Nearly 400 runners toed the line at Cheyenne Mountain State Park on October 9th for the Cheyenne Mountain Run 25K, 10K and 5K.
This trail race takes runners through the state park, with the 25K topping out at over 9,000′ elevation.
In the 25K, Ace Brown of Colorado Springs used a strong descent from the top to crush the field by over three minutes, running 2:04:20. 17-year-old Colby Schultz of Monument was the first runner to the top, but was unable to hold of Brown and finished second in 2:07:55. Mark Schenberger of Colorado Springs rounded out the top three.
Lauren Puretz (2:38:10), also of Colorado Springs was over 16 minutes ahead of second place Erica Morelli (2:54:20) of Woodland Park on the women’s side. Cory Slack of Colorado Springs took the bronze in 2:56:17.
Overall, 154 runners tackled this challenging trail race.
In the accompanying 10K, Kolton Hammer (44:47) of Golden led 105 people to the finish. He was joined on the podium by David Kuritar (48:40) of Colorado Springs and Christopher Fitzgerald (49:28) of Fountain.
The women’s 10K was a tight affair with Jessica Finocchiaro (53:34) of Colorado Springs out sprinting Heather Minnich (54:21) of Colorado Springs and Stacie Brennise (54:40) of Grand Junction.
There was also a 5K trail race, which saw 108 people cross the finish line, led by Brett Billings of Colorado Springs in 23:51. Jason Castro (26:03) of Pueblo and Christopher Jakacki (26:29) of Albuquerque rounded out the top three.
Lindsay Dickey of Colorado Springs took top honors on the women’s side in 28:55. She was followed by Emily Cheeseman (31:20) of Colorado Springs and Robyn Etzel (31:38) of Aurora.
All photos by Dee Budden.