photo by Derrick Lytle
Painting a Picture
The tents have been broken down, put away, and made the journey back to Phoenix in our box truck. The last of the course marking ribbons, signs and pin flags have all been collected. Sitting on the second floor balcony of the Coffee Bear, above where we had our packet pick-up two days in a row, I find myself searching for the right words to encapsulate this past weekend. How do you paint the picture of all the highs and lows? The sun, the snow, the rain, the triumphs and the days that didn’t quite play out as planned… for those of you who participated, I hope my memory of the weekend does justice to your own. For those who weren’t able to join us this year, I hope we might inspire you to join us in the future.
There are some places that simply possess their own magic. It’s embroidered into the geography with an invisible needle and thread that runs from the edges of the mountain ridgelines to your chest and tugs quietly, calling you out for adventure. For me, the San Juans hold that magic, and I feel safe in saying that I am in good company amidst our runners of this weekend that they too feel the pull to this particular spot. After an incredibly dry winter in 2018 that had runners searching high and low for the small patches of remaining snow last summer, 2019 gave us more snow than we knew what to do with and created unique opportunities for shoveling mountaintops and running across avalanche fields. There were entire copses of aspen that were snapped like toothpicks on the way up to the Kendall Summit. On the Silverton Alpine loop, marathoners and 50K runners ran across snowfields yet to be plowed from massive avalanches and were often sandwiched between snow walls stretching 10-15ft high in areas where the plow had made its way through. The 8 mile runners of the Silverton Alpine ran much of their race along a raging Animas River, getting their feet wet in what used to be trickling streams turned raging creeks. Ultimately, the mountains really put on a show, with a little bit of everything, culminating in a weekend full of challenging experiences.
Leading Up to Race Weekend
Myself and others spent the better part of the week leading up to the races on the top of Kendall Mountain shoveling snow and doing our best to create a safe path for our runners. We made a new friend in Durango, partnering with Backcountry Experience to host a packet pickup, Salomon shoe demo, group run, and a cookout courtesy of the owner and resident Grill chief, Ben Rockis. It was nice to have a local option for all of our Durango participants, and really fun to get out on some classic Durango trails.
We made another new friend in Silverton with the Rock Pirates. They made marking the Silverton Alpine loop a wild and fun adventure. They easily cut the time we needed to spend out on the loop in half, which was really incredible. As the old girl scout song lyric reminds us “make new friends, but keep the old,” we were happy to partner with the Coffee Bear (in their fancy new spot!) and keep that parternship alive. (and well caffeinated)
There are always many moving parts, final details to sort out, and generally not enough sleep to manage it all with on the week of a race. Still, everything gets done, thanks to the incredible team of staff and volunteers who help it all come together. Ultimately, we all can’t wait for the race day to roll around, because that’s when the fun truly starts.
The 42nd Annual Kendall Mountain Run
As I’ve already stated, nature provided all of our runners with quite the backdrop for this year’s run. It was certainly not a year for records to be broken, but there were still many impressive performances. For some, it was their first alpine slide above 13,000ft that they didn’t even know was part of the course. Unfortunately, there was another first at the start of the race that marked the end of an era. For 41 years, Wiley Rowland, a Silverton local and business owner, has marked the start of the Kendall Mountain Run by firing a shot into the morning air and sending runners up the mountain. Sadly his health has declined in the last year and he was not able to start the race for us. As I asked all the runners on Saturday morning, I’ll ask all of you readers here, please keep Wiley and his family in your thoughts. While we did miss Wiley, we were lucky enough to have Bill Corwin, the originator of the current Kendall Mountain run, at the start line to remind folks of the summit etiquette (downhill has the right of way!) and to participate in the run as well.
Between the 11K and 12mile fields we had runners as young as 9 (who snagged the top of the 11K podium!) and as old as 70. It was really incredible to watch everyone cross the finish line, to have a community come together and cheer everyone in. In the hope of satiating post-race hunger, race participants and their support crews once again helped to raise money for the San Juan County Search and Rescue squad. The 11K champs were part of a family sweep with Leah Morozowich (9 years old!!) on top of the women’s podium and first overall, with Rhonda Jones and Esther Godson taking second and third, respectively. Our champion’s dad, Steve Morozowich, took the top spot in the men’s race, with Bryan Kaik and Evan Morozowich taking second and third, respectively. The men’s podium was a Durango sweep!
