Manitou Springs, July 13 -
Barr Trail proved again it is one of the best trail races in North America: great course, impeccable organization, good competition, and it pays out prize money to runners while donating ALL their entry fees to charitable organizations!
But were Bernie’s predictions correct???
Bernie (see two posts previous):
Men
1. Matt Carpenter 2. Payton Batliner 3. Daryn Parker 4. John Tribbia 5. Dave Mackey
Women
1. Laura Haefli 2. Lisa Goldsmith 3. Susan Nuzum 4. Kelli Lusk 5. Leighann Lawrentz
Actual (see website for complete info):
Men
1. Matt Carpenter 2. Payton Batliner 3. Daryn Parker 4. Gerald Romero 5. Bernie Boettcher
Women
1. Laura Haefeli 2. Samantha McGlone 3. Keri Nelson 4. Lisa Goldsmith 5. Connilee Walter
Conclusion: Good predictions!
Matt won by 3 minutes, while still recovering from his incredible CR at Mt Evans, and Payton used his exceptional speed to overtake Daryn on the downhill for 2nd place. Bernie himself looked terrific, blazing the descent and setting an age group record in nabbing 5th overall.
For the women, Laura continued her outstanding season, setting a Masters AND Overall CR while getting the win at her first Barr Trail. Samantha is a triathlete, and was allowed Elite entry status possibly to give her a taste of what serious mountain running is about, but she surprised everyone with a very strong run, leading Laura to the top before yielding to Laura’s outstanding technical descending abilities. Keri Nelson also continued her great season with a third place (she will be featured in next months Trail Runner Magazine).
The Barr Trail Mountain Race is part of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup. Check the Cup website soon for the current standings – $25,000 in cash prizes are at stake! Definitely consider entering an event near you.
Lastly of note, the La Sportiva Mountain Running Team Women continue their remarkable dominance! 5 of the top 10 places went to members of this Team, including the first four places in the Masters category.
Tags: Barr Trail, Bernie Boettcher, Keri Nelson, Laura Haefeli, Matt Carpenter
July 14, 2008 at 4:59 am |
Wow! The Barr Trail Race really was so organized and well put on! Never having been on the course, I was a little nervous in the days leading up to Barr Trail, but it was awesome! The course was beautiful, very challenging, and sooo fun coming down! Whew, what a downhill! My calves are mooing this morning! (Thought it would be my quads!) (: La Sportiva was, again, very well represented! And was fun helping out at the La Sportiva stand during the awards chatting with people who were interested, but esp. just hanging out with Susan, Bronwyn and the other La Sportiva athletes. Great job to all who ran the race! And a big Thank you to Matt for putting on such a great race, he really does take care of the athletes, while still really helping out the community – very well done! And thank you, too, to all those who helped with the race, was so great to see all those high school kids out there helping and being involved and having fun! Very well run! I wish you all well in all your up coming racing! Laura (:
July 14, 2008 at 9:49 am |
Matt Carpenter – the Rare Bird, the One Who Flys,
>>> Many thanks again for a spectacular day on my favorite ‘hill’ outta Manitou Springs… Even my slowest day racing the BTMR was waaaay overshadowed by the camaraderie of racers and effect of seeing all the joy in the faces of those who finished (even the ones carrying some blood on their skin) and the Big Smiles on the faces of the community of people that were awarded $$$$ for their schools, etc…NICE SHOW once again!
> Big Cheers to all and keep on running HARD and having FUN doin’ it!
> Lg
>
> Ps: good job teammies!!!!
July 15, 2008 at 1:32 pm |
Ditto to what Laura and Lisa said; this is such a fun race, and everyone involved from the organizers to the enthusiastic aid station volunteers to the competitors were so supportive. Thanks to all! If Matt could only remove the last three downhill miles I would be very happy and so would my quads.
Susan
July 16, 2008 at 10:57 am |
Some of us actually like the downhill better than the uphill! Some of us only run up so we can run down!
Enjoyed watching the woman’s race unfold. Team Sportiva really rocked again.
Fun to see Nancy Hobbs out there running, and Buzz too. They’re usually behind the scenes, but they can both still really motor.
Organization of this race has to be one of the best. It a runner’s race designed by runners. I love combing through the splits afterwards and seeing where everyone excelled!
The volunteers are the most motivated of any race out there. They go the extra mile to make it fun.
Hats off to Matt and all who make it happen!!!
July 20, 2008 at 7:03 pm |
Wow, I can’t say enough good things about this race. Great organization, great heart (they give 100% of the entry fees to local high schools and trail or running-related organizations), but best of all, fantastic people! Some of the best trail runners in the country show up every year and it’s fun to mix and intermingle. It was great to run some warm-up laps with Bernie and chat about the downhill (Bernie, I agree – the downhill is the best part! I talked with Matt and if a sponsor can be found, we might have a downhill prime – King of the Downhill). It was fun to chat with Dave Mackey and also the La Sportiva women – you guys all rock! See you next year.