Four runners join GRP Run

Photo Credit John Lazenby

GRP Run is excited to welcome four new runners to the team, three to the Trail team and one to Road. They will join the rest of the team being coached remotely by COC Running Director Alanna McDonough, Jamie Nelson, and Mike Schmidt. GRP Run has a slightly different model than the GRP Row and Snow teams, which is why you might not see them around the Center as much. These athletes all train, live, and work, in different locations in the Northeast and are supported for various race goals throughout the year. Be sure to follow the team on greenracingproject.com and our instagram account @greenracingproject to stay up to date on the results of these amazing athletes!

Annie Heffernan

GRP Road

Annie grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and started running at the age of 6 when she joined her grade school track team. In high school, she was an 8-time state champion before earning a number of All-American, Regional, and ACC honors at the University of Notre Dame and Syracuse University. Annie began running marathons in 2023, qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials. Outside of running, Annie works full time as a research associate in the Neurosurgery Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and bar trivia.

Running Highlights

2024 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier

2023 Baystate Marathon Champion and Course Record Holder

2023 Sri Chimnoy Marathon Champion and Course Record Holder

Mead Binhammer

GRP Trail

Born and raised in Vermont, Mead fell in love with exploring the outdoors from a young age, often by traversing his backyard trails on foot or skis. A former collegiate soccer player, Mead began to seriously pursue trail running after hiking the Long Trail and summitting peaks in the Adirondacks, White Mountains, and Tetons. A lifelong conservationist and naturalist, Mead works as Project Director for the Vermont Land Trust, protecting and stewarding wild and working landscapes throughout the Central part of the state. When not plodding down the trails or working to promote land conservation, Mead spends his time hiking, skiing, birding, reading, and gardening with his partner and their pup, Isla. One to often combine passions, ask Mead what birds he’s heard after his next long run or race: you’re sure to get a full rundown.

FKTs

Waterville Valley Skyline Loop (2022)
Monoosnoc Ridge Trail (2022)

Philip Royer

GRP Trail

Rapid motion through space has always been a priority for Phil. From the track to the road to the trails, he loves putting one foot in front of the other. He also deeply enjoys his nine-to-five mission of stopping cybercriminals in their tracks and preserving the sanctity of the internet as a place to post GPX tracks and summit pics. His favorite moments in life have been meeting the love of his life freshman year while on the cross country team at Dartmouth, finding their dog in the woods in Oklahoma, marrying the love of his life on a pond in New Hampshire, and island hopping in the Galapagos with his family.

Running Highlights

14:07 5,000m

29:59 10,000m

2:19:13 Road Marathon

USATF 50k Trail Champion at Ragged 50k in 2023

Kodiak 50k 3rd place and UTMB OCC Qualifier in 2023

Sophia Etienne

GRP Trail

Sophie grew up running in the woods of southern Indiana, first as a wild little kid and later with her high school cross country team in the local state park. Soccer was her first passion and she pursued that with full commitment until a concussion in college sidelined her from contact sports for good. She still craved a team atmosphere and so walked onto the cross country team at the University of Evansville and continued her running career. It wasn’t until moving to Knoxville, TN and falling in love with the mountains there that she got back into trail running again. A job with a nonprofit brought her to Vermont in 2024 and she’s been (mostly) patiently learning how to ski between days running on the endless gravel roads. She’s been truly embracing her new home in the northeast and can’t wait to experience her first summer training in Vermont. Outside of running, she loves to bike, read, play with her dogs, and bake way too many sweets.

Running Highlights

1st at Big South Fork Race 2023 (course record)

1st at Dirt Circuit Panther Creek 3hr 2023 (course record)

1st at Norris Ultra Dam Hard 25k