By Mike Casper
State College, Pa – Runners experienced peak fall foliage and records fell at the 24th Tussey Mountainback 50 Mile Relay and Ultramarathon held October 22. Both the ultramarathon and the relay saw competitive finishes, and new course records were set at the 50-kilometer event.
Ultra Tenacity
In her first round of the 50-mile loop, Bianca Pourmussa, of Philadelphia, earned top honors in the women’s category, trading off the lead multiple times before triumphing over Jennifer Garis, of nearby Port Matilda, by less than three minutes.
“I began the race with a pack of runners, including Jennifer,” recalled Pourmussa. “We actually had a nice chat at around Mile 8. I was aiming to hold a comfortable pace and get a feel for the hills. She is a really strong uphill runner and passed me on all of the uphill sections. I have a lot of fun pounding the downhills and flats and would pass her on those sections. So, our competing strengths made for a tight and exciting race.” At the mile 41 aid station, the two were running within 30 seconds of one another. “From Miles 41–46, she was giving an astounding effort on the uphills and reached the final aid station ahead of me. Once I hit the final aid station, someone told me that only downhill remained, so I decided to make a final push for first. I barely passed Jennifer with around two miles remaining. Running this race with her was competitive, thrilling, and she has inspired me to run more uphills!”
Pourmussa called the course “visually stunning” and enjoyed the interplay of ultramarathoners and relay teams. “Combining the 50 milers and relay teams on the same course was a great decision because there were always people around to chase and/or run with, and it was fantastic to have cars full of people cheering us on for the duration of the race.”
Brett Mason and Garrett Campbell, both of Pittsburgh, took first and second place in the men’s 50-mile category.
“I chose this race because I’d heard through several running friends that its terrain was well suited for me,” said Mason, who was mostly a road and marathon runner before getting into ultras in 2018. With a steady pace early on, Mason was leading but didn’t want to ask by how much.
“I felt really solid through Mile 30, having only had a small rough patch in the mid-30s, which I believe to have been the latent recovery of the big climb in the early 20s. I tried to stay within myself and just keep moving forward as steadily as possible, be it fast or a shuffle when needed. There were some incredible views along the way, when openings in the trees allowed for some sweeping views that spanned miles into the distance. Even as a native western Pennsylvanian all of my life, I was still pretty taken by it.” Mason stopped looking at his watch and ran completely by feel, eventually finishing in 6:38:37, 19 minutes ahead of Campbell.
Sarah Morrison, of Philadelphia, won the women’s category in the 50K race while lopping 33 minutes off the course record. Morrison, who has run the relay before, reveled in the 50K course. “I loved the double track trail off of the road to climb up from Miles 22–24. It was peaceful and colorful, exciting and motivating all at once! I found relief and solitude as well as a sense of second coming/refreshing mental state running solo through the trail in the mountains. Tussey is one of my favorite races, and I hope to be back next year or at least at some point to complete the 50-mile feat!”
Sam Lapp, of Pittsburgh, took top honors in the men’s 50K category, slicing more than four minutes off the course record. “It was great to feel like I could race at full capacity,” said Lapp, who hadn’t raced in almost two years due to an injury. “I was hoping for some company, but nobody came out at the pace I took out of the gate and up the first three-mile climb. I didn’t see anyone after the first mile, but I still enjoyed Rothrock in its full October glory and got smiles at the aid stations.” While he was just running by feel, Lapp did have last year’s course record in mind. “All of the first 15 miles, and all of the flats/downhills, felt great. The climbs were really tough though, even tougher than I expected, especially the Bear Meadows Road climb (beginning around Mile 19).”
It was a milestone day and first ultra for both Chris Weller, of Westminster, CO, and Steven Getselevich, of Scarsdale, NY. The two attended NYU together more than 10 years ago and have raced several events since, beginning in 2016, including half marathons, triathlons and a full Ironman in 2021. The two reeled in the 50-miler together under the course’s 12-hour limit.
