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$5000
Prize Purse at this Weekend’s USA Trail Championships
Seven former Teva
U.S. Mountain RunningTeam
Members to Compete
Steamboat Springs, CO
------ For the second year in a row, the renowned ski
town of Steamboat Springs, CO will host the USA Trail
Championships offering race distances of 12 km for men
and 8 km for women and juniors. This is the fifth
installment (Vail, Colorado hosted from 2004-2006) of
this trail championship event which will be held on
Sunday, June 29 at 8:30 a.m.
A very deep field,
including defending USA Trail Champion Rickey Gates, is
slated to compete. Leading the competition will be
former trail champions Laura Haefeli who won three
titles and Clint Wells, a two-time winner. These top
athletes and other USATF members will vie for the $5000
in cash prizes. The prize money breakdown is: $900 for
first, $700 for second, $400 for third, $200 for fourth,
$150 for fifth, $100 for sixth, and $50 for seventh. The
prize giving ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m.
“We are expecting about 150 runners and the same
number of spectators for our event,” said race
director John Chapman. “I’ve really enjoyed
connecting with the USATF athletes and learning a bit
more about them and their passion for trail running.
We’re really making this more than another trail race.
With the excellent support from our community, sponsors,
and volunteers, this is going to be a celebration of
trail running. One very hard run followed by some
fun afterwards.”
The course has moved from the ski resort to Howelsen
Hill for a 4 km loop course. The
race route which boasts an 11 percent average grade,
starts at the NW corner of the rodeo grounds at 6,705
feet elevation. Runners will head out on a flat path for
approximately 250 meters to the bottom of the
big hill. The first part of the hill is a steep service
road while the second part is up an even steeper ski
run. Overall, the climb is approximately 420 feet in
just over ¼ mile to the top of Howelsen Hill, the ski
lift, and ski jump. After cresting the hill, runners
start down the ridge and turn right down a very short,
steep single-track, and then down a gradual descent on a
dirt road. Next, a sharp left to climb on single track
trail approximately 130 feet in a little over ¼ mile. A
sharp left at the top of the trail, down a dirt road to
a very short and very steep hill. At the bottom of the
hill, another gradual climb on a wide, smooth path to
the highest point on the course at 7,230 feet. A
moderate descent follows on a narrow single-track, with
some tight turns. The
rest of the loop includes climbing and descending
complete with switchbacks.
Runners
expected to compete on the men's side (in age order)
are:
Jonny
Stevens, 18, Vail, CO,
was on the 2005, and 2007 junior mountain team. He is a
Battle Mountain High School graduate and will attend CU
Boulder in the fall. Stevens will compete in the junior
men’s division.
Rickey
Gates, 26, Boulder, CO, is
the defending USA 10 km Trail Champion. Last year Gates
also won the 2007 USA Mountain Running Championships
which was held the week before the Trail Champs. He was
the 2007 USATF Mountain Runner of the Year. He made his
third mountain team this year by finishing third at the
USA Mountain Championships last weekend at Mt.
Washington. He is a past winner of the grueling Imogene
Pass 17.1 miler, was third at the 2006 Mt. Washington
Race, and won the Run the Register Stair Climb in Denver
in February 2007 (47 floors, 1,014 steps). His 10 km PR
is 31:43 recorded at the Bolder Boulder in May 2007.
He once won America’s Uphill (held annually in
March) on Aspen Mountain racing in a clown suit. He
competed in college one year while at Lewis and Clark in
Portland, OR. Gates plans to travel to Europe in July to
compete in several mountain races before the World
Mountain Running Trophy in September.
Jonathan Severy, 26, Winooski, VT,
was a collegiate All-American having run for CU Boulder
under Coach Mark Wetmore. He was sixth at both the 2005
and 2006 USA 10 km Trail Championships. In 2007 he won
the La Sportiva Trifecta in Snowmass Village, a two-day
event with a 5 mile trail race and an uphill race on
Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday.
Clint
Wells, 33, Boulder, CO,
grew up in Craig, Colorado. He is a four-time All
American from CU Boulder where one of his events
included the steeplechase. Winner of the Denver Marathon
in 2006 timed in 2:28:36, he won the 2006 USA 10km Trail
Championships and was third last year. Wells dueled with
Eric Blake last weekend at the Mount Washington Road
Race with Blake out sprinting Wells to the finish. Wells
earned a spot on his second Teva U.S. Mountain Running
Team with his finish at Mount Washington. Wells is also
this year’s Bolder Boulder Citizen’s Race winner.
Bernie
Boettcher, 45, Silt, CO, is
arguably the most raced athlete in the country.
Boettcher races just about every weekend, sometimes
racing both Saturday and Sunday. Boettcher earned honors
as the 2005 USATF Masters Mountain Runner of the Year.
Boettcher is an accomplished artist and writer and a
member of the LaSportiva Mountain Running Team and is
sponsored by 180s. He was runner-up to Severy at the
Trifecta in 2007. He was tenth at the 2005 USA 10km
Trail Championships and finished 14th last
year.
Andy
Ames, 45, Boulder, CO,
was a member of the 2004 Teva USA Mountain Running Team
and placed 47th in the World Mountain Running
Trophy in Sauze d’Oulx, Italy. In 2004 he placed sixth
at the Masters Mountain Running World Championships (Sauze
d’Oulx), was Masters Trail Running 10 km National
Champion (fifth overall), masters mountain running
National Champion (6th overall), and was
named USATF Masters Mountain Runner of the Year. Past
victories include U.S. Skyrunning Vertical Kilometer in
1998 and Kokopelli Supermarathon (100 mile stage race
over 5 days), Vail HillClimb in 1995 and 1998, Vail
HalfMarathon in 1995.He finished eighth at last year’s
Trail Championships. Ames is a buyer for Excel Sports in
Boulder.
