Hundreds of runners and mountain bikers flocked to Steamboat Springs for the 7th Annual Steamboat Stinger. The mountain biking events took place on Saturday and the trail running events took place on Sunday, with titles on the line for the top male and female finishers in each day’s headlining events.
The course for the full trail marathon is a loop, boasting 3,500′ elevation gain and loss, with the half marathon featuring one short loop on the front side of Emerald Mountain. The event – now a Colorado Classic – aims to provide a challenging backcountry race experience showcasing some of Steamboat Springs’ finest singletrack.
In the men’s marathon, Jared Bassett of Bend, OR took top honors in 3:10:18, with Steamboat’s own Gabriel Small finishing second in 3:12:46. Not far behind was Dan Berteletti of Golden who crossed the line in third in 3:13:19.
The women’s race saw Parker’s Julie Olsen finish first in 4:01:03; Blair Doney of Denver came in second in 4:02:12, and Julia Berteletti rounded out the podium in 4:06:19.
In the men’s half marathon, Denver’s Cale Allen grabbed the win in 1:27:17, almost five minutes ahead of second place finisher Daniel Goding out of Loveland, who finished in 1:32:29. Third place belonged to Josh Smullin in 1:34:36.
The women’s half marathon title was successfully defended by 2016 winner Sarah Pizzo, who finished in a commanding 1:38:33. Dasha Kuznetsova was second in 1:45:03, with Boulder’s Chelsea Bolton rounding out the top three in 1:48:23.
The winners of the weekend challenge – the King Sting and Queen Bee titles – were Jason Michalak of Crested Butte for the men in a combined bike and run time of 8:51:40, and Liz Carrington of Durango for the women with a combined time of 10:15:10.