09/13/2026
Sunday Morning, Day Two Update: We have our first finisher!!
At roughly 5:45 AM, Erica Moe of Lancaster, PA rolled into Oakland as the WINNER of the 2026 Snallygaster 200, making this the second year in a row a woman has won the event! In what became a race of utter attrition and perseverance, Erica overcame torrential, almost monsoonal rains throughout yesterday and likely last night. Yet, her incredible finishing time of 22 Hours and 47 minutes puts her only an hour or so behind the women's FKT that was set last year in near perfect conditions. Just phenomenal work.
To put this in context, while the rest of us were soundly sleeping in our warm, dry beds at 2:45 AM, Erica was deep in the dark forests on top of Deep Creek Lake State Park. At 12:30 AM, she was riding across the remote ridgelines of Meadow Mountain. At 10:45 PM last night, after almost 15 hours of continuous riding, she was grinding up Bowman Hill.
Those of you who live in Garrett County, or have ever done the GC Fondo, know what Bowman Hill is like. Now imagine hitting that steep, demanding monster in the dark after riding 135 miles straight on a loaded bike.
Freaking amazing. Erica crushed it. What a well deserved win!
But wait, you say, what happened to the previous leader, Jesse Smith? Where did everyone else go? And doesn't Trackleaders show another person finishing first?
Jesse was setting an absolutely scorching time for the first 108 miles, averaging nearly 12 mph, an incredible pace for such demanding terrain. He was ahead of the overall FKT, not by a huge margin, but certainly enough to show that he had the potential to set a new record. Unfortunately, Jesse had some stomach issues and was forced to abandon shortly after Bruceton Mills. But I'm so grateful that Jesse and his family made the seven hour drive from Indiana to give the route a shot. I have no doubt he'll get the FKT one of these days!
Dillon Jourde, who was holding down second and had finished second place in 2025, seems to have caught a ride back to Oakland from Bruceton Mills sometime around 9:30 PM last night. However, his tracker remained on, so when he made it back to the Oakland Town Parking lot, Trackleaders erroneously marked him as a the first finisher in the race. Prior to scratching, though, Dillon had been putting in a great race and had ridden through some absolutely soaking rains.
For real, y'all. I keep saying it, but this was the WORST weather year the race has ever seen. It's not even close.
And with 4/6 riders abandoning or cutting the route short, it's clear the Snallygaster ate very, very well this year. :)
But there's more! The race isn't totally done yet.
Aric Sponsler, of State College, PA, is still out on course and will be our men's winner and second place finisher if he makes it back to Oakland! Aric is currently making his way south at mile 152, way out on the Meadow Mountain Trail. Go, Aric! You're almost there!
