Bike Race, Marathon Take Over Rural Healdsburg

There were two large athletic events in rural Healdsburg over the weekend, both of them an annual thing: a world-famous bike race called Levi’s GranFondo and a spring marathon out at Lake Sonoma. Both got started first thing Saturday morning. For the bike race, according to event organizers, a group of at least 1,500 cyclists tackled a series of routes along roads in Windsor, the Healdsburg countryside and the surrounding area. The most difficult of these routes — which goes by the daunting name “The Growler” — reportedly attracted a few dozen “seasoned and storied athletes” who raced along a grueling, mountainous, 140-mile course “as difficult as some of the most challenging single-day professional road races in the world.” Organizers say they split a pool of $55,000 in prize money between the top five finishers in both the men’s and women’s Growler races. “Started in 2009 by former pro cyclist Levi Leipheimer, an ex-Sonoma County resident now living in the Tahoe area, Levi’s GranFondo supports the King Ridge Foundation, an organization benefiting at-risk youth,” the Press Democrat reports. While all this was happening, a couple of simultaneous running events on Saturday drew hundreds of competitors to the north end of the Dry Creek Valley: The Lake Sonoma 50, which the PD calls “the region’s premier ultramarathon,” and the “shorter-but-still arduous” Lake Sonoma Marathon. (Not to be confused with the 100-mile “California Fall Classic” race that takes place at Lake Sonoma each fall.) Last Friday, a local group called the Trail Sisters from the Healdsburg Running Company also held a half marathon along Lake Sonoma trails, as a sort of pre-party for the big Saturday events. Keep your eye out for a story on the Lake Sonoma races — and who won them — in this week’s issue of the Healdsburg Tribune, as well! (Source: Levi’s Granfondo & LakeSonoma50.com & Healdsburg Tribune & California Fall Classic)