Elena Ormon and Rajpaul Pannu win Desert RATS

Posted on April 15, 2024•By John Kraijenbrink•News

Elena Ormon and Rajpaul Pannu win Desert RATS

Elena Ormon and Rajpaul Pannu (both United States) have won the 100 kilometres (2.072m+) at the Desert RATS Trail Running Festival in Fruita, the United States. Helen Mino Faukner and Justin Grunewald (both United States) were the fastests in the 50 kilometres (1.066m+) race.

Ormon was by far the strongest. With her time of 11 hours and 33 minutes she finished 10th overall. Carrie Koso (United States) needed almost two hours more to do the 99 kilometres: 13:30:02. Oana Mihalcea (Romenia) completed the podium. She finished in 13:59:52.

Road to Trail

Rajpaul Pannu wins Desert RATS Rajpaul Pannu (United States) won the men’s race in 9:19:35. The American won half February the American 100 mile road championship. “This 8 weeks turnaround to go from road running to technical trails has been one of the most challenging training cycles in recent memory”, he said on his Instagram. “Injuries and weird health issues became obstacles to overcome, as spending time rehabilitating, while getting both vertical and milage felt like solving a complex puzzle.”

Zach Hauer (United States) finished second in 9:28:06. Julien Chorier (France) completed the podium with a time of 9:45:10.

50 kilometres race

Helen Mino Faukner (United States) was the fastest on the 48,2 kilometres (1.066m+). With her time of 4:14:42 she finished 8th overall. Allison Baca (4:26:07) and Karis Scroggs (4:56:02), both also from the United States, finished second and third.

In the men’s race the whole podium was also American. Justin Grunewald won in 3:40:55. He beat Matthew Vira (3:42:11) and Jacob Banta (3:57:59).

Grunewald went out hard. Too hard he admitted afterwards. Yet he was able to hold on. Behind him Vira started more conservative, but slowly made his way up the field. “I was kind of hanging anywhere between fourth and sixth all day. At mile 20, I jumped into third and then around 25 I jumped into second and hung out from there. The course is deceivingly challenging, I think. Its single track, its rocky, you are winding out there. You definitely have to practice on that before you come out here.”

Next stop

The Desert RATS Trail Running Festival is part of the UTMB World Series. The next race on the UTMB circuit is Mount Yun in China.

John Kraijenbrink

I run for fun. I run to be in the mountains, in the forest. I run, because running fascinates me. That’s why I study all the science about running. What I discover, I share with you. To help you to be a better runner, but above all to help you having fun running.