Team Colorado Scores Victories

It was another busy weekend for Team Colorado out there!

Tommy "One Man Wolf Pack" Manning won his second straight Run to the Shrine 10K in a time of 39:59. What he hoped would be a one man wolf pack, turned into a two man wolf pack with second place, Scott Spillman, 6 seconds behind him at the finish.


Speaking of wolves, the race was run through the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, past lions and tigers and bears. They even tried to capture Manning at one point, thinking he was an escaped wolf.

All the proceeds from the Run to the Shrine races go to support the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It is rumored that Manning received an elephant dung medal for his victory.

Manning in his one man wolf pack                photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Run to the Shrine 10K Results

Out in the Montrose, CO, Simon Gutierrez had his mountain running season opening at the Black Canyon Ascent and won this 6 mile ascent with his third fastest time ever in 40:37, collecting his 4th all-time victory at this race. Then, he attempted to take the easy way off the Canyon rim with his Hoka Bondi. They are not that cushioned, Gute!

Gute thinks his big shoes will pad his jump from atop

Results from the Black Canyon Ascent

Out in the Midwest, Peter Maksimow ran the Apple Blossom 5K in the beautiful St. Croix River Valley in Hastings, MN. He won in a time of  16:46 and was upset that there were no apples after the race. But you can't put the horse before the carriage or have the chicken before the egg, or, most importantly, have the apples before the blossoms.

Volcanos and Fences

A few Team Colorado members took to the trails this past weekend, nationally and internationally.

Transvulcania Ultramarathon

On the Island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Sage Canaday placed 3rd in 7 hours 9 minutes 57 seconds, behind Spain's Killian Jornet (6:54:09 CR) Luis Alberto Hernando (6:58:31) and at the competitive Transvulcania Ultramarathon.

Canaday gets a grand welcome with this 3rd place finish                                  photo: iRunFar

 After leading for the first part of the race, Canaday was passed by the two Spainards and was able to hold on to the 3rd place position.

iRunFar.com write up and interview.

Don't Fence Me In 30K

Justin Ricks, who has been on the road with his family for a few months, took a strong 2nd place finish at the Don't Fence Me in 30K in Helena, MT, which is part of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup series. Ricks in now in 2nd in the series standings with five races remaining.

In the past year Ricks has quite his job, traded in his house for a camper on the back of his truck and taken his family on a cross country adventure. Read the RunColo.com interview with Ricks.

Ricks recently joined the La Sportiva Mountain Running Team and has recommitted himself to blog about his adventures.


In other news, Rickey Gates has a new gig as a Guest Expert.

Jared Scott Joins Team Colorado

Team Colorado is proud to announce the addition of the infamous local of the Pikes Peak Region, who was a standout runner at Lewis Palmer, a member of the national Champion 2004 UC Boulder cross country team, a US Mountain Running Team member and has been known to put his hair in braids. The one, the only....Jared Scott! (well, there are others, not to be confused with W. Jared Scott from Greenwood Village, CO)

Name: Jared Scott

Age: 30

Hometown: Born in Pueblo, CO; grew up in Monument, CO

Current residence: Dolores, CO

Sponsors: Kahtoola

Personal Bests: 2:27 Marathon, 30:18 10k (cross-country altitude), 14:37 5k, 4:08 Mile

Notable Achievements:  2012 – 2^nd place U.S. Snowshoe Nationals; 3^rd Place La Sportiva Mountain Cup; ran the 3^rd fastest known Grand Canyon Rim to Rim time breaking my previous year’s record.

2011 – 1^st place La Sportiva Mountain Cup; Member of U.S. World Mountain Running Team; broke the 30 year old Grand Canyon Rim to Rim record

Goals for 2013: Race either Pike Peak Ascent or Imogene Pass Run

Favorite trails: Grand Canyon

Favorite workout: Grand Canyon – South Kaibab Trail down to the river and back up to the top

Favorite races: Soulstice Trail Race in Flagstaff, AZ

Website/Blog: Well, Team Colorado as of now!

Favorite beer: Ah yes, what is Team Colorado if we didn’t talk about beer? I don’t necessarily have favorite beer. I like all kinds of beer. A great thing about living in Colorado is that you can get some pretty good beers from a local brew pub no matter where you live in the state. Even little towns in Colorado have good breweries.  Like where I live, Dolores, a town with 600 people has the Dolores River Brewery—check out their ESB or Stout some evening (after 4PM and not on a Monday because they’re closed) if you’re ever passing through. Ska Brewery in Durango recently has been putting out some good flavored stouts in a can like the Hibernal Vinifera (simply this is a Wine-Stout and you’ll definitely be feeling it if you have more than one) and the Vernal Minthe Stout (it’s like Thin Mint Girl Scouts Cookies but in beer form).  My wife and I have also home brewed some pretty good beer too. 

What have you been contemplating lately?: I’ve been contemplating lately what exactly a Black IPA is…is it an actual style of beer? Is it really an IPA? Or is it a rebranding of brown ale or maybe it’s just a porter?  

I wasn't kidding about the braids!

Not to be confused with Zack De La Rocha of Rage Against the Machine

May the 4th be with you...

This past weekend there was some predicting going on, course records fell and God held a race in his Garden.

