This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Snowbasin • Brett Hales made quite the first impression on Snowbasin Resort and the XTERRA Trail Run National Championship.
Although he lives in Layton — about 35 miles away from Snowbasin - Hales had never raced on the picturesque trails at Snowbasin until Sunday. All he did in his first XTERRA Trail Run was win the overall National Championship.
"It was phenomenal, I loved it," said Hales, 28, who was competing in his first-ever trail race. "Holy cow, that was so addicting. Looking left and seeing the valley, looking right and seeing the valley, it was unlike anything I've ever done before."
Winning, however, is nothing new for the former track and cross country runner at Weber State University. Just last Saturday he captured the Big Cottonwood half-marathon in Salt Lake City with a blistering time of 1:03:07.
"There was a lot of downhill in last weekends race so my quads were pretty tender all week so I was waiting to see how my body would feel. Didn't decide to do this until 10'o'clock last night and I had no idea what to expect having never done a trail race. It was amazing. A little wind, little rain, critters running everywhere, and there were so many people in the race but I felt like I was the only one out there."
By mile 3.5 on the run it looked like Hales was the only one out there as he had already established a commanding lead over eventual runner-up finisher Mario Mendoza from Bend, Oregon. Hales winning time was 1:18:18, more than six-minutes ahead of Mendoza. Nathan Peters came in third just 10 seconds later.