Laura Thweatt and Ellie Keyser
Release provided by: Lee Troop.
Today the RMAC XC race took place at Monument Valley Park Colorado Springs, which also played host to the USATF CO State Championship and Race 4 of the 5-race series between Boulder Track Club (BTC) and BRC/ Adidas.
With the BTC women in a must win scenario to take the series to a 2 – 2 draw for the Elva Dryer Perpetual Trophy, they did not disappoint with their best team performance for the year. Led by Laura Thweatt and Ellie Keyser (1st and 2nd respectively), they broke the race wide-open half way around the second of 3 x 2km laps. With the team score combining the top 4 runners times and the team with the lowest combined times winning, it meant every second was critical. Nicole Peters and Betsy Flood worked hard to make sure that the women were not going to lose without giving it their best shot and the winning margin in the end was 8 secs to the Boulder Track Club meaning it will come down to Race 5 to determine the winning team.
With the BTC men having already won the series and 3 of their better runners missing, the team was still determined to put in a solid showing against a very strong BRC/ Adidas team. With Matt Tebo leading the way for the men with a strong 2nd placing and only going down to eventual winner Andy Wacker by 24 secs, Curtis Begley having a strong showing for 9th and Ryan Kirkpatrick debuting for the BTC with a fantastic 14th, the BTC only went down by 2mins and 37secs.
“Today was a great showing by all athletes but in particular the women. They were handed a victory in Race 2 with the BRC/ Adidas team for forfeiting with lack of numbers and the women have always felt they needed a legitimate win to instill faith they can mix it with the best teams, especially with National Club XC coming up in December” said head coach Lee Troop. With Race 5 now the final show down to determine the winner for the series and the Elva Dryer Perpetual Trophy, the concept of this friendly rivalry has delivered what we intended”.
The last race in the series is:
Race 5 - The Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run
BTC results:
Men
2nd Matt Tebo – 25:05
9th Curtis Begley – 25:50
14th Ryan Kirkpatrick – 26:01
62nd Kyle O’Brien – 27:21
86th Mark Del Monaco – 28:09
90th Omar Martinez – 28:13
Women
1st Laura Thweatt – 20:45
2nd Ellie Keyser – 20:48
11th Nicole Peters – 22:18
12th Betsy Flood – 22:31
19th Allison Sawyer – 23:23
39th Melissa Cunningham – 25:09
October 21, 2012 by Amanda Hodges
Regional News