On Saturday the 28th January, Boulder Track Club (BTC) athletes will converged at Harlow Platts Park for the annual Fast and Flurry-ous 4 mile XC race staged by the Boulder Running Company.

The Fast and Flurry-ous was originally put together a few years back to give local runners the opportunity to race hard in order to tune their efforts before going off to the USATF Cross Country Nationals in February each year. But this year’s event was highly anticipated and talked about due to a newborn rivalry concept between the Boulder Track Club and the Boulder Running Company/ Adidas teams.

BTC and BRC/ Adidas will compete head-to-head in a 5 race series throughout 2012 with Race 1 being the Fast and Flurry-ous. The way the concept will work is the top 4 runners from each team will have their race times combined and the team with the lowest combined total time wins. Typically team scoring is based on place in the field, but what made it particularly interesting for this first race was that they combined both the Women’s and the Men’s team times.

First up was the women’s race with BTC’s Laura Thweatt dominating from the start. Laura was able to comfortably win the race in 22.24 from Ft. Collins athlete Adriana Nelson in 23:04 and Boulder’s Melody Fairchild 3rd running 23:22. Shannon Payne led the BRC/ Adidas women’s team home in 4th (23.43) and they easily beat the BTC women by 3mins and 6secs to take the points in Race 1 for the “Elva Dryer” perpetual trophy. Allison Sawyer was the BTC’s second best performance on the day in 8th (24.21), Mary Miller 23rd (26.43) and Jax Mariash 24th (26.48).

The men’s race was a much closer race early on with BTC’s Matt Tebo running controlled in the front pack with Colorado Springs John Mickowski and Boulder’s Christian Thompson. Tebo tried to break up the leading group just after half way but found the task to difficult with Mickowski taking the victory in 19.49, Thompson 2nd in 19.50 and Tebo fading to 3rd in 19.57.

The BTC men certainly atoned for the women, taking the team’s race for the “Mark Plaatjes” perpetual trophy at season’s end over BRC/ Adidas by 1min 48secs. The ever-reliable Clint Wells was BTC’s second best performer finishing 4th (20.10), then Josh Glaab 6th (20.27) and Curtis Begley 7th (20.28) rounding out the club’s top performers. Loren Ahonen for team BRC/ Adidas was their best performer on the day finishing 5th (20.16).

By comparison, last year’s race was won by BTC’s Jason Hartman who ran 21:05. That was bested by the top 12 of the field today and Joanna Zieger ran 24:21 last year which would have been good for 8th today.

“Today has been as a major success,” claimed coach of the Boulder Track Club, Lee Troop. “It was exciting to hear from all my athletes the enjoyment they got from the race today. The crowds overwhelming support and encouragement for the BTC athletes made them realize that they were not out there racing for themselves. The new race series component has added an extra element to their performance and today was about representing the club, sponsors, supporters but more importantly the community”.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Cody Hill from BRC/ Adidas for embracing the concept and congratulate his team on the women’s victory as well as the overall victory. I would also like to thank Fast and Flurry-ous race director Henry Guzman for allowing us to conduct this rivalry concept within his event.” added Troop.

BRC/Addidas’ Adam Rich remarked: “The competition was great and everybody came to the event ready to give it their all. Hats off to the Boulder Track Club as they had the better team today and ran very well. The race series with them should be interesting and offer a good challenge for both teams as the races progress.”

The rivalry will be staged over 5 races (Race 2 – Bolder Boulder 10km/ Race 3 – Classic 10km Colorado Springs/ Race 4 – RMAC XC race Colorado Springs / Race 5 – The Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run), the team with the most wins at the end of the year, will receive the Mark Plaatjes Perpetual Trophy (Men) and the Elva Dryer Perpetual Trophy (Women).

Photos by BoulderRunner

View other photos from Jim Heuck.

Results

Women

Joana Zieger handedly grabbed the Masters win. Full Results »

Men

Rich Dissley fought off Darren DeReuck for the Masters title. Full Results »

Fiona Docherty and Jason Hartman each controlled Saturday’s Fast and Flurry-ous 4-miler cross country race Saturday at Harlow Platts Park in South Boulder.

