Leininger and DiMercurio Win at Maggie Valley Moonlight Run

Mark Leininger

Nicole DiMercurio

ASICS GTC-ELITE's Mark Leininger and Nicole DiMercurio won the men's and women's overall titles in the 34th running of the Maggie Valley Moonlight Run in the North Carolina mountains under a "half-moon" on Saturday night. Taking the lead immediately after the 8:30 pm start, Leininger ran solo the entire 8 kilometers and finished with a course record of 25:08. 

DiMercurio followed teammate Alison Parris through the first six kilometers before taking the lead going back up the hill after the turnaround toward the finish. She also set a course record with a time of 27:57 on the route which runs from the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds uphill to Ghost Town, then back down highway 19 before turning around and heading back uphill to the finish near the start. Parris finished second among women with a time of 28:24. 

Two of their teammates, Chris Caldwell and Kimberly Ruck, ran the event as a "tempo" effort in their training cycle and finished 4th and 3rd among their respective genders. Teammates Ricky Flynn and new addition Dylan Doss made the trip to Maggie Valley with the group, but did not run. 

GTC-ELITE is sponsored by ASICS, the 43-year old Greenville Track Club, Performance Therapy, Greenville Health System's North Greenville Hospital, ScanSource, Soleus Running Watches, Boston Bill Sunglasses, The TD Bank Foundation, The Kroc Center, Carolina Spine and Rehab, The Proaxis Running Academy, ElliptiGO, the Bare Minimum Track Club and generous individual contributors.

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Dylan Doss, Mark Leininger, Chris Caldwell, Ricky Flynn, Kimberly Ruck, Nicole DiMercurio and Alison Parris.

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