In its final year, Oregon’s most grueling ultramarathon brought more than 150 runners through the Siskiyou Mountains — including an Ashland pharmacist running in memory of his daughter
By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news
Anxiously waiting at Lithia Park around noon on Sunday, Sept. 14, a grandpa and grandson sat in folding chairs with little food and sleep in their system, wondering whether or not their loved one was going to cross the 100-mile ultramarathon finish line.
The duo drove day and night through the U.S. Forest Service roads from race checkpoint to checkpoint to provide support for runner and Ashland hospital pharmacist Tim Smith and serve as his “crew.” Smith’s father wasn’t sure Smith was going to finish his first 100-miler in time, considering the last 10 miles are the hardest and he only started ultra-running in May.
They weren’t the only loved ones awaiting their runner and watching finished racers hobble around.
Starting at 6 a.m. in Williams on Saturday, Sept. 13, just over 150 runners raced 100 miles through the Siskiyou Mountains, climbing 25,000 feet of elevation with a time limit of 34 hours.
The 13th annual Pine to Palm 100 marked a record high completion as 80% of runners crossed the finish line in Ashland’s Lithia Park. Some finished as early as midnight Sunday, while others almost didn’t meet the 4 p.m. cutoff time.
Known as the P2P100 by the ultrarunning community, this year’s 100-miler was the last, as announced by renowned ultrarunner, race founder and director Hal Koerner in February. Runners aged 19 to 65 traveled from across the country and, in some cases, the world, to race Koerner’s final P2P100.
Medical director and Ashland local Kelly Lange has been involved with the race ever since it started 16 years ago. “The whole running community of Ashland comes together to do this, so I get to see all my friends for a couple of days. That’s what I’ll miss the most,” Lange said. “Hal has basically single-handedly built the trail running community in Ashland.”
Owner and operator of the Rogue Valley Runners store in Ashland since 2003, Koerner created the race in his own backyard in 2010 with a group of friends. The ultramarathon became the first 100-miler in Oregon and “probably the hardest 100-miler in Oregon,” Koerner told Ashland.news. “It’s for a certain type of runner that we just weren’t getting.”
One racer, Jamaal Ryan, who graduated from the Ashland School District in 1996, described ultrarunners as “crazy knuckleheads like me that all have a few loose screws upstairs. Nobody normal races 100 miles.”
After cancelling the race in 2017 due to smoke and for two years during the pandemic, they faced dwindling numbers. With only 36 finishers last year and the continued wildfires and smoke, Koerner said to Ashland.news, “I can’t rely on having this race on this weekend in September. No one will sign up. Unfortunately, now, all the other races are having to deal with the fire and smoke as well.”
Koerner never would’ve expected this year’s turnout and the 184 registrants, he said.
“To have that feel of what it had 10 years ago … it’s come full circle,” Chris Jones, who has run the P2P100 since 2012, told Ashland.news.
Koerner also said the lowest temperatures since 2010 and a little rain during the race were “testaments” to the success — and that the race wasn’t canceled.
But he continued to say that a runner’s inspiration is what matters most. “For someone like Tim, who has faced a lot of adversity, maybe this is the place to find some calm and greater meaning in it.”
Meaning runs deeper for one racer
“Everyone’s out here searching for something,” Koerner said to Smith, congratulating him after crossing the finish line. “You already found it.”
Smith ran for his daughter, Kharma, who passed away six years ago at 11 years and 11 months old from a rare and aggressive form of cancer, NUT carcinoma. He also ran to raise funds for The Family House in Grants Pass in her name to show his appreciation of the local version of The Ronald McDonald house in Portland — where his family stayed free of cost during Kharma’s 21-day hospitalization.
After a little over an hour of his family waiting, at 1:11 p.m. Smith finished the race in 31 hours and 1 minute with his eyes half open, out of breath and unable to speak. With his hands on his knees, tears streamed down his face. After a few minutes, he gained the ability to hug his family, friends, and coworkers who helped him sit down and untie his shoes.
Trevor Giroux, who met Smith at a previous race and encouraged him to sign up for the 100-miler, described Smith’s feat as an “absolutely incredible accomplishment.” Giroux noted the leap from Smith’s longest race of 33 miles the previous weekend to completing a 100-mile race.
“It was clear from the outset that Tim was struggling,” Giroux said. “There were moments where I honestly think anyone else would’ve dropped in the first half of the race. And then it doesn’t get easier in the back half of the race.”
“His attitude and commitment never wavered so that’s why he’s here at the finish line,” Giroux continued. “It all comes down to grit and determination.”
Hurting and unable to feel his feet, Smith said to Ashland.news, “There were times that I cried tears of pain, other times tears of joy. I was in the pain cave multiple times, but there was no way I was quitting. I felt my daughter the entire time. Kharma was with me.”
On the trail, Smith kept thinking about disappointing people.
“All the people who have donated. I didn’t know,” Smith said, starting to tremble, “what they would think if I didn’t finish the race.”
Ashland.news paused the interview to get medical attention as Smith started violently shaking and thought he was going into shock. That’s when Ashland.news and the medical director found out Smith wasn’t just experiencing nausea, vomiting, and shakes on the trail. He avoided telling anyone just how much his body was breaking down during the race in fear of being pulled. Now, it was catching up to him as his body temperature dropped.
With warming blankets, sunlight, food, and liquids, Smith’s body eventually leveled out and he attended the 4:30 p.m. award ceremony.
The award ceremony and closing remarks of the P2P100
Koerner, runners and their loved ones gathered around the Lithia Park amphitheater for the award ceremony, forming a crowd of about 100. After recognizing the top three men and women, Koerner thanked everyone for being a part of the race, particularly the 200 volunteers who made possible every year. He asked each runner to stand and share what kept them going.
Runners took inspiration from all over: the volunteers, other runners, and support from their friends and family. Like many others, one racer said they kept going because “There’s no next time.”
The ceremony ended with an award presented to Koerner by Jones, a longtime P2P100 runner.
Jones said, “In my view, the most significant thing Hal’s done is be the race director for Pine to Palm 100 over the last 16 years. I want to present a small award for all the blood, sweat, tears and diarrhea on the trails and for all he’s given to this running community.”
Crediting his family, Rogue Valley Runners store employees, and the runners, Koerner said, “I wake up every day knowing you’ll all show up one way or another. To see you guys out there, even if it’s 40 or 1,000 of you, it still means the exact same thing to me.”
Koerner plans to honor the race with a marked tree somewhere on the course. “I hope that all of us can find a way there and run to it.”
While the ceremony was over, the journey wasn’t. Runners who camped the night before — about 75% of them — either drove or rode a bus back to Williams to gather their belongings.
One runner shouted out, “Where are the palm trees?”
Koerner responded, “Palm trees lined the city streets back in the day.”
The “Pine to Palm” title was Koerner’s effort to call back to Ashland’s history as a place of “rest and relaxation,” he told Ashland.news. It signifies the point-to-point journey from the middle of the wilderness to Ashland, which was “always considered the town where the pine trees meet the palm trees.”
Koerner intends to add a 100-mile experience to the Siskiyou Out Back races. He wants to start the process of developing a manageable course with Ashland locals for a July race, earlier in the summer, with less threat of wildfires and smoke.
Email Ashland.news Snowden intern Sydney Seymour at [email protected].
Related story: Father set to run 100 miles in honor of his daughter’s memory — and to help others (Aug. 31, 2025)