The Fast and Flurry-ous was originally put together a few years back to give local runners the opportunity to race hard in order to tune their efforts before going off to the USATF Cross Country Nationals in February each year.

The field is often stacked with local talent who train in Boulder. This year’s fields were a little shallower, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some serious racing going on.

The women’s race kicked off at 9am and control was taken immediately by Fiona Docherty who pushed the pace out front virtually the entire race. She finished the 3 loop 4mile course in 24:21

Jason Hartman, who clocked a 2:11 marathon at Chicago in October, controlled the race from the start but was closely trailed by a lead pack containing Michael Chaves, Patric Rizzo, Tyler McCandless, Joshua Merrick, Ewen North and many others.

Hartman crossed the line in 21:05

More photos

Results

1.     284     Fiona Docherty     Boulder CO      35      24:21      5:57      35 to 39      1st
2.     266     Kathy Butler     Nederland CO     37     26:45     6:32     35 to 39     2nd
3.     367     Martha Tenorio     Boulder CO     43     26:59     6:35     40 to 44     1st
4.     326     Samantha Lewis     Boulder CO     16     28:10     6:53     15 to 19     1st
5.     275     Jen Collins     Boulder CO     29     28:19     6:55     25 to 29     1st
6.     297     Lauren Gregory     Windsor CO     11     28:47     7:02     14 & under     1st
7.     333     Bethanie Merrick     Alamosa CO     29     28:50     7:02     25 to 29     2nd
8.     314     Kristi Jordan     Longmont CO     47     28:59     7:04     45 to 49     1st
9.     282     Lydia Dissly     Boulder CO     43     29:24     7:11     40 to 44     2nd
10. 315     Karen Kantor     Morrison CO     40     29:44     7:15     40 to 44     3rd
11. 389     Megan Hebbe     Portland OR     27     30:51     7:32     25 to 29     3rd
12. 368     Jeana Thayer     Denver CO     26     31:00     7:34     25 to 29     4th
13. 280     Glenys De Wet     Westminster CO     28     31:29     7:41     25 to 29     5th
14. 390        Lori Cooper     Boulder CO     35     31:42     7:44     35 to 39     3rd
15. 268     Michelle Carpenter     Boulder CO     33     32:06     7:50     30 to 34     1st

Full Women’s Results »

1.     302      Jason Hartmann      Boulder CO      29      21:05      5:09      25 to 29      1st
2.     350     Patrick Rizzo     Boulder CO     27     21:10     5:10     25 to 29     2nd
3.     271     Michael Chavez     Fort Collins CO         21:18     5:12
4.     332     Tyler McCandless     Boulder CO     24     21:32     5:16     20 to 24     1st
5.     334     Joshua Merrick     Alamosa CO     29     21:39     5:17     25 to 29     3rd
6.     310     Patrick Hunt     Boulder CO     32     21:54     5:21     30 to 34     1st
7.     349     Adam Rich     Colorado Springs CO         22:02     5:23
8.     338     Japheth Ngojoy     Greeley CO     23     22:09     5:25     20 to 24     2nd
9.     348     Bobby Reyes     Longmont CO     26     22:10     5:25     25 to 29     4th
10. 356     Levi Severson     Boulder CO     30     22:39     5:32     30 to 34     2nd
11. 342     Ewen North     Louisville CO     32     22:41     5:32     30 to 34     3rd
12. 347     Ramin Razavi     Boulder CO     32     22:42     5:33     30 to 34     4th
13. 312     James Johnson     Boulder CO     42     22:58     5:36     40 to 44     1st
14. 371     John Tribbia     Boulder CO     28     22:59     5:37     25 to 29     5th
15. 323     Rob Kosick     Denver CO     32     23:12     5:40     30 to 34     5th

Full Men’s Results »

Macias, Pirtea win half-marathon, Semisonic rocks Civic Center Park

DENVER, CO – October, 17, 2010 – With cool temperatures and sunny skies, the first Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon & 1/2 Marathon crowned two past Rock ‘n’ Roll champions in the men’s and women’s marathons. Mike Aish won the men’s marathon on Sunday morning, completing the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 30 minutes, 37 seconds.