On
the women’s side, a talented field is expected to
compete to include (in age order):
Rachael
Cuellar, 26, Albuquerque, NM, was a member of the
gold-medal winning squad in both 2006 and 2007 at the
World Trophy. Cuellar finished fourth at the Trail
Champs in 2007. Cuellar has PRs of 17:40 for 5 km indoor
track set in 2006 (5,000 feet), 17:14 for 5 km
outdoor track a road 5 km PR of 17:27 set in 2006 at
5,000 feet, and ran the 3 km steeplechase in 10:12. She
is a five-time winner of the La Luz Trail Race, a 9 mile
uphill race with 4,578 elevation gain and an average
grade of 12 percent. Cuellar attended New Mexico State
University and University of New Mexico.
Keri
Nelson, 27, Grand Junction, CO, is a competitive
cyclist, triathlete, snowshoe racer, mountain, and ultra
runner. In
2007, she was victorious at the North American Snowshoe
Championships and second at the U.S. Snowshoe National
Championships. She
was also first at the U.S. Winter Triathlon Nationals in
Breckenridge, CO and in 2006 was third at the Pikes Peak
Marathon and third at the Mt. Evans Ascent in Colorado.
She was 10th at the 2005 USA 10km Trail
Championships and finished 15th last year.
She was fifth at last year’s USA Mountain
Championships.
Melody
Fairchild, 34, Nederland, CO,
ran professionally for Nike after her collegiate career
at the University of Oregon (earning B.A. in English in
1996) and is well known for her stunning successes as a
high school runner. During her three years at Boulder
High School she was an eight-time Colorado State
champion—six in track (1600m and 3200m), and two in
cross country. She made U.S. running history when she
became the first high school girl to break ten minutes
for two miles, running 9:55 at the Scholastic indoor
championships in 1991. She placed second in her first
outing at the Foot Locker National High School Cross
Country Championships, and went on to win the following
two years, setting the course record her senior year.
She won a bronze medal in the World Cross Country
Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
Laura
Haefeli, 40, Del Norte, CO is a three-time USA
National 10km Trail Champion and a three-time member of
the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team. In 2007, she won an
individual bronze medal at the World Mountain Running
Trophy and led the U.S. women’s team to a gold-medal
finish. She was the runner-up at last year’s USA 10 km
Trail Champs. She won the Lara Bar 10 km on June 8 which
was part of the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO (over
and up/down course), and on June 21 she broke the
masters course record at the Mount Washington Road Race.
She was 15th at the World Mountain Running
Trophy (second American) in 2004 (a member of the
bronze-medal winning American team) and in 2005, she was
the top American finisher at the Trophy with an
eighth-place finish. Equally talented in summer biathlon
(running and marksmanship), Haefeli is a seven time
National Champion and a nine-time National Team Member.
Running since the sixth grade, she competed in track and
cross country in high school, was an All-American during
her senior year in college at the University of Dayton
and was twice named All-Ohio Runner of the Year and is a
two-time USATF Mountain Runner of the Year (2004 and
2005). Laura and her husband Tom are beekeepers and sell
honey and wax. She is the mother of three
young children.
Anita
Ortiz, 44, Eagle, CO, is a five-time member of the
Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team with two team medals to
her credit. A bronze medal at the 2004 World Trophy race
in Italy and a gold medal from last year’s Trophy Race
in Switzerland. She
won the 2007 USA Mountain Running Championships and was
the 2007 USATF Masters Mountain Runner of the Year.
Ortiz is equally talented in both short and long
distances races and won the San Juan Solstice 50 Miler
last weekend. Ortiz teaches in the Eagle County school
district and with her husband Mike, is raising four
children ranging in ages from 11 to 15.
Although
there will be a strong field of top runners, the event
is open to runners of all ages and abilities USATF
and non-USATF members alike. Register on Saturday,
June 28, from noon to 6:00 p.m. at the Ski
Haus sport store, 1457 Pine Grove Road, just off Hwy
40, on your way into town, or on race day beginning at
7:00 a.m. in the start area at the Rodeo Grounds. The
$35 entry includes a Smartwool
shirt valued at $60 (for the first 300).
There will be an all
you can eat Italian buffet on Saturday, June 28 from
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Colorado Mountain College
Cafeteria, 1330 Bob Adams Drive, Downtown Steamboat
Springs. The event is open to runners, family and
friends and is hosted by the Steamboat Springs Kiwanis
Club. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. For
additional details on the Championships, contact: www.runningseries.com.
For
additional information about the mountain and trail
running program, visit the websites listed below:
USA
Mountain Running Championships
www.mountwashingtonroadrace.com
USA
Trail Championships – Steamboat Springs
www.runningseries.com.
Berry
Picker Selection Race
www.vailrec.com
USA
Track & Field
www.usatf.org
World
Mountain Trophy 2008
www.wmrt2008.org/pages/fr/
American
Trail Running Association
www.trailrunner.com
Teva
U.S. Mountain Running Team
www.usmrt.com
Teva
www.teva.com
SportHill
Clothing
www.sporthill.com
Windermere www.juliebryan.mywindermere.com
Fleet
Feet Sports-Boulder www.fleetfeetboulder.com
Wicked
Fast Sports Nutrition www.recover-ease.com
OrthoLite www.ortholitefoam.com
Fuel
Belt
www.fuelbelt.com
Youth
Runner www.youthrunner.com
Contacts:
Nancy Hobbs (Chairperson,
USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Council and Executive
Director, American Trail Running Association): (719)
573-4133 trlrunner@aol.com
John Chapman (Director, Trail Championships):
john_chapman03@hotmail.com
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RESOURCES FOR RACE DIRECTORS
