Joshua Merrick and Anissa Schymik captured the Paul Mitchell XTERRA Beaver Creek 20km trail run on a brisk but perfect running day in the mountains at Beaver Creek Resort in Avon, CO with winning times of 1:16:34 and 1:38:13, respectively.
Merrick, one day removed from winning the overall amateur title at Saturday’s XTERRA Mountain Championship off-road triathlon made it a double today as he led from start to finish. Setting a blazing 6:29 pace, the Alamosa, Colorado resident, finished nearly nine minutes ahead of runner-up Alex Lieber from Boulder, Colorado.
“I just tried to go out hard to get a gap so I could relax and run my own race. Once I got away it was managing the hills, trying to get as much distance on the down where you’re relaxing as much as possible and trying to stay upright. It was wet out there.”
On racing yesterday, “It was just waking up this morning hoping my legs weren’t full of lead. Actually, I didn’t feel too bad today .. I was a little surprised.”
The 20km course featured more than 2,000-feet of vertical climbing.
In the women’s race Schymik ran uncontested using her 26 years of trail running experience to put a gap of nearly 14 minutes between her and runner-up Leslie St.Louis from Morrison, Colorado.
“It was totally unexpected. The second lap was actually easier the first. Two laps courses actually work to your advantage for strategy and pacing.”
The Littleton, Colorado local added, “The course is gorgeous, through the aspens, through the wildflowers. The upper meadows area through the aspen is just beautiful.”
Today’s Paul Mitchell XTERRA Beaver Creek 20km Trail Run was the final of four races in the XTERRA Colorado Trail Run Series. The top runners in every age group for the 20km course of the Beaver Creek Trail Run received points toward the XTERRA Colorado Trail Run Series standings and each division champion was awarded a complimentary entry into the 2015 XTERRA Trail Run World Championship to be held December 6 at Kualoa Ranch on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.
Final series standings can be viewed here https://results.events.com/showview.html#/public-result/33.
For more information on the XTERRA Trail Running Series visit www.xterratrailrun.com.
More than 200 runners from 21 states and Mexico took part in today’s 20K, 10K and 5K races. Bryan Perrott and Alayna Szuch won the 10K while Jake Borel and Savannah Wimon took the 5K titles.
SPECIAL THANKS
The Paul Mitchell XTERRA Beaver Creek Trail Run was presented by Paul Mitchell and XTERRA Travel, and sponsored by Beaver Creek Resort, Muscle Milk, Gatorade Endurance, PowerBar, XTERRA Optic Nerve, LifeProof, Greenlayer, XTERRA Coffee, the town of Avon, XTERRA Wetsuits, XTERRA Fitness, Utah Sports Commission, Salming, XTERRA Boards, and Outrigger Resorts.
About TEAM Unlimited/XTERRA
TEAM Unlimited is a Hawaii-based television events and marketing company, founded in 1988. It owns and produces XTERRA and in 2015 will offer more than 300 XTERRA off-road triathlon and trail running races in 35 countries worldwide. In addition, TEAM TV has produced more than 300 adventure television shows resulting in three Emmy’s and 42 Telly Awards for production excellence since 1990. View samples at www.xterra.tv, and learn more at xterraplanet.com and xterratrailrun.com.