Local runner is tops again in Tahoe Triple

Endurance runner Sean Meissner. photo by Elise Gourguechon

Finishing a marathon is quite an accomplishment. Local endurance runner Sean Meissner tripled that feat, running marathons on three successive days to win the Lake Tahoe Triple event for the third year in a row on October 9-11.

Meissner ran 3:08, 3:08, and 3:12 respectively on the course that circumnavigates Lake Tahoe -- over 78 miles at elevations ranging up to 7,000 feet.

On the third marathon day, Meissner and the other 65 runners involved in the Triple were joined by about 500 runners who were running the Lake Tahoe Marathon, and Meissner finished an impressive seventh overall in the field.

Meissner's overall time of 9:29:19 was his best effort in the three years that he has run and won the event.

Day one began with a steep three-mile downhill which Meissner had learned in previous years to be patient about so as not to "pound his quadracep muscles to death."

He said, "It was a beautiful sunrise at Inspiration Point, which made it a great place to start such an endeavor."

The course finished with a three-mile climb up to 7,000-foot Spooner Summit.

Meissner won the first day's race by about five minutes.

On the second day, the eventual second place finisher, who was Meissner's key competition throughout the event, stretched out about a five minute lead by the halfway point, but Meissner was able to reel him back in and finished just under a minute behind to maintain a four minute lead going into the final day.

Meissner kept his eye on his challenger for the first 12 miles of day three before taking the lead and wrapping up the win.

His final margin of victory was 11 minutes.

"Miles 15-20 are very difficult, so it really helped having the other runners with us on the last day because I was able to chase other runners who weren't doing the Triple," he said.

Meissner, who works for The Foot Zone in Bend, runs a number of ultramarathon events each year.