SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Former Heppner resident to run Barkley 50K
doing that.” She continued
saying she never thought of
herself as a distance runner,
although she did a handful
of 5K races.
While attending school
in Heppner she remembers
Mr. Grant and Mrs. Gentry
making the PE classes run
a mile up the hill behind the
fairgrounds and that every-
one dreaded it. She said she
remembers seeing Mr. and
Mrs. Beck running from
Heppner to Lexington be-
Just after turning 40,
she ran her first half-mara-
thon. Of that race, she said,
“I wasn’t sure if I could run
13.1 miles. I wasn’t fast but
I was a lot stronger than I
thought I would be.” Just
over a year later and eight
more half-marathons, she
ran a marathon. A mentor
and local running legend,
Chris Regan, gave her some
advice, “Marathons hurt so
you just need to tell your
brain to tell your legs to
Jennifer and her sister Tracy Rankin.
Jennifer Rankin shows off her marathon medal.
Former Heppner resi-
dent, Jennifer Rankin has
been invited to participate
in the most difficult 50K in
the world, the Barkley Fall
Classic. People are on the
waiting list for years before
getting invited. Rankin told
the Gazette, “I got in. A girl
from Heppner, Oregon,
who was on the track team
is about to try the most
difficult 50K in the world.
When I received the invi-
tation, there was no way I
wasn’t going to go. When I
received the golden ticket,
I had to try.”
There is a nine-hour
cutoff to complete the 22-
mile event and the course
is designed to push every
human limit possible. The
Barkley Fall Classic 50K is
a running race in Wartburg,
Tennessee consisting of a
50K Trail Run designed to
give anyone interested in
ever applying for the real
Barkley marathons a taste
of what the course is like.
Rankin was born in Or-
egon City in 1978 and her
parents moved to Heppner
when she was three months
old. Her sister, Bobbie,
was born in Heppner and
her other sister, Tracy, was
born in Hermiston. Jennifer
attended school in Heppner
until her senior year. When
her grandfather passed
away the summer before
her senior year she moved
to Oregon City to live with
her aunt.
“Both of my sisters
are really great runners,”
Rankin continued. “Even
my father completed a
half-marathon long before
I every contemplated do-
ing one. Bobbie tried to
convince me to join her
Cascade Lakes relay team
and I couldn’t comprehend
Bobbie Bates (Jennifer’s sister), Shari Baird Pollard, April
Defrancesco, Deanne Archibald admire the scenery.
fore school every morning.
Rankin competed in
the pole vault event in high
school track and Mr. Conk-
lin would drive her to Ione
to practice since there was
no pit in Heppner. At one
point she even held the
school record. At a track
meet in The Dalles she de-
cided to also run the 3,000
meters race, but said she
had no reason to even be in
that race. She was lapped
several times, but decided
she was going to finish,
making it one of her most
memorable experiences.
keep moving when you hit
that wall.” Regan has run
a marathon in every state
and has run thousands of
half-marathons. “I now
understand why Chris and
Mr. and Mrs. Beck ran
as much as they did/do. I
finished that first marathon
and started looking for my
next marathon,” Rankin
said. She ran one half-mar-
athon and a 50K in 2020
and then COVID hit, when
every race was deferred or
became virtual.
She was scheduled to
run a marathon along the
Maine coast but ended up
just running in a park near
her home in Newburgh, NY.
After that she hit a bit of a
slump, which was inten-
sified by a sprained ankle
from a trail run in August
2020. Not long afterwards
she watched a documentary
about the Barkley mara-
thons, which is called “the
race that eats its young.”
She said she then started to
build herself back up and
while visiting her sister in
the fall, she completed her
sister’s first 25K with her.
After that, she was out of
her slump.
New Year’s Eve 2020
she decided to join a group
that was running the Chro-
ton Aqueduct. She ran two
marathons and a 50K in
seven weeks, then paced a
marathon in West Virginia
in the dark with over 1,900
feet of elevation gain. For
her sister Bobbie’s 40 th
birthday, she and her sisters
did a 37-mile ultra-mar-
athon in the Eagle Cap
wilderness. Her goal was
to run 50 miles sometime
in the next couple of years
and 100 miles before she
is 50. Then after seeing
the Barkley Fall Classic,
she decided to sign up. “I
knew there was no way I
was getting in, so I decided
to get on the waitlist. The
next morning, I saw a post
on Facebook about some
unlucky soul getting an in-
vitation. I got in! I freaking
got in!”
“Heppner is the small
town in the middle of no-
where that prepared me for
this,” she noted. “Heppner
wasn’t always the easiest
on me, but we are taking
on the Barkley Fall Classic
together. We are in this to-
gether Mr. and Mrs. Beck,
Mr. Grant, Mrs. Gentry, Mr.
Conklin and Mr. Brown-
field.”
She ended saying,
“Bobbie, Tracy and I live
3,000 miles apart, but we
always try to do epic things
together. Mom and Dad
support us, and dad will
even run a half- marathon
with us. I’m sure most
people wonder why anyone
would ever attempt any of
this. The same thing I would
wonder when I would see
Mr. and Mrs. Beck running
from Heppner to Lexington.
Why not?”
Mustangs punish Toledo
Tucker Ashbeck forces the quarterback from the pocket. -Photo by Damon Brosnan.
By Blake Carter
Heppner Football trav-
eled to Toledo for their first
game of the year where
they walked away with a
19-0 victory. The Mus-
tangs looked to start the
season right where they left
off after completing a 5-0
record in a shortened sea-
son. Toledo was a familiar
foe for the Mustangs after
Heppner was able to defeat
the Boomers 46-6 in their
last game of the condensed
season.
The Mustangs opened
the scoring in the first
quarter as sophomore Ca-
den George picked off the
Boomer quarterback and
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Conor Brosnan tackles Toledo runner and forces the ball loose. -Photo by Damon Brosnan.
took it 51 yards to give the
Mustangs an early 7-0 lead.
Heppner then added to their
total as Brock Hisler scored
from 45 yards out, which
stretched their lead to 13
as they headed to halftime.
The second half remained a
battle of the two defenses.
The stalemate in the second
half broke when sophomore
Cameron Proudfoot inter-
cepted a pass and returned
it for a Mustang touchdown
as they completed their
19-0 win to start the season.
Heppner’s defense was
able to keep the Boomers
quiet. Caden George and
Cameron Proudfoot were
both able to return intercep-
tions, providing much need-
ed points while the Heppner
offense sputtered. Brock
Hisler led the Mustang De-
fense, as he finished with
Brock Hisler runs the ball as Jake Lentz blocks. -Photo by
Damon Brosnan.
14 tackles, Conor Brosnan
added 12 tackles, Tucker
Ashbeck had 10 tackles and
added a sack.
While they only pro-
duced one touchdown, the
Mustang offense still had its
bright spots. Heppner was
able to punish Toledo on
the ground as Brock Hisler
racked up 164 yards rushing
and a touchdown.
Heppner will continue
their season as they host the
visiting Warrenton Warriors
(1-0) on Saturday evening,
September 11. Kickoff is
scheduled for 5 p.m.
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