Our 12 mile men’s champion, Timmy Parr, had four previous podium worthy runs, and this year he managed a fifth podium finish, this one his first to be on the top! Tate Lagasca, in second, and Austin Horn, in third, came in just a few minutes behind Timmy. On the women’s side, after a year away from the race, Kelly Wolf came back and claimed her top of the podium real estate for 2019. Aravaipa Racing Team member, Colleen Lingley, came in for the second spot on the women’s podium, with Imogen Ainsworth, our third place female, just 16 seconds behind. Way to race for it, ladies!!
All runners who started on Greene Street Saturday morning pushed up the steeps, navigated the downhills, and found their way to Memorial Park to hang out and cheer other runners in. For some folks it was just a warm up, for others it would be the longest and toughest race they would do all year. Wherever they may fall on that spectrum, all of our Kendall Mountain runners should celebrate their achievements!!
Silverton Alpine 50K, Marathon, and 8(ish) Mile Run
For some of our runners, the challenge of Kendall Mountain run was more than enough to fill their stoke tanks for the weekend. For some other folks, the Silverton Alpine Runs was their first organized adventure of the weekend. And for a select group of folks, the gauges on their stoked tanks were spinning around madly as they took on the Mountain Duo challenge, running the Kendall Mountain 12 mile on Saturday, and any of the 3 Silverton Alpine Distances to round out the weekend. These runners were most definitely stoked to spend a full weekend in the San Juans, and put their endurance to the test. Congratulations to all of the runners who toed the starting line!
In the 8 mile run, on the women’s side our very own Aravaipa President, Hayley Pollack, found herself on the top of the podium (and third overall!). In the men’s 8 mile, Shawn Jelenik of Boulder, Colorado took the win in a time of 1:01:52. Runner’s were treated to some fun dirt roads and creek crossings on their way to Howardsville, before turning around and running their route back to Memorial Park.
The marathon course was certainly full of challenges thanks to the remnants of a long and snowy winter. Runners had multiple opportunities to get their feet wet, they traversed avalanche debris and snow fields, and ran the Alpine Loop jeep roads through multiple ghost towns in the San Juans. The men’s podium had it’s top two spots go to Arizona runners. Cody Reed snagged the apex of the podium in a time of 3:45:46, with Drew Frehs of the Aravaipa Racing team in second, and Luke Jay, of Littleton, Colorado, rounding things out. On the women’s side, recently transplanted from Pennsylvania to Colorado, Maggie Guterl finished 10th overall and first in the women’s race. Becca Bramley, of Colorado and Sarah Woerner of Tennessee had solid runs that put them both on the podium. Much like the Kendall runner field, we had a variety of ages out there. Our youngest finisher was Silverton resident Soren Braford-Lefebvre at 13 years old. Our oldest runner, at 75, was Don Ruggles, from Texas.
Our 50K runners followed the same Alpine Loop route, with a bonus out and back to start, sending them up to Niagara Gulch. Ryan Kaiser, from Bend, Oregon, came to the mountains determined to have a great day on the course. He pushed himself along the Alpine Loop and back to Memorial Park in a new course record time of 3:56:21, besting Christopher Hammes 2018 record of 4:03:29. Fellow Coloradans Anthony Kunkel and Adam Doe snagged spots two and three on the men’s podium, respectively. For the women’s podium, Heather Hoechst, from the Land of Enchantment (New Mexico) snagged first, with Andrea Huser from Switzerland close behind her. Rounding out the women’s 50K podium, from Melbourne, Australia was Lucy Bartholomew. Who knew we’d have such an international race in these mountains?!
Wrapping it up with a bow
I’ll admit it’s been difficult to wrap up this simple write up, as I’m still here in the San Juans and still hungry for adventure and exploration. While I am eager to share these stories from the weekend with those who were not able to join us, and to hopefully highlight some of the fun memories for those of you who were here, I look outside to the mountains surrounding me and simply must go. If you weren’t able to join us this year for this fun weekend of racing, I hope that you’ll be able to join us in the future. We’re already on the City of Silverton calendar for July 11th and 12th. So “save the date” and come play with us!
If you’d like to see more finish line and course photos, check out our galleries here: Kendall Mountain Run and Silverton Alpine Runs.
course photos within this blog courtesy of Jubilee Paige