Super Dave — aka longtime Bend area race director Dave Thomason — saved some of his toughest routes for his last race of the season.

Staged on a beautiful Central Oregon fall day in which temperatures hit 70 degrees, Super Dave’s Down and Dirty Half marathon Sunday featured 700 feet of climbing on trails southwest of Bend near the Seventh Mountain Resort, where the 13.1-mile race started and finished. One of the last trail runs of the year, the Down and Dirty Half snaked along doubletrack dirt roads for the first part of the race before descending on the singletrack of Tiddlywinks and Storm King.

“There was a lot of climbing, which I love,” said Kari Strang, of Bend, who placed second in the women’s race with a time of 1 hour, 45 minutes and 12 seconds. “The first 7 1⁄2 miles are up. And then it gets wicked fast (on the descent).”

Bend’s Ryan Bak, competing in his first race since tearing his Achilles tendon last December, finished first overall in the half marathon Sunday, turning in a time of 1:16:29. Rob Russell, of Redmond, placed second in 1:24:13.

“I’m still not 100 percent,” said Bak, who just resumed running four weeks ago. “I did a lot of road biking this summer … and that helped keep my baseline fitness. Today, I just wanted to see where I’m at.”

Suzanne Knox, of Bend, topped the women’s half-marathon field, crossing the finish line in 1:42:06.

A 10,000-meter race was held in conjunction with the Down and Dirty Half, with runners following the same course as the half marathon albeit with an earlier turnaround point. Bend’s Jason Irby was the top 10K finisher Sunday, posting a time of 37 minutes, 30 seconds. Siobhan Cooper, of Klamath Falls, was the first female finisher in the 10K race, recording a mark of 51:34.

The event, which is now in its fourth year, attracted 236 runners between the two races, some from as far away as Texas and Pennsylvania.

“The hill wasn’t as hard so much as dealing with the elevation,” said Leslie Adams, a 32-year-old mother of two from Beaverton who finished the half marathon in 2:14:42. “This was my comeback race after taking the last nine years off after getting married and having kids.”

Bak, who successfully defended his 2012 Down and Dirty Half crown — he set a course record in 1:15:22 a year ago — also used Sunday’s half marathon as a comeback of sorts. With most of his 2013 race schedule wiped out because of injury, Bak hopes to salvage the last part of the year with several regional events. The Lithia Loop trail marathon in Ashland next month is a possibility, he said, as is the USATF National Club Cross-Country Championships in Bend on Dec. 14.

“This gets things going,” Bak said about his first race back. “Hopefully, I keep rolling forward from here.”