the M M Strider DECEMBER 2016
t h e s t r i d e r
In this issue: “FULL HOUSE” @ Rimrock!
Kara Roper wins again! Kara & MacKenna Broyles are fastest in the Grand Valley!
Jan Frisby is a national champion once more!
Matt Ozanic knot 2 shabby @ Other ½ !
CHUCK MATTSON & TRINA EHRENBERG (& Sheryl Douglas) are the BIGGEST TURKEYS!
Next month (or 2 months from now):? WinterSun probably bigger and better than ever? Bangs Canyon mid-winter survival epic! And, just maybe, unexpected but appreciated input from “not the usual suspects” about their runs ‘n races ~
Thanks Liz Norris, Larry Ingram, Corey Hinman, Conrad Cole, & the Daily Sentinel for contributions to the NL
RIMROCK MARATHON www.rimrockmarathon.com & inaugural HALF-MARATHON
Nov. 5 (Saturday) Under what the editor would be tempted to call semi-ideal running conditions (not hot, not too windy, a bit of precipitation for the later duration of the race) – about 370 runners participated in 3 events. The marathon-relay was held, for what might be the last time due to the popularity of the somewhat-late addition of the “stand-alone” (and mostly downhill) half.
RILEY MURRAY (age 20, US AFA) and KARA ROPER (35, from “HERE”) were the fastest man and woman. Mr. Murray averaged 6:55/mile for a 3:01:00 – whereas Ms. Roper (5th over-all) came in at 3:17:58. She was the fastest Grand Valley ‘local’ – and was over 14 minutes clear of woman #2 -- YASUYO KITNAO (from Golden) not only was 12th over-all, 2nd woman, but quite the ‘masters’ runner at 44-years-young (3:32:31). RYAN TURBYFILL (37) from Aurora was not too far back as runner-up man, 3:03:27. In 3rd place was Riley’s comrade-in-arms (from the Air-Force Academy), Ryan Olson (also 20), and 3:09:44. 4th over-all was Men’s Master winner, Jay Watts (44) from Falcon (somewhere in Colorado) with 3:16:30.
2nd G.V. finisher was Benjamin Hauschulz, 9th over-all in 3:31:09. Local high-school runners Nic Duncan and Jed Wilson led all under-20 runners, finishing together at 3:33:52 (13th & 14th places). (Nic was prominently featured in the Nov. 2 Daily Sentinel for his performance in the state H.S. CC championships. More on the Nov. 2 Daily Sentinel elsewhere in this issue). Coming in at 18th place was GJ’s Martin Wiesiolek (3:36:45) – who was 5th master but first 50+ age group. Two more local high-school aged runners finished at 3:44:18 – Isaac Burton and Stuart Storheim – both 17-years-young. The 2nd-male runner over 50, also from “here” was Jim Haraway (3:45:42), 22nd place, and next 50+ was Norv Larson from Fruita in 3:46:32. Chris Wright, also from G.J., was next in 3:47:02.
3rd woman over-all was Kimberly Weaver (36), Edgwood (NM) in 3:38:19. The 2nd male-master was Kevin Kelly (43) from Evergreen, 3:24:17, 6th place. The women’s masters runner-up was Michelle Hartley (Del) from Longmont, 4:02:15. (Her name was truncated in the results, I think).
Winning women 50+ was Kathy Imes (Indian Hills), 4:35:03; first man 60+ was Richard Roth from Aurora, 4:48:38. Winning the women’s 60+ was 72-years-young Corine Knudson from Estes Park (4:53:48). Wonder if she’s related to Wendy? Jeanie Grooms was 2nd 60+ (5:03:50). A somewhat interesting note is that the youngest age group is “under 30”. There were 136 finishers.
Sweeping the course was Aaron Tice (from G.J.) who spent the most time enjoying the course (over 6.5 hours). He was of good cheer, seeming somewhat surprised that the timing crew (and others) was/were waiting for him. Much to the timing crew’s approval, he headed directly to the beer tent (well, after hugging the wife and kids and assuring them he was, mostly, still alive) – which was in the process of being dis-mantled, but Rudy, the beer-tent honcho, quickly got the beer flowing and the timing crew joined Aaron for a toast.
HALF-MARATHON RELAY: as hinted previously, due to the popularity of the non-relay half-M, this interesting event may have seen its last year. The winning team, “Almost Pros” (Bonilla and Martinez) finished in 2:59:34. The 2nd runner (Mr. Martinez, I think) turned in a sub-1:20 time, which could have pushed the ½ M winner. Next team was “Colorado Running” (Roberson, and Roberson) with a 3:05:43 and 3rd was Martinez/Rostel – and I think it was Esmeralda crossing the line at 3:19:24. There were 12 teams.