2010 Start of the Inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Denver Marathon and Half Marathon

The 34-year-old Arvada, Colo. resident previously won the 2008 P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon. A New Zealand Olympian who recently gained U.S. citizenship, Aish separated from the field just after mile 11 and finished well ahead of runner-up Miguel Angel Cazares of Denver. Although his time was not exceptional, 17 minutes off his Arizona victory, Aish’s attitude was perfect for running the second half of the race all by himself.

Aish

Barlow

“I stopped at a few of the water stations and slapped fives with the cheerleaders, just was trying to have a good time and the fans really made it all worthwhile,” said Aish, a 12-time Division II champion over 5,000 and 10,000 meters and cross country at Western State in Colorado. “This has been a big transition year for me and I’ve only really been training hard for a few weeks. I want to have a good shot at the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials in 2012 and today was a good step in the right direction. Hopefully there is a lot more to come.”

Australian Karen Barlow won the women’s race in 2:54:56, beating out Heather Utrata of Englewood, Colo. by a little over a minute. Barlow, who has been training in Boulder for the last month, dropped out of the Chicago Marathon last weekend and overcame emotional adversity to arrive at the Denver start line.

“Chicago was my goal race for the year. Unfortunately it was hot and humid and I had been training in the dry and cold, so I pulled out after suffering through 14 miles,” said Barlow, who won February’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon. “On Wednesday I rang Matt Turnbull and said I’m just up the road and I want to end the year on a positive note after putting in all this training. Goal one was just to finish, goal two was to have fun and goal three was to win if I had a chance. This just feels phenomenal and I had so much fun today. I ‘chicked’ a helluva lot of guys out there on the course.”

First across the finish line outside Civic Center Park, was men’s half-marathon winner Mario Macias of Alamosa, Colo. The 29-year-old won the 13.1-mile race in 1, hour, 5 minutes and 22 seconds.

The pace of the half-marathon was set early by 29-year-old Macias, along with University of Oregon All-American Shadrack Biwott and Australia’s Andrew Letherby, who won the Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon in June and won the Boulder Marathon 2 weeks ago in 02:33:07. Biwott and Macias jockeyed for position from miles five through nine, hitting the mile-10 split in 49 minutes. Biwott, who dropped out of the Chicago Marathon last weekend, couldn’t maintain the pace and Macias pushed ahead for the lead.

“The goal for me was to go after the State record, which is 64:52. The weather today was great just a bit cold at first,” said Macias. “With 9 miles to go I figured I could push it. I’ve been training at altitude and coming down from 7,500 feet was a big difference, I could feel it. I think going out with consecutive sub-5:00 miles cost me a little time at the end.” Macias also won the Boulder 1/2 Marathon 2 weeks ago where he ran a solo effort in 01:07:39.

Boulder resident Adriana Pirtea, of Romania, won the women’s half-marathon in 1:16:03.

The Bachelorette's Ryan Sutter

The Bachelorette’s Ryan Sutter joined 30 runners from Team First Descents, which included a Vail firefighter relay team, to complete the half-marathon in 1:33:14. Sutter is in the midst of a 10.10.10 challenge, to benefit First Descents, a non-profit organization that provides free outdoor adventure therapy for young adults with cancer.

“It really flew by, there is something around every corner. There are people the whole way cheering you on, it was a great race,” said Sutter, who will conclude his challenge at the ING New York City Marathon next month. “Being in Denver was pretty cool actually. It’s a great way to see the city; you are cruising through all the cool parts of downtown. The course is really great, a little something of everything with no major hills up or down. I just tried to get in a rhythm and enjoy the whole thing.”

