Tackling the Mega

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CASTANEA - For only the second time in six years, an out-of-state competitor took the top spot in the Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect Saturday.

But, if the trend in numbers of participants from outside Pennsylvania continues to grow as it has in recent years, that may become more commonplace in the future.

In 2003, the first year for the event, about 130 people represented Pennsylvania and four other states - Maryland, New York, Ohio and New Hampshire. Nearly half the states in the country - 22, to be exact - were represented at this year's race, where registration was capped at 600, leaving 300 others on a waiting list.

Boyds, Md., native Steve Smith was first to cross the finish line, with a time of 4 hours, 45.34 minutes.

"This was awesome, just awesome," Smith said shortly after the race. "This is such a cool race because it's not your average trail race. It's really participant-oriented."

That atmosphere is what attracted the first time Megatransect participant, who been competing in trail runs for the last 10 years.

His initial interest the race was piqued when he heard a friend's mother, an Erie woman, was interested in participating in the trail run. So he visited its Web site at www.ultrahike.com.

"I thought, 'Microbrewery. Pig roast. Can't miss it,'" Smith said.

Organizers put together a welcome party for participants Friday night, complete with food, beverages and live music by local cover band Snug. Saturday morning breakfast offered choices of oatmeal, bagels, scrambled eggs, orange juice and coffee.

Available at three checkpoints on the trail were energy gels, granola bars, water, Gatorade, cookies, crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, candy, salted snacks and ibuprofen. The post-race party included a pig roast, pizza, hot dogs and beverages from Troeg's Brewing in Harrisburg.

"We really try to pamper the competitors," said Jeff Stover, event co-organizer.

It didn't take any pampering to entice Tim and Catherine Rogers of Jacksonville, Fla., though. Catherine stumbled upon the Megatransect Web site while looking for trail runs to participate in, and it was all downhill - maybe a lot of uphill, too - from there.

"I saw the scenery and thought, 'Oh, we've got to do this.' It looked really challenging, but a lot of fun, too," she said.

"We were astounded by the name alone. It sounded pretty major," Tim added.

The couple planned visits with Tim's family in upstate New York around the race, but not before traveling to North Carolina and South Carolina to practice trail running on higher elevations.

"We're totally flat-landers. The biggest thing in Florida is a bridge," said Tim.

To prepare in their home state, the couple ran whatever hills they could find and quite often on the beach. They also conditioned themselves to run in a warmer, more humid climate, making breathing more difficult.

"We think the colder weather is going to be an advantage for us," Tim said before the race.

Despite the large number of out-of-state participants this year, Stover said a lot more local people came out than in past years.

"We've got a two-fold thing happening. Local people are starting to discover the beauty in their backyards. And we've got people coming from far and wide, and more of them each year," Stover said.

Participants in previous years came from as far away as California, Texas and Nevada.

"We could've easily gone to 1,000 people this year," Stover said.

He cited logistics as the primary reason organizers capped registration at 600 for this year's event.

"I stood in line at [a local grocery store] the other day with 190 pounds of bananas. I couldn't imagine standing there with 300 pounds."