“Last year I moved from the East Coast to Colorado,” said Weller, “and we wondered what the next challenge would be. Steven found this race and the 50-miler looked perfect for us. So, unlike past years, this time we trained independently. But we still followed the same 19-week program, and it paid off!”
Relay Wrangles
Forty-one relay teams of two to eight runners took on the 12 segments that comprise the 50-mile loop course. Anne Menefee, Winter Parts, and Justin Waraniak, as a team of three from State College, PA, dubbed Michael Palumbo Memorial Relay, earned the top spot, finishing just 4 minutes ahead of the second-place team, Early Worms, from State College and nearby Lewistown. The Palumbo team name was an apparent jab at a friend, Michael Palumbo, of State College, who was taking on – and effectively bossed – his first 50 miler on this course that same day.
“I thought it would be fun if I could put our team in the lead at the start, so I took Leg 1 fairly hard,” said Parts, who was able to maintain a lead at the crest of the hill. “After that, we had a lot of good back and forth between our team and the Early Worms.” The two teams passed each other a couple of times throughout the race. “We had a good time talking with them at the transition zones. When we were at TZ6 waiting for our runners to come in, one of the Early Worms said that she was going to be anticipating me coming up behind her at some point during Leg 7, and I was very motivated to try to catch up, but I didn’t quite make up enough ground to catch her on that leg. Before that, during Leg 6, Anne said that she was hoping to stay with Alex (Monroe) from the Early Worms for a bit when he passed her, to have some extra motivation while going up that hill. But she said that Alex just rocketed by her, so there was no chance of staying with him for more than about 2 seconds.” Monroe was a 2020 Olympic trials qualifier, with a half marathon PR of 1:01:50 and a 5k PR of 13:36. “I didn’t envy Anne’s position on that leg, and I knew that I was going to lose ground for us when I was up against him on Leg 10.”
By the end of Leg 10, the Early Worms had a sizeable lead on the Palumbo team, but Waraniak pushed the pace on Leg 11 and put team Palumbo back in the lead with a meaningful gap. “Then Anne sealed the deal with a great finish on Leg 12. It was great to be able to hang out with the other runners, and quite exciting to watch Alex do some really speedy running.”
“When I got the (final) handoff from Justin, I had no idea how close other teams were,” said Menefee. “I just ran as hard as I could and didn’t look back all the way to the finish. I know Leg 12 like the back of my hand, and I felt like I was really able to fly the last few miles. I was honestly surprised by our time and finish. We all just came out to have a good time, and winning the race was a bonus.”
Among four teams in the women’s relay category, a foursome named Are You 4 Real (Anna Barone, Becky Brigman, Erin Morath, and Laura Tyson) took top honors by eight minutes.
Twenty-seven teams competed in the mixed category, with the title claimed by the three-person Michael Palumbo Memorial Relay team, which was also the first mixed team to consist of men’s, women’s and nonbinary runners.
Ten teams represented the men’s category, which was dominated by a five-person team, The Bloody Marys (Chris Azzolino, Dimitry Belogorodsky, Vadim Belogorodsky, Matthew Rubin and Blaze Szyszko).
The military relay category featured an eight-person team from Penn State Navy ROTC (Shane Conrad, Emmanuel Geishauser, Alexander Landis, Shane McAdams, Annika Miller, Steven Mount, Noah Ogden Tristan Ritter) that finished just six minutes behind The Bloody Marys.
Old Men and Young Chicks
Youth and age typically play a big part in this event. The overall age range of runners spanned from 8 to 103.
