With the best race day weather conditions in years, almost 600 competitors started up Dutch Henri Hill Sunday morning for the Leadville Silver Rush 50 Mile.
Temperatures hovered in the mid to high 40’s at race start, and stayed that way for the next couple of hours as runners climbed the first of four 12,000-foot ascents. As the sun rose, as did temperatures, but it never became unbearably warm. Towards the afternoon hours the clouds came in and some rain fell – cooling off those runners still on the 50 mile course.
In the men’s field, fierce competitor Michael Aish attacked the course, finishing up in 6:54:34. Coming in a close second was David Ruttum in 6:59:26, with third belonging to Andrew Catalano in 7:16:10.
In the women’s race, Maeve McGovern crossed the finish line first in 8:26:57. Helen Cospolich finished up not but 6 minutes later, coming in at 8:32:15. Rounding out the top three was Carrie Stafford, finishing in 8:43:53.
Many of the race participants were either competing for the Silver King or Silver Queen title by racing in both the Leadville Silver Rush 50 Mile Mountain Bike Race (held on Saturday) and the 50 Mile Run. Others were vying for that elusive Leadman or Leadwoman title by competing in five Leadville Race Series events. Some were using the race as a training run for the upcoming Leadville 100 Mile Run, while others were simply participating for the epic experience that is the Leadville Silver Rush 50 Mile.