HALF-MARATHON: the editor wasn’t paying attention, but it seems that this event was added after the Marathon was announced and entries were coming in the mail. Never-the-less, there were 213 finishers. “Seasoned” runners ruled for the men, as there was one sub-40-year-old among the top 5 men. Won by 43-years-young SEAN MEISSNER from Durango, 1:16:49 (a 5:52/mile pace), who had 3.5 minutes before MATT MILLER (the sub-master, 38 – from SLC) trotted in @ 1:20:14. Practically breathing down Matt’s neck was KEVIN O’BRIEN (58!) from Paonia, 1:20:24. LEVI BROYLES, another familiar front-running name in these parts was 4th in 1:21:51. (Levi, from Delta, will be 50 next birthday).
EMILY RENNER (didn’t she win the Downhill 5k?) was next, 5th-over-all with a fine 1:23:34. Ms. Renner is 27 and from Montrose. Now … it was actually a sprint for Women’s over-all winner – MACKENNA BROYLES (okay, is she related to Levi?) – 19 and from Fruita, was TWO SECONDS BACK (1:23:36). Ms. Broyles was the fastest “local” runner! Speakin’ of monster men’s masters: COREY WONG (age 61, from Delta) was next in, 7th over-all, with 1:23:40.
First Grand Valley man SEBASTIAN NEVIN (22, Clifton) was 9th over-all, 1:25:38, followed by 3rd woman over-all HEIDI KNAUSS (29, G.J.) in 1:26:45. Four more local runners trotted in for 11th through 14th places – Roger Santistevan (46), 1:27:47 – Luke Younger (30), 1:29:16 – Nicholas Petree (15), 1:31:59 – Corrine Pearl (32), 1:34:01.
Winning women’s masters was Lisa Marshall (46), Estes Park, 1:35:14. The winner of women’s 60+ was GJ’s Juanita Mancuso, 1:48:27. Teri Shecter (GJ) was 2nd in that category (2:08:28) and Liz Norris 3rd (2:29:40). EIGHTY-years-young Ross Westley (Arvada – but has been an “official” MMS member a while) was philosophical in that his age group was simply 60-&-up. He enjoyed the scenery for 2:22:01.
We think that ‘local’ age group award recipients, not mentioned previously, were: MacKenna either received 2nd-over-all (&/or 1st, under 30) – Mr. Nevin WON under-30 – Ms. Knauss also placed in under-30 – Roger Santisteven was 3rd 40-49 – Luke Younger won 30-39 – Mr. Petree had to have won something (2nd under 30) – Corrine Pearl was first in the most-crowded a.g., women’s 30-39 with 56 runners! – Dusti Reimer (1:35:57) was 2nd woman in the 30-39 and Shea Chubbuck (1:38:02) 3rd. In men’s 30+ Daniel Ingram (former local) was 3rd, 1:42:26 – George Salazar was 3rd 50-59, 1:43:03 – and in men’s 60+ Joe Jemello (Fruita) was 2nd (1:47:52).
We did not see any results for the ‘concurrent’ 0.038 Marathon (1-Mile Run) – which is kind of a reincarnation of the G.J. Main Street Mile held several years ago – except, of course, this race is in Fruita – finishing near the Marathon (& half) finish.
STRIDER “TOM” TURKEY PREDICTION 6 MILE
Saturday, November 19, 2016
NO. NAME TIME +OR-
1. *Chuck Mattson 51:55 + :15 2. *Trina Ehrenberg 51:09 - :24
3. *Sheryl Douglas 71:33 - :33 4. *Bryan Baroffio 46:31 - :59
5. *Marshall Steel 48:27 -1:03 6. Cheryl Stahley F 1st 42:11 -1:04
7. Bob Thome 42:51 -1:09 8. Ray Jensen 44:49 -1:11
9. Donnie Tietzman 39:49 -1:17 10. James Roche 39:37 -1:23
11. Stefanie Von Flue 44:08 -1:45 12. Karla Nephew 53:49 -2:21
13. Jay Valentine 42:36 -2:26 14. Craig Parks 42:40 -2:38
15. Andy Winnefeld 51:10 -2:50 16. Tom Ela 49:23 -2:59
17. Ryan Steel M 1st 39:31 -2:59 18. Mat Ozanic 41:14 -3:46
19. Laura Venner 44:41 -3:49 20. Jay Krabacher 54:08 +3:50
21. Patrick Hummel 41:02 -3:58 22. Conrad Cole 67:33 -4:27
23. Randee Bergen 67:23 -4:37
* Denotes turkey winners
FROWNS AND SMILES. These dominated the faces of the finishers of the Turkey Prediction Run on Saturday, November 19, 2016. FIRST was the frown when the finisher heard their time and realized they ran much faster than predicted. Then SECOND came the smile with realization they had run faster than they thought they could. It is always self-satisfying to run faster than you believed yourself to be ready to do. It wasn’t until Bryan Baroffio finished as the 14th runner that the one minute barrier was broken, but only by one second. In the end this was good enough for the fourth turkey. Only two runners didn’t run faster than their predict. Why so fast?
All seemed to agree that the really beautiful morning was at fault for the fast times. The sun felt so good. The temperature was perfect. The usual Orchard Mesa east downslope wind off of Grand Mesa was missing. YES, the weather did it and also the course was in perfect shape.
