NORTON SHORES (11/9) -- There were three stars at the ninth annual Hoffmaster Trail Run: the course, the weather and a gloriously-late Michigan fall. Though it was closing in on mid-November, the trees in Hoffmaster State Park were still nearly in full color, with the yellows and reds that had recently begun to fall making for a spectacular 10K trail, the course dappled like some pointillist painting. It was hard to see the roots and occasional rock underfoot, but, hey, it's always something with a trail run. The course is one of the toughest around, with plenty of ups and downs, much of it on loose sand. But this year, the challenge was softened a bit. There's a stretch that begins about the 2.5-mile mark of a mile-and-a-third on the beach on Lake Michigan, heading north. This time of year, that usually means running dead into the wind. Not this year. A two-day gale from the south proved good for a couple reasons -- the wind was at your back, and the big waves rolling up since Thursday had packed the normally-deep, loose sand into a hard-packed, fast-footed surface that made this, for once, the fastest part of the race. Whether it was the weather, or just the word finally getting out on one of the prettiest races in the state, a record field of 153 showed up. The only downer? An assistant park manager, apparently cranky because he had to work on a Saturday, who hadn't checked to see what was scheduled for the park that day, and who blew a couple of gaskets yelling at race director Dave Paulsen, the runners and even the volunteers, who were out in force because of the race's ties to the Salvation Army. Each year Paulsen turns over the proceeds to the Army for its annual Thanksgiving Day turkey delivery to the needy throughout the Norton Shores-Muskegon area. Never mind the cause, never mind that Paulsen had a permit and had been putting on the race since 1994: this was one bureaucrat who had to let as many people as possible know that they were intruding on HIS space and time. Never mind, too, who paid his salary, or the state park passes affixed to all the windshields. Despite the toughness of the course (and suspicions it was a hair, or several hairs, longer than its supposed six miles) five runners managed to break 40 minutes, led by Marshall Randall, 45, who clocked 39:01. Benjamin Swieringa, 27, was eight seconds back, with another master, Karl Stuber, 43, third in 39:19. Rick Admiraal was fourth in 39:27, with another 45-year-old, David Walch, fifth in 39:32. Five runners separated by 31 seconds over that distance on that course? Scintillating racing. Some other eye-popping times for the oldsters? Dave Minier, 53, finishing 15th overall in 43:22; Fred Britton, 56, finishing 38th in 47:54; and the at-least-semi-legendary Joe Wolters, 64, finishing 45th in 48:39. Laura Malnor, 15, showed you don't have to be a grizzled veteran to run well on the trails. She won the women's title and was 27th overall in 45:37, with Allison Wolf, 28, second in 47:59 and Kelly Kalis, 36, third in 48:33. Coming in after her was master's champ Peggy Zeeb, 44, in 48:47. Kudos, too, to a couple of 60-and-overs, Janice Reis, 65, who ran 1:05:24, and Doris Wolters, 64, who ran 1:13:48. MR