Over Hill, Over Dale, They Hit the Dusty Trail
Maybe the one thing you can always count on with racing is that no one knows how it’s going to turnout. Oh sure, there’s a lot of smack talk among competitors and sports journalists before the race. But in the end, all of that chatter fads to the background when, eventually, “the fat lady sings.”
Video of the 2013 Race Across The Sky Start
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9exX2VnnqM&w=560&h=315]
Such was the case with the 2013 Leadville Trail 100 Run, particularly with the men’s field. But in the end, it was Ian Sharman of Britain who was first in, with the 4th quickest LT100 Run time ever: sixteen hours and 30 minutes. Coming in second behind him was fellow countryman Nick Clark at 17:06. The third man on the podium was actually the racer who many thought would reign supreme – Mike Aish with a time of 18:28.
In the women’s field it was Boulder’s Ashley Arnold who took the crown, coming in at 20:25. Second place for the women went to Saheen Sattar at 22:42 and rounding out the top three was Keila Merino, tallying 22:47 on the official time clock.
Congratulations LT100 Run Women’s Champion Ashley Arnold! Photo: LRSThe stories were endless regarding the 494 of 1,100 racers who finished this year. From the oldest racer, Hans-Dieter Weisshaar at 73 years old to Bill Finkbeiner, who has completed 30 (of 31) LT100s to racer Timo Meyer from Germany (19:04:17.17) who dropped his pacer, finished, ran back to his pacer, and finished again!
Race Across The Sky: The Leadville Finishers
There’a no doubt that watching someone cross the finish line after running 100 miles is impressive. But when you look twice and discover it’s your neighbor, well, that’s when you know you live in Leadville.
Here’s how the home folks did in last weekend’s Leadville Trail 100 Run.
The first Leadville runner to cross last Sunday’s finish line was Marco Peinado with a time of 21:32:21.55, earning him 23rd place overall.
Mario Varela is going to need a bigger belt to hold up his 20 year buckle. Photo: LRSOther noteworthy Leadville competitors were Michael Lamond (24:18:39.73) and Marvin Sandoval (23:28:48.13). These local athletes not only completed the run, but also earned the distinction of Leadman. This competition consists of five races: Marathon, Silver Rush 50 (bike or run), the LT100 Mountain Bike Race, the 10K Run, and the LT100 Run.
Impressive, tough folks!
Kudos also to Heidi Colley, a nurse at the Leadville hospital. While she had to drop out of the LT100 run, thereby squelching her attempt at becoming a Leadwoman, Colley had a strong season and quickly became a local favorite, with friends, family and neighbors cheering her on through the summer. Next time, Heidi!
First time LT100 runner Christy Lindh came in strong with a time of 25:54:01.32. Like most athletes Lindh had her challenges, whining at the Twin Lakes aid station: I want my bike! But Lindh had a supportive crew, including sister Heather and boyfriend Cannon Shockley, who was the first Leadville finisher in the LT100 MTB the weekend before. When asked this week what she thought her maiden LT100 run, she replied, “I’m still not sure.” Maybe after the soreness wears off her response will be different, although it’s not uncommon for racers to have a love/hate relationship with the “Race Across The Sky”.
Finisher Chrsity Lindh (25:53:32) gets a hug and some flowers from sister Heather after she completed her first LT100 Run. Photo: Sue Mullineux.Native son Cole Chlouber earned his belt buckle with a time of 27:29:33.73.
Like Father, Like Son: Cole Chlouber is all smiles after his finish: 27:29:31. Photo: Sue Mullineux.Like others, the hurdles on the course were seemingly insurmountable when he reached Twin Lakes, but like his Dad, LT100 Founder Ken Chlouber, had told him and thousands of other competitors, you have to Dig Deep. Advice taken and another victory notch in the old belt! Congrats Cole.
Donna Chapman looked strong out on the course and tallied a time of 27:37:38.06 at the finish line. Chapman has a deep passion for the sport, creating the Leadville Running Company to help others achieve their running goals and convene a community of athletes who get out on the trail as a group during the season.
Leadville runner and Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Marge Hickman didn’t make the 30-hour cut-off time, but still came across the finish line with a respectable 30:33:20.50 time. At the Twin Lakes aid station Hickman’s upbeat attitude seemed contrary to her beat-up legs. Hickman has been a mainstay on the race course for years and embodies the supportive nature that the races have become known for.
Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Marge Hickman (30:32:56) gets some help from husband Mike at the Twin Lakes aid station.
Here’s how the locals fared. Be sure to ask these fine folks to tell you their story – they deserve it. Congrats to everyone who raced, whether you achieved your goal or not, it’s quite a fete just to show up at the start line. Until next year, we’ll see you out on the trails!
Everyone Wins with Zero Waste at All LT100 Races
By Lynne Greene, Cloud City Conservation Center.
The numbers are in. The environment wins three to one! Compost has been weighed at the Summit County commercial compost facility. Recycling has been shipped to mills across the country by Green Wolf Recycling.
Ben Dougherty, Cloud City Conservation Center board member/volunteer unloads compost & recycle bags from Winfield. Photo: C4This year at Leadville Race Series events, including the 100 mountain bike and run, we produced over 4000 pounds of compost, which will be turned into soil locally and 4000 pounds of recyclable materials, which will be turned into useful products, reducing harmful emissions and the strain on our natural resources. With only a small amount of trash ending up in dumpsters and our landfill, the overall waste diversion rate for all events was just over 75%. This is an excellent result for an event this big and right on par with last year’s results. The events still produce a good deal of trash, but for every trash bag produced, there is at least one bag full of compost and recycling showing our community’s commitment to responsible management of our waste stream.
“We’ve seen a very positive response from the community for our efforts to decrease the waste at our events. It’s something we are happy to invest resources in,” said Leadville Race Series Director Josh Colley. “It was an ambitious effort that we first started last year. But we were successful in getting thousands of racers and visitors to compost and recycle. That’s a pretty great outcome.”
It is a community effort.
Over 60 individuals volunteered at aid stations and at the start/finish to help racers and crew recycle and compost. Nearly all of these volunteers are local. It is not easy to accomplish. It takes commitment from event organizers and a lot of people willing to commit their time to making it happen. It’s a messy job, but the outcomes are worth it. Racers who take part in recycling and composting efforts see first-hand that our community is a responsible one. They respect that.
Green Wolf flexes its muscle – Josh Garcia and Tim help to sort compost and recycling. Photo: C4
Zero waste tents are available for the community.
Cloud City Conservation Center now has five Zero Waste tents available to the community for events. They are free for non-profits to rent. Consultation is available to turn your event Zero Waste.
Waste diversion is messy.
The Silver Rush 50 run and bike reached a 90% waste diversion rate, but the 100 mountain bike and run were slightly lower, with an overall diversion rate of 75%. Why is that? The 100 run is especially hard to manage. With aid stations open for such long periods of time and runners coming through in the middle of the night, supervision is a challenge. We do the best we can to ‘back-sort’ bags that come from the aid stations in the middle of the night, but inevitably, some extra material hits the trash can.
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