Simon Gutierrez started the winning weekend off at the Take 5 in the Garden 5K, held in the picturesque Garden of the Gods, with his victory in the hilly 5K in a time of 17:00.

No, it's not a shadow...those shoes are HUGE!!!  As large as Pikes Peak in the background!     photo: PikesPeakSports.us

PikesPeakSports.us story

Greenland (not to be confused with the country of...) Trail Races

Another picturesque view of the snow-covered Pikes Peak from the Greenland Open Space     photo: Nora Duane

Big McD runs away with a new 25K course record as well as with some stomach issues     photo: Nora Duane

Neil "Big McD" McDonagh took down the Greenland Trail 25K despite suffering some gastro-intestinal issues and having to take a few pit stops during the second half of the course, or what we call in the industry an "assplosion", which cost him a few minutes. Neil stated that he "even had time to stop and smell the flowers 3 times during the race (code for bathroom stops)!"

Big McD looking happy before his unscheduled pit stops            photo: Steve Glass

Considering that, he ran 1:32:22 to break the old course record of 1:34:18 set in 2012. Had he not eaten those Big Macs before the race, Big McD would have destroyed the record!

Neil talks with Tim Bergsten from PikesPeakSports.us.

In the Greenland 50K race, Peter Maksimow was the race favorite going into it, as he has won the previous two years and bested fellow Team Colorado member Justin Ricks' 2008 record in 2012 with a 3:22:09. Not expecting to run anywhere near that time since dealing with a nagging achilles injury and a prolonged Plantar issues have extremely limited his running, Maksimow instead tried to make up for it by wearing the most colorful Inov-8 attire he could find. And it seemed to work!!! Maybe it was the emergency orange prototype X-Talon 190's?

The lack of beard and color of his clothing helped Maksimow acquire a new CR           photo: Steve Glass

First time Greenland 50K runner and professional triathlete, Brad Seng, really helped push the pace and keep it on track for a new course record. This prodded Maksimow to "keep it real", as they say, and  hold on for the new CR of 3:21:11 and become the back-to-back RRCA Colorado State 50K Champion. May the 4th was with him!

Maksimow claims that the aerodynamics of his mustache (vs. his large bug-catching beard of 2012) helped him propel to a new record.

Greenland 50K Report

May the 4th be with YOU!!!

Prediction Time

RunColo.com has a prediction contest for the once-hairy Peter "the Prez" Maksimow in his third attempt of the Greenland Trail 50K in Larkburg, CO on May the 4th. 

Just to show you how much people believe in him, someone named "Schlonge" said "Peter is a man among men. He drinks Manta and doesn't hide the fact that he loves it!? Peter will do all of us proud and run a 2:57.7. Good luck Peter!"

We are not quite sure what Manta is, but it does sound delicious! And we think Schlonge may be an alias.

Prediction Contest

"It only hurts after 25 miles!"                                      Photo: Steve Glass

Predict Peter's time for a chance to win a pair of Inov-8 shoes and a pack of Bic razors (little do they know that he has shaved since last year!). 

The Mountain Season Has Begun!

At the Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race 25K/50K, Team Coloradans kicked off the official beginning of the mountain running season. How do you know when it is the mountain running season? Well, the weather is warm, of course, and all the runners are wearing their skimpy jersey's and short-shorts.

Axel looking svelte in his new inov-foot jersey                        photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Axel Nichols took the plunge and ran the 50K, after being sick for the whole week with the H1N1 or something with a letter-number combination, and shared the lead for the first half of the race with a guy that has no toe nails (apparently, toenails can be medically removed nowadays--I guess that is what ultra runners do). Not Axel, he still has all of his toenails and went on to take the win with a new course record of 3:51:06. Nichols is preparing for some European-style racing as he will compete in the Zegama SkyMarathon in Spain at the end of May.

Watch the Axel interview on PikesPeakSports.us

Next time you are thinking about having your toenails removed, you should reconsider. Plus, it's just creepy!

In the 25k, Tommy Manning stuck to his instincts and went out to the front of the pack to create his own pack (one-man style). After leading for 8 miles of the race, Manning eventually finished in a time of 1:53:03, good for 3rd place overall.

As usual, Tommy establishing his one man wolf pack with other wolves on the hunt        photo:PikesPeakSports.us

We would also like to give a huge congrats to honorary Team Colorado member, Brandy Erholtz, who not only won the 25K but did it three months pregnant. It hasn't slowed her down at all, she can still talk 250 words a minute.

Congrats Brandy!

PikesPeakSports.us write up

Results

How Many Are in THIS Wolf Pack!?

After a long winter of hibernation, Tommy "One Man Wolf Pack" Manning, has come back on the scene and underscored his nickname by running alone and winning the Big Mountain Trail Race half marathon in 1:32:23.

Tommy establishing a "One Man Wolf Pack"                          photo: www.PikesPeakSport.us

He received a little competition from some guy who has a personal bag caddy...well, not really!

Results and interview

Manning is a teacher at the Fountain Valley School of Colorado and is organizing the Ha-Hatse Sachini Run/Walk 5k, that will take place Sunday, April 28, 2013. Please come out to support this great event. Proceeds benefit the Fountain Valley School Native American Scholarship Fund.

Form more information, contact Tommy Manning at race@fvs.edu or www.fvs.edu/haha5k