48. Bott John,41,NY 223.98 3

49. Knewstub Ron,50,NY 220.21 3

50. Kennedy Meghan,31,NY 210.86 3

51. Kellogg Bill,39,NY 201.95 3

52. Carlucci Pamela,44,NY 190.27 3

53. VanKerhove John,38,NY 186.46 2

54. Cavall Jason,30,NY 186.39 2

55. Fox Dan,39,NY 182.93 2

56. Doran John,42,NY 179.43 3

57. Licht Rob,38,NY 178.53 2

58. Tily Don,44,NY 177.20 3

Pebblehead Rankings:

(Name,Age,State Total Pts # of Events)

1. Evans Alan,36,NY 300.00 3

2. Gaffney Mark,32,NY 297.97 3

3. Steinbrecher Earl,35,NY 296.90 3

4. Jones James,45,NY 291.49 3

5. Meyer Thomas,25,NY 276.08 3

6. Ingall Tim,41,NY 272.16 3

7. Miner James,51,NY 268.93 3

8. Lockett Alan,43,NY 268.31 3

9. VanKerhove Dennis,40,NY 267.58 3

10. Reynolds Joe,55,NY 266.74 3

11. Grossman Linda,35,NY 265.85 3

12. Balander Audrey,43,NY 264.96 3

13. Marnell Lorrie,39,NY 258.77 3

14. Ryder Andrew,32,NY 254.44 3

15. Jones David,41,NY 253.41 3

16. Dean Derek,29,NY 251.79 3

17. Sharp Gillian,38,NY 250.12 3

18. Lockett Donna,42,NY 248.40 3

19. Cox Christopher,36,NY 246.29 3

20. McCauley Deborah,31,NY 246.09 3

21. Stiner John,38,NY 243.56 3

22. Dabes Joe,60,NY 242.99 3

23. Delaney Terry,43,NY 239.23 3

24. Stettler Katie,35,NY 238.47 3

25. Beckwith Paul,45,NY 235.56 3

26. Martinez Mario,48,NY 233.71 3

27. Hoch Jim,50,NY 232.70 3

28. Fogg James,22,NY 230.59 3

29. Sharps Robert,37,NY 227.48 3

30. Bauer Tessa,30,NY 227.01 3

31. Weiss David,51,NY 224.61 3

32. Bott John,41,NY 223.98 3

33. McMurry John,57,NY 221.08 3

34. Knewstub Ron,50,NY 220.21 3

35. Nix Tom,50,NY 218.69 3

36. Alba Sara,31,NY 214.09 3

37. Burbank Dave,40,NY 213.60 3

38. Lopata Daniel,31,NY 212.15 3

39. Kennedy Meghan,31,NY 210.86 3

40. Aigen Suzanne,46,NY 206.94 3

41. Lawhead Jeff,30,NY 204.13 3

42. Stanton Jennifer,27,NY 203.87 3

43. Koopman Heather,24,NY 203.85 3

44. Kibby Douglas,55,NY 203.22 3

45. Kellogg Bill,39,NY 201.95 3

46. O'Brien Kerry,26,NY 194.44 3

47. Ives John,50,NY 193.93 3

48. Dziedzic Douglas,38,NY 191.60 3

49. Chase Frank,52,NY 190.73 3

50. Carlucci Pamela,44,NY 190.27 3

51. Booth Mark,45,NY 188.15 3

52. VanKerhove John,38,NY 186.46 2

53. Cavall Jason,30,NY 186.39 2

54. Fox Dan,39,NY 182.93 2

55. Sholeen John,55,NY 180.70 3

56. Doran John,42,NY 179.43 3

57. Licht Rob,38,NY 178.53 2

58. Tily Don,44,NY 177.20 3