Team Colorado Makes History at the 55th Mt. Washington Road Race, Monopolizes Podiums, Has Fun Doing It

Team Colorado takes the whole enchilada!       photo: Joe Viger (unofficial official Team Colorado photographer)

Team Colorado makes history at the 55th Mt. Washington Road Race this past weekend with some impressive performances. This 7.6 mile course starts on the Mt. Washington Road in Pinkham Notch, NH and climbs over 4,500 ft to the summit at 6,288 ft, with an average grade of 12%, some extended 18% grades and a big slap in the face with the finishing 22% grade at the very end lovingly named the "Wall".

Brandy "Mile-a-Minute" Erholtz conquers the dreaded 22% "Wall"                                        photo: Joe Viger 

New to Team Colorado--but no newbie--Summer Intern #1 Andy "Flying Kick" Wacker finished 2nd in 1:00:59, Zach "Banana Boy" Miller loaded up on bananas and beets to take 3rd in 1:03:15, Peter "The Prez" Maksimow broke into the top 5 (finally) with his 5th place in 1:03:55, 3X winner and masters champion, Simon "Gute" Gutierrez, was close on The Prez's tail (yes, he has a tail) with his 6th place 1:04:02, and 2X winner, Sub-1 hour Club and our favorite nomad, Rickey "Heavenly" Gates rounded out the 5 Team Coloradans with his 7th place in 1:05:25. That's right, we took 5 of the top 7 spots! The men's combined time was 5:17:36, the 2nd fastest team time behind our own 2012 team course record time of 5:12:28. We celebrated the Men's Open Team Championship by drinking out of Wacker's silver bowl trophy! 

Eric "Quadzilla" Blake looks on as Andy puts his bowl to good use. Heal up Eric, we missed you out there! photo: Le Prez

Above shots by Gianina Lindsey/SNAPacidotic

Team Colorado men (minus Heavenly) say "we live at this finishing altitude, why was that so difficult!     photo: Joe Viger

The performance of the weekend has to go to the Team Colorado Ladies as they swept all the top spots and set a NEW WOMEN'S OPEN TEAM RECORD of 3:44:13. Kim "Queen of Uphill" Dobson reigns once again with her overall win in 1:11:39, Brandy "Mile-a-Minute" Erholtz followed in 2nd  1:15:34 (a past Mt. Washington Champ), Laura "Honey Bee" Haefeli completed the trifecta with her 3rd place finish in 1:17:00 (also, a Mt. W Champ, seeing the pattern here?), and Donna "Gar-Gute" Gutierrez holding the team together with her 52nd place, 1:40:33. 

Laura "Honey Bee" Haefeli rounds out the top 3 Team Coloradans in 3rd Overall     photo: Joe Viger

Truly, the Queen of Uphill             photo: Joe Viger

Donna "Gar-Gute" Gutierrez puts steepness into perspective.    Photo: Gute

Huge congrats to the ladies for their New Team Record! Rewriting the record books one race at a time! They are also nurturing future Team Coloradans!

Congratulatory remarks also to 95 year old finisher, George Etzweiler, and new American Record holder, Joe Gray, clocking a 58:15 and all who were conquered the Hill, were on the other side of a camera lens or were there to support. This is what mountain running is all about! And then there was celebration and beer….

Of Miles and Marathons

We had some extremely different races run this past weekend by Team Coloradans. One, a downhill road mile. The other, a marathon on the flanks of the famous Mont Blanc on the Chamonix, France side. Regardless, some competitive races were run and there were no casualties.

Bristol Mile

First up was the Bristol Mile in Colorado Springs, CO. This inaugural downhill mile (it was cancelled in 2012 due to the bad air quality caused by the Waldo Canyon Fire) was held on Cheyenne Blvd with a gradual descent of approximately 84 feet over one mile. Neil "Big McD" McDonagh ran a smart race and moved up to finish in 4th place overall in the Elite Men's race, clocking a 4:05.2, setting the new Team Colorado Mile Record!

Big McD gettin' it done with a 4:05.2   photo: PikePeakSports.us

Simon "Gute" Gutierrez ran the 21 and Over Men's Race with some heelies on his feet and placed 3rd overall and first in the 46-50 age group with a time of 4:35.2, winning a coveted Bristol Mile Growler (beer included).

We caught an interview with Gute before the race. He showed us his heelies!

Gute shouldn't have worn those heelies. Here is what he said post-race.

(correction: the shoes were the Hoka Bondi Speed--sorry for any confusion!)

What we can say is that Gute probably has the fastest mile ever run in pair of Hokas!

The race victory went to a Sudanese emigree named Dey Dey...yep, that is it: Dey. Dey. He ran 3:53.7. You can't argue with that!

Men's Elite Race

21 & Over Men's Race

Bristol Mile Results

Mont Blanc Marathon

Out in Chamonix, France, Team Colorado's Alex "Axel" Nichols took on the strong European in the Mont Blanc Marathon. Representing Team Inov-8 (and the USA, of course) Axel battled the likes of Killian Jornet, Marco DeGasperi, Luis Alberto Hernando, and other great athletes with ø's in their name, to finish 7th overall with a time of 3:48:54.

Coloradan Stevie Kremer took the women's top honor running 4:03:16

Starting in the streets of Chamonix...Axel is in his zen phase                 photo: Nadine Davies

I would try to explain the course, but I think they do it brilliantly on their website:

TRAIL is semi autonomy. Distance of 42.195 km coupled with an elevation gain of 2511m, a 1490m vertical drop of. Open to Hope from the category.

I am sure that description was written after the author ran the race.

Axel shows his uphill face...better than a poker face!      photo: Nadine Davies

Axel showing off his snow-run-off-jumping-skills             Photo: Matthew Brown

Axel finishing through the small streets of Chamonix, France                 photo: Nadine Davies

Axel's kickin' it, Mont Blanc style                                         photo: Matthew Brown

Mont Blanc Results

Best of luck to Justin Ricks as he prepares to represent the Team Colorado (and the USA) at the IAU World Trail Championships in Wales. Justin, don't get suck in any bogs!

Special thanks to John Steinbeck for the idea to the title post...our story is much less depressing, though!

Congratulations to friend of Team Colorado, Whittier College graduate and new National Champion (Mexico-Steeplechase), Luis Ibarra. Feliz Cupleaños! Corre por la pista muy rápido mi amigo y saltar obstáculos como un caballo. Órale vato!