Andy is fairly new to the sport of ultramarathoning. He ran his first ultra in a bout of sibling rivalry with his brother, finishing the 2008 Brew to Brew 44 miler (Kansas City to Lawrence) in just over 7 hours. He used this race to qualify for the Vermont 100, which he finished in 21:12:52 From there he began to train for competition, and began the 2009 season finishing the Brew to Brew in 5:11:11, winning by over 25 minutes and beating the 15 year course record. From there, he won the inaugural and strenuous Blue Canyon 100k, finishing just a few minutes in front of fellow teammate Mark Gilligan. Some other highlights of the year were: finishing 6th at the White River National Championship 50 miler in 7:18, and 4th at Leadville in 18:56.

We are very excited to have Jen Pfeifer join the team this year. She started running in high school and ran on and off through college at UC Santa Cruz. She moved to Sacramento in 1994 and started off as a road racer but moved to ultras in 1996. She has two children ages 22 months and 4 years old. Jen has been a history teacher at Ponderosa High School since 1997. Her running history is very impressive. She was an Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier in 2006, won the American River 50 in 2001, 2002 and 2004 and in 2001 and 2002 she was a member of the US World 100 km team and ran in Cleder, France placing 4th. Welcome Jen to the team!

We are pleased to welcome Karalee Morris to the team roster. Karalee is a certified pilates teacher and an avid yoga practitioner. She first began running in 2002. 2007 was when her love of trail running brought her to the ultra distance. Winning the Catalina Off-Road Marathon and Pirates Cove 50k, where she set a new female course record. She went on to a third win in Reno at Silver State 50M and still holds the age group record to date. Karalees stellar racing record continued in 2008, winning the Carmel Valley Trail 50k, second female at the Quad Dipsea, and won plus set a new female course record at Rodeo Beach Trail 30k in 2:49. During 2009 Karalee has earned 5 consecutive wins in both trail and road races: Run on the Sly 20M, Sierra Nevada Endurance Runs- Marathon, Gold Country 21M, Four Bridges Half-Marathon and Apple Hill Harvest Run (8.5).

A former competitive cyclist Mark Lantz started running ultras four years ago. In that short time, he has won the USA Track and Field National Masters 100K Trail Championship, competed in the Pacific Association/USATF Ultra Grand Prix series, winning the Open class in 2004 and Master class in 2006 in addition to being their Ultrarunner of the Year in 2006. He also was the winner of the Ultrarunner.net series in 2005 and set the course record for the Run on the Sly 50 Miler in the process. The 2007 season has been his best season to date with a fantastic American River (4th overall and 1st Master with a 6:23:55 time), 11th at the Miwok 100km, National 100K Masters Trail Champion and 3rd in the Montrail Cup Series.

Mark comes to us from a road background with a marathon personal best of 2:33:09 and 10k of 32:38. Recently he started trail racing and has some recent very impressive results. Last year he finished the American River 50 miler in 6:44:58 placing 4th master, finished the Way Too Cool 50k in 4:03:42 and was 3rd Master (7th overall) at National 100k Trail Championships in Washington.

Rena has been active in the Ultra Running scene since 1995 and has over 140 ultra marathon finishes to her credit. She has claimed victories in numerous Northern California races such as Skyline 50k, Quicksilver 50m, Run on the Sly 50m, and Rio Del Lago 100. In 2004, Rena ran as a member of the US 100K team in The Netherlands to a 100K PR of 8:54. More recently Rena is the women's winner of the 2009 Rucky Chucky 50K. We are very happy to have Rena on the team as she is passionate about trail running and enjoys introducing the sport to newcomers.

Rob started competing in 1987 racing road bikes in Japan. He raced Expert Cross Country Mountain and Cyclocross for Bontrager back in 1995 and after graduate school transitioned into running. In 2006 he placed 2nd overall at the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 miler and in 2007 placed 4th overall at the Javelina 100 Miler in Arizona with a time of 18:08:58. This past year he won both the Angel Island and Run on the Sly 50k’s. In 2009 Rob was 2nd overall at USATF/RRCA National 100 Mile Trail Championships also winning the US National Masters Championship title in this event.