Courtesy: event press release

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Five years after giving up soccer to fully concentrate on ultra marathon running, Marcio Oliveira of Santos, Brazil, capitalized upon ideal weather conditions - a temperature in the 40s and 50s - to post his first overall victory at the 14th Sunmart Texas Trail Endurance Run in Huntsville State Park on Saturday. Oliveira, 35, of Santos, Brazil, covered the 50 mile multi-loop course through the park's trail system in 5 hours, 33 minutes, 42 seconds.

Dave Mackey, 34, of Boulder, Colo., who won the Sunmart 50K race in 2002, finished second in 5:58:54. Bob Sweeney, 36, of Rye Brook, N.Y., was third at 6:16:16.

Traci Amundson, 29, of Fort Worth, won the women's 50 mile race in 7:16:40 to defeat last year's champion, Connie Gardner, 40, of Medina, Ohio, who finished second at 7:37:10.

Kim Martin, 38, who is Gardner's Medina, Ohio, teammate, finished third in 7:44:25.

Oliveira set a swift pace from the start, despite losing his watch during the first few meters of the race's pre-dawn start. Oliveira's Brazilian countryman, Valmir Nunes, who won the 50 mile race in 1998 and 1999, set the early pace with Oliveira for three miles, but couldn't match the former soccer player's effort during the latter stages of the race and was forced to drop out with a torn hamstring.

"I'm very happy, because this is the first time I've ever won an individual race, and it's very special to me," said Oliveira, who is a professional runner. "I was concentrating on running a fast pace (today) so I could get out of the cold air. I liked this course, because I'm a strength runner and the soft footing was good for my type of running."

The 50K race was clearly dominated by two San Antonio athletes, Liza Hunter-Galvan, 34, who the women's winner in 3:35:48, and by Dave Terris, 40, who won the men's title at 3:24:37.

Hunter-Galvan, who is an eight-grade science teacher at Connell Middle School in San Antonio, also won the women's title at the San Antonio Marathon on Nov. 7 in 2:42.

Kathryn Scarborough, 24, of Martinsville, was second at 3:55:09. Chris Purslow, 36, of Waco, finished third in 4:03:25.

Hunter-Galvan, who is also the mother of four children, jumped to a fast start with a small group of men's runners. But by the end of the second 12.5-mile loop, Hunter-Galvan, a New Zealand native, was in third place with only two men ahead of her.

"I ran really fast the first lap, but I decided to run slower and take it easier the last lap," said Hunter-Galvan, whose time broke Russian runner Albina Gallyamova's 2001 course record by nearly six minutes, was a distance standout at the University of Texas, San Antonio. "I really didn't want to break the record by too much, so I'd have a chance to come back and break it again."

Jim Harrington, 38, of Marquette, Mich., finished second behind Terris in the men's 50K at 3:30:44. Joshua Urban, 33, of The Woodlands, was third in 3:39:54.

The largest ultra marathon event in the United States, the Sunmart races attracted over 1,000 competitors from 38 states and six countries.

For complete results, click here.