Barr Trail Mountain Race

AN OUTSTANDING EVENT

The 10th annual BTMR is Sunday. This is a premier “regional” race – everyone in Colorado knows it is a marquee event, yet few if any people come from other parts of the country to do it. Which is too bad – many experienced mountain runners consider the Barr Trail Mountain Race the best race they have ever done. Why?

Great course -

• It’s all single track trail, except for the start/finish.

• It goes up for 3,650′ in 6 miles, then comes back down: 600′ per mile, 13% average gradient.

• It’s the lower one half of a great mountain – Pikes Peak.

• It’s a tough course, but every step is runnable.

Great organization -

• Registration, course markings, and results are all impeccable.

• There are 9 aid stations in the 12 miles.

• Total transparency: even the Financial Statements are on the website for all to see.

Great competition -

• Top runners are encouraged to enter, some are comped, and homestays are possible.

• Entry slots are saved for runners capable of placing in the top 5.

• Awards are excellent.

Great community involvement -

ALL of the race entry fees are donated to area non-profit/volunteer organizations and/or community projects! In all, an amazing $139,659.10 has been donated with $19,500 being added this year. Since the field is limited to 350 runners, that’s even more remarkable.

THIS YEAR

31 Comp Entries were granted this year – about 9% of the entire field – one cannot think of any other race that encourages runners that much!

The BTMR is part of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup, which means for the first time in years, people are flying in to do this event. That’s great – trail racing in Colorado is at a very high standard – and the locals here, just like anywhere, love to defend their turf.

RD Matt Carpenter says: “The Mountain Cup has brought in some newbies and we look forward to seeing how they will do. For sure the La Sportiva/Mountain Cup connection is taking things up a level. But there are plenty of vets signed up as well who would like to keep their top spots. We are excited!”

On the Mens side, at the risk of stating the obvious, Matt dominates. He set the Course Record as a Master in 2007, and was last beaten here in 2003 (Matt and Paul Low are the only Male winners ever). There will be a lot of excellent male runners, but it would take one of the top National Team members, such as Rickey Gates or Joe Gray, to mount a serious threat. Silvio Guerra, a 2:09 Marathoner and 3 time Olympian entered in 2006, but found himself in 2nd place at the top, and got schooled on the way down finishing 3rd. Jason Bryant and Shiloh Mielke, currently 5th and 1st in the Mountain Cup, are both flying in from North Carolina specifically grab some more points. This is a tough race to score high, but they will be score, and with comparisons possible from Mount Washington and Mount Cranmore the past few weeks, it will be terrific to see just how well they fare here.

The Women’s field may be the main attraction. Laura Haefeli set the Women’s CR last year, also as a Master, but is not returning this year. Brandy Erholtz is coming for the first time, and the two-time Mount Washington winner will be threatening the CR; she is fit and altitude trained (Bailey, Colorado); the question is can she best Laura’s fast descent time on the technical course? Caitlin Smith is bringing her outstanding credentials in from the Bay Area, where she has literally not lost a trail race in a couple of years (except for her first try at 100 km, where she was a very strong 3rd at Miwok). She is coming from sea level, but has a great attitude and is eager to experience what Colorado mountain racing is about.

Indeed, the top 5 Women in the Mountain Cup standings will ALL be at Barr Trail … should be good!