The Young Chicks of the Mountain, in their second appearance, had a very successful race day. The trio of youngsters, Norah Harpster, 11, Ella Raish, 12, and Elsa Raish, 9, all had a great time. Ella Raish even went so far as to say that Tussey Mountainback is her favorite day of the year – even more than Christmas. The team changed things up a bit from 2022. Elsa ran Legs 3 and 8, Ella ran 2, 7, and 12, which was her first time doing three legs, and she felt great. Norah Harpster ran Legs 5 and 10 and ran well on both. “We actually never get to Tussey to practice,” said Ella and Elsa’s mom, Victoria Raish, “but Norah has lots of Tussey-like roads on her farm, so we did do long runs together there. The strategy is just to survive and have fun.” Victoria Raish said the girls are training hard for cross country, “so they often do this race on tired legs so the goal is to save their legs. Tussey made Norah into a Biofreeze user today, and Elsa was thinking of eating Oreos the whole time she was on Leg 8.”
The Old Men of the Mountains, comprised of eight runners 65 or older, executed their 17th consecutive circuit of the 50-mile course with precision under the guidance of team captain George Etzweiler, a sprightly 103 years young. Etzweiler’s own 3.4-mile sojourn on Leg 5 included two three-minute pauses, but he finished the route with a smile.
Each year, in preparation for race day, Etzweiler calculates the expected performance for each of the team’s eight runners, based on the distance, estimated pace and percent grade of hills over the course’s 12 segments that comprise the 50-mile loop in Rothrock State Forest. When the team’s final runner crossed the finish line near the end of the day, the team’s cumulative finishing time was accurate to the minute of his estimation.
Proceeds from the 2023 Tussey Mountainback support Nittany Greyhounds, a greyhound adoption organization based in Centre County. Nittany Greyhounds provides care and finds new homes for retired racing greyhounds. For more information about or to donate to Nittany Greyhounds, visit https://nittanygreys.org/. Donations can also be made via the beneficiary page on the Mountainback website.
Details about the Mountainback’s events and registration information are available at www.tusseymountainback.com. To learn about volunteer opportunities, visit the volunteer page of the event website or send an email to volunteer@tusseymountainback.com.
At Age 103, This Retired Engineer’s Work is Never Done
By Mike Casper
State College, Pa – The running of the 2023 running of the Tussey Mountainback 50 Mile Relay and Ultramarathon race in Central Pennsylvania officially closed at 7 p.m. on October 22, but that was hardly the end of the story this year for George Etzweiler, the indefatigable captain of the Old Men of the Mountains relay team.
I stopped in on him this past week to find him lunching and reading the news. He’d found a puzzling news article that irritated him.
“These researchers at MIT say they can harness 40% of the sun’s heat for solar panels,” Etzweiler, now 103 years old, told me. “Forty percent of the sun’s heat could melt the earth! I have fits when I read things like this. I used to be a paper grader,” he chuckled.
Between his work as an instructor in the Navy and as a professor at Penn State, Etzweiler estimated that he taught over 7,500 students. Etzweiler taught electrical engineering at Penn State “from the fall of 1957 to 1994, when I was 74,” he added.
This was not the first time since the relay race that I had caught up with Etzweiler. On two other occasions we connected by chance as he was completing workouts on Saturday mornings on the seemingly eternal switchback climbs of Laurel Run Road, accompanied by two team members and his son, Larry Etzweiler.
On this particular day at his State College home, George Etzweiler was having a hearty bowl of soup that included a host of good things. He rattled them off. “Black beans, garbanzo beans, Ezekiel sprouted grain cereal, cauliflower, peas, carrots, green beans, edamame beans, lima beans, vegetable broth, and a little salmon added for flavor,” Etzweiler summarized.
While that combination may sound healthy, there’s got to be something more than Etzweiler’s inclusive list of ingredients that makes the magic happen on race day.
Each year, in preparation for race day, Etzweiler calculates the expected performance for each of the team’s eight runners, based on the distance, estimated pace and percent grade of hills over the course’s 12 segments that comprise the 50-mile loop in Rothrock State Forest. When the team’s final runner crossed the finish line near the end of the day, the team’s cumulative finishing time was accurate to the minute of his estimation.
As I thanked him for his time, Etzweiler turned back to his tablet and the day’s latest news.
Categories: Race Coverage
Runner's Gazette 
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