August 17, 2021

Rachel Johnson second at USATF Mountain Running Championships in Oregon; qualifies for 2022 world championships

qualifies for 2022 world championships

photo: Mike Scott

Results

The 2021 USATF Mountain Running Championships were held on Sunday (15-Aug) in Mt. Hood, Oregon. The race started at 3,600 feet above sea level at the Mt Hood Ski Bowl Resort and then climbed to 5000 feet, the high point, and then descended back to the start area.

Rachel Johnson, 28, of Lynchburg finished second in a higly competive field. Her time over the 6 mile course was 46:11. The next four women closely followed her across the line; all within one minute of Johnson. The race was won by Grayson Murphy of Montana in a time of 43:22.

Johnson, the former women's distance coach at Liberty University, was a the 2010 Nike Nationals High School champion and a six-time all-American at Baylor University.

The race served as the qualifying event for the 2022 World Mountain and Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand February 10-13, 2022. By virtue of her second place finish Johnson earned a spot on Team USA for the world championships.

IN THEIR WORDS - Rachel Johnson

This was my first trail race so I was mostly excited to try something new. I started running in trails because I was feeling a little burned out from racing on the track this spring so for about a month in May I stopped workouts and started running easy runs in trails (mostly on the Liberty Mountain Trails and Appalachian Trail). The trails truly refreshed my love for running! Every trail is different so I can't compare my run or paces from one day to the next and I loved the beautiful views and the feeling of being alone in nature.

Going into the race I had no idea what to expect. I wanted to make the World Mountain Championship team but I also knew that I was new to this type of racing and that there was a deep field of really talented women out there. I tried to find a healthy balance between doing my best and competing hard but also keeping the love I had found for running and trails alive by not putting too much pressure on myself.

The course was about 1 mile up a single track, 1 mile down a fire road, 1.5 up again in single tracks and fire roads, then 2.5 down a single track trail filled with switchbacks. I started out in the top 15-20 because I knew there was fierce competition and I didn't want to spend all my energy on the first uphill. I got into a good rhythm and was probably around 10th place at the top of the first uphill. I think my training for track helped me on the downhill because I was able to get pretty fast on the fire road down and pick off some more runners to be right with second place when we started the climb. Allie McLaughlin and I stuck together and pushed each other on the mile and a half uphill, then I was able to move pretty well the last 2.5 miles down and hang onto second! Going into the race I was more nervous about the downhill than the uphill- it was hard for me to just trust myself and fully send it on the downhills in practice but I got in the zone and felt really fluid the whole way down. It was really awesome to see Grayson Murphy crush the course record too, she was flying!

The race course was the most beautiful place I had ever raced (you don't get mountain views like this on a track) and the course was fast and well marked so everyone at Go Beyond Racing and USATF did an incredible job of putting on a great race. It was an awesome first trail racing experience and I'll definitely be back for more trail racing this fall!