A finish line, a first step completed

Rain turned parts of the American River 50-Mile Endurance Run course into a sloppy slog from Sacramento to Auburn, with Folsom's Erik Skaden and Reno's Jenny Capel persevering to top the men's and women's fields.Skaden, 35, averaged just more than a 7½-minute-mile pace to finish the race in 6 hours 22 minutes.Capel, whose time was just more than 7 hours 14 minutes, led a strong women's field that counted four finishers among the top 15.Capel, daughter of well-known ultramarathoner Roland Martin, described the run as a challenge for runners. Strong headwinds and rain pounded participants early on. The final 1,000-foot climb to the finish line from the American River canyon floor was a slippery ascent for many."It was pretty rough," Capel said. "I've never run a race in conditions like this."Skaden, who will be back in Auburn for the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run on June 23 and 24, said he would have normally put off a run if he was training, or if weather was similar to Saturday's. But Skaden was looking past Saturday's win to late June. Last year, Skaden finished second in the Western States run. "This is all about Western States," he said.Saturday's weather forecast likely played a role in about 60 American River 50 entrants not making it to the start line, organizer Greg Soderlund said.The run would likely see very few of the 496 participants who started drop out, though, he said. The AR50 usually has about a 98 percent completion rate, he said.For about 15 percent of runners, the run would be an important component of training for the Western States 100 - with Saturday's rain and mud standing in for snow and ice at higher elevations and 100-degree temperatures that mark the grueling Squaw Valley-to-Auburn ultra marathon in June."It tells runners where they're at," Soderlund said. "You can normally take your time and triple that for Western States."For a full list of finishers, got to www.capitalroadrace.com.The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.