Alta woman dusts field in Northstar Mountain Run

Kristin Walstad can scoot up a mountain.

A week after winning the women’s division in the 33rd annual Squaw Mountain Run, the 41-year-old Alta resident outdistanced the field to capture the overall win in the Northstar Mountain Run on Sunday.

Walstad, who has earned a handful of top finishes in Tahoe trail runs in recent years, including wins in the Northstar Mountain Run in 2010 and 2011, posted a time of 1 hour, 1 minute, 3 seconds.

Shane Whitney, 39, of Lodi finished runner-up in a time of 1:04:19, and Stacey Armijo, 37, of Rocklin was third overall and the second woman in 1:05:03.

The run was originally set to follow a 10.6-kilometer course from the Village at Northstar, at 6,350 feet, up the Village Run to the top of the Tahoe Zephyr Express, at 7,894 feet (the course topped out at 8,383 feet on Mt. Pluto). The race actually measured closer to 11.6 kilometers, however, before spitting runners out at the finish line near the Zephyr Lodge.

Matt Farrington, 31, of South Lake Tahoe finished fourth overall in a time of 1:07.19, while 16-year-old Jeffrey Chase of Fort Worth, Texas, rounded out the top five in 1:08:48.

Truckee’s Jim Telling, 55, finished eighth, posting a time of 1:11:03. Eric Saathoff of Tahoe Vista was 14th in 1:14:32, David Simon of Incline Village was 15th in 1:16:24, and Stephen Camp of South Lake Tahoe was 33rd in 1:27:59.

Dolores Bergmann of Chester, who often competes, and fares well, in Tahoe-area races, was the third woman and 12th overall in 1:12:38.

In addition to her past wins in the Northstar and Squaw mountain runs, Walstad has victories this year in the Run to the Beach 10K and the Burton Creek Trail Run half marathon.

Sunday marked the sixth Northstar Mountain Run, which is now put on by Big Blue Adventure. For full results, which were not yet available Tuesday, go to www.bigblueadventure.com.