Memorial Day Weekend

Some memorable races, others which would like to be forgotten. Either way, they happened and we are reporting on it since it is Memorial Day....but only because it is Memorial Day!

In the Basque Country of Zagama, Spain, Axel Nichols was hoping to be competitive with the leaders at the Zagama-Aizkorri Maraton, but had to withdraw after 10K due to injury. Alex is part of the Inov-8 Skyrunning Team (correction to article: Axel placed 2nd to Killian Jornet with Max King 3rd at the 2012 Pikes Peak Marathon).

Ian Corless, host of Talk Ultra podcast, interviewed Axel pre-race.

Axel looking good in his Inov-8 powder blue              photo: Ian Corless

Closer to home, a few Team Colorado members participated the 35th running of the BolderBOULDER 10K in... you guessed it, Boulder CO!

Mass finish in the CU stadium

Gute, first person to finish in Hokas                              photo: Nora Duane

A group of 5 Team Coloradans participated in the Citizen's Race, the third largest road race in the US that boasts a field of nearly 50,000 runners, with Glenn Randall leading the way with a 5th place finish in 31:31 in one of the deepest fields to date. Other members included Neil McDonagh (again having a unpredicted pit stop along the course) to place 42nd in 33:55, new member Nick Schuetze in his first race in over 2 years placed 45th in 34:05, Simon Gutierrez placed 52nd in 34:23, and Peter Maksimow played caboose placing 74th in 34:49 pretty much with one leg.

Results

Randall "Randalling" a 5th place OA finish              photo:Nora Duane

Big McD show off his Sub40Club shirt and points to where it hurt during the race     photo: Nora Duane

The festive day of events included people falling from the sky, Frank Shorter eating his weight in ice cream bars, slip 'n slides, the elite races and 150,000 your closest friends. Kenyan Allan Kiprono defended his title from last year, winning in a time of 29:28, while 19-year-old Merima Mohammed of Ethiopia took the women's title in 33:58. In the Elite team competition, the Kenyan men wrestled their title back from the dominant Ethiopian team (2nd) while the US men captured 3rd place. On the women's side, Ethiopia took the team win, Mexico was the runner up, Team USA was third (with Denna Kastor placing 4th individually) and Team CO (not to be confused with this Team Colorado) hijacked our name and placed 4th in the elite race. Jeremy Freed (30:52) and Lidia Simon (34:06) of Boulder each won the men's and women's Citizen's Race.

Running USA write up, results and prize winnings

People falling from the sky...

...but landing safely on the infield

Panoramic of the CU Boulder Stadium