The first ever Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon & 1/2 Marathon welcomed more than 15,000 entrants from all 50 states and 18 counties. The event featured a post race concert headlined by Semisonic, known for their 1995 hit ‘Closing Time’. The weekend’s schedule of events also included over 250 ING Rock ‘n’ Roll relay teams and more than 650 runners in the Kids Rock presented by McDonalds, a non-competitive, non-timed one-mile fun run for kids grades K-5. The second annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon is set for Sunday, October 16, 2011.

2010 Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver & ½ Results

Place, Name, Age, Country, Time, Money

Half-Marathon Men
1. Mario Macias, 29, Alamosa, CO, 1:05:23, $1,500
2. Shadrak Biwott, 25, Kenya, 1:06:27, $1,000
3. Andrew Letherby, 37, Australia, 1:07:48, $750

Half-Marathon Women
1. Adriana Pirtea, 30, Romania, 1:16:03, $1,500
2. Amanda Scott, 22, Boulder, CO, 1:23:58, $1,000
3. Nuta Olaru, 40, Romania, 1:24:45, $750

Marathon Men
1. Mike Aish, 34, Arvada, CO, 2:30:37, $1,500
2. Miguel Angel Cazares, 23, Denver, CO, 2:42:17, $1,000
3. Matthew Gallager, 31, Denver, CO, 2:42:25, $750

Marathon Women
1. Karen Barlow, 31, Australia, 2:54:56, $1,500
2. Heather Utrata, 28, Englewood, CO, 2:56:06, $1,000
3. Nicole Chyr, 32, Englewood, CO, 2:57:59, $750

For more information and complete results, please visit Competitor.com.

P.S. I plan on posting my day’s recap and photos shortly

The 2 big races in our area this weekend were:

Twin Peaks Rotary Cross Country Challenge part of the Fall Cross Series held in Longmont Saturday Nov. 7th, 2009

Just over 50 men and 30 women took the challenge:

Men’s results »

Women’s results »

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RMRR Trophy Series

The Trophy Series is a monthly race series featuring a handicap scoring and starting system. Each race in the series is in a different location in the Denver Metro area, and the distances vary from 2 to 10 miles.

RMRR Westminster City Park 9mi Results »

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Just over 40 runners participated in World Run Day from Colorado on Sunday November 8th, 2009 running 184 miles and donated over $18,000 to their favorite charities.

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For more regional race results check out the Denver Trail Running Examiner

I spent the weekend at the Rocky Mountain Region R.A.C.E Conference in Westminster. The conference had lectures and panels covering a wide variety of topics for Race Directors including Logistics, Social Media, Partnerships with Retail, Marketing to Women, Creative Sposorships. Panelists included many of Boulder’s experienced race directors (Bolder Boulder, Denver Marathon, Downtown Race Race Series), retail owners (Outdoor Divas, Runner’s Roost) and other industry leaders (MapMyRun.com, ArtisticHub, Cowbells.com).

Photo courtesy of Courtney Johnson

The weekend culminated in the Racing with the Stars 5k. An original race idea which brought together Olympians and top elite athletes to pace runners to their goal time. The event was well organized, supported and there was plenty of swag for everyone who participated. Next year looks like it could shape up to be a formidable race.

A very special event indeed, as its not often you have that caliber of athletes all in one place and accessible with the average Joes. Names included: Alan Culpepper, Steve and Sarah Slattery, Mark Plaatjes, Lorraine Moller, Tera Moody, Pat and Amy Manson, Melody Fairchild, Nichole DeBoom, and Lisa Goldsmith.

Tera Moody and Lorraine Moller - Marathon Rising Star and Legend

Race Results

Friday Scream Scram

Saturday Shake Rattle and Run

Sunday Racing with Stars 5k Results

Upcoming Events

Saturday, 10/31/2009 9:30 am
Eerie Erie 10K and 5K

Saturday, 10/31/200910:00 PM
Denver Gorilla Run

2008 Gorilla Run

The Denver Gorilla Run is a charity fun run with a difference. Everyone who takes part wears a full gorilla costume – from fluffy head to furry toe – and helps raise funds for the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, the international charity working