James Roche and Donnie Tietzman blamed fastest runner Ryan Steel for making them run too fast, Ryan says it’s all their fault for pushing him. Note, they all finished in an 18 second span to lead the herd. First lady, Cheryl Stahley’s 42:11 was 1:04 faster than her predict, which was her 43:15 winning time last year. Same goes for Marshall Steel, last year’s predict winner (2 seconds off), but this year was 1:03 faster than the same 2015 predict time. It was still good enough to take home a 13-pound frozen bird.
Sixty year old Chuck Mattson was the 19th finisher of 23 but won the “Big” bird by being 15 seconds fast. Sheryl Douglas was the final finisher and used her last year’s finish time to end up 33 seconds slower and took home a 16-pound frozen turkey. Randee Bergen brought her big white dog to run with, she could have ridden him/her part of the way. It must have been the dog’s fault for her running 4:37 too fast. This made her the furthest off of the predictors and she was awarded the can of chicken broth (turkeys were too fast for broth.). Do dogs like chicken broth? (of course they do).
Great group, lots of fun, good running and good post-race camaraderie . Special thanks to OM City Market for donating the purchase of two birds and to Emma Jensen for her special help. Thanks for showing up, it was a fun time for the organizer as well.
Deadline for submissions for next newsletter is not known at this time.
Email articles anyway to or ‘regular’ mail to
MMS, c/o Betunada, 230 Sunset Hills, Grand Jct., CO 81503
MMS Directors meeting --> October 25. Yes, we met. Basically discussed Director additions and departures; the imminent RimRock Marathon; newsletter mistakes regarding calendar events and possible sponsor/underwriter inclusions or deletions;
Daily Sentinel, Nov. 2: good report on former-local Ben Hoffman, who was 4th in the last IronMan World Championships in Hawaii. He had 8 hours 13 minutes of, um, fun – and was 6.5 minutes behind the leader. No report on his 2.4-mile open-water swim time, but he rode his bike 112 miles in 4 hr 28 minutes, pretty close to 25 mph … AND THEN … ran the big “M” in 2:51:45. The editor is going to go out on the proverbial limb here … hmmm, graduated GJHS? In 2001 or so? and apparently wasn’t doing the tri thing then. Anyhow, whatever, he sure has climbed the pyramid of great-shape and plans to continue.
JAN FRISBY was a member of the winning team at the U.S. Masters 5k champs in Syracuse (NY) in early October. Part of the Boulder Road Runners 60+ group – the team of 4 had a 41-second edge over the 2nd-place team.
As many of you might know, a fellow named John Klish has been promoting and conducting cyclo-cross races in our area for a couple years now. Many of MADracingColorado (“Mountain & Desert”) events have a trail-running race. Your editor did not have an easy time ferreting out selected information from the website … but did note that the “Rumble @ 18 Road” held (I think) earlier this summer had an 11-mile run. Won by Carl Bruggeman (1:38:20) and Kristin Musgrave (1:57:46) --
Decembrrrr & some of 2017 … C A L E N D A R
Note: all phone numbers “970” unless indicated otherwise
Dec. 3, Saturday, 10 a.m. WinterSun 10k, Moab check moabhalfmarathon.com Point-to-point from M. Golf Course down to the H.S. (fast!) Recommend that you consider the:
It’s back by popular demand - the WINTER SUN PARTY BUS! Last year, 45 racers took the bus from GJ/Fruita to Moab for the annual Winter Sun 10k race. No gas, no driving, no responsibility? Plus, front door drop-off at packet pickup, the race start, and several downtown lunch options. Then, just rest, relax, and enjoy the company of great friends on the way home.
Final cost to be determined once we know how many riders we have. Last year, it was minimal and much less than you'd spend on gas if you drove yourself.
More details at Signup.com --> http://signup.com/go/pW83gp. Sign up as soon as you can; the 50 spots will go quickly. Don't forget to register for the race! http://moabhalfmarathon.com/wintersun/
Cross country skiing is great cross-training for running plus you get an altitude workout! And it looks like we have snow for it. Sunday, December 4, 11 AM
WinterStart 5K Cross Country Ski Race -- Skyway on Grand Mesa
Classic 5K at 11 AM, Freestyle 5K at 12:30 -- www.gmnc.org or Tom 970-773-3124
Dec. 10, Sat. 11 a.m. Strider 5-mile time-trial. River Trail on the Redlands at Albertson’s. Flat, paved, low-key group work-out with like-minded folks.
Larry, 270-0774
Dec. 17, Sat., 9 a.m. “SANTA CAUSE” 5k, Las Colonias Confluence Shelter (715 Struthers, sort of near the Botanical Gardens). G.J. Parks and rec is teaming with the Kiwanis 1st annual – an event that raises funds for Grand Valley area kids. All entrants (if you’re not too late) receive a santa hat and beard to wear during the race. Details & to register:http://www.kiwanis-gj.org/Page/30153