Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Miller leads locals in Pikes Peak Ascent

Uphill half marathon in Colorado

---

Former Wood River High girls’ soccer coach Tizz Miller clocked a strong finish in Saturday’s Pikes Peak Ascent covering 13.32 miles with 7,815 feet of elevation gain in Colorado.

She was one of four Wood River Valley athletes in the field of 1,680 finishers who started at Manitou Springs, Colo. and raced the Barre Trail before completing their climbs at the 14,115-foot summit.

Miller, 44, of Bellevue finished 378th overall and 13th in the Women’s 40-44 age class, the 62nd woman overall, with a time of 3.49:39.

Not far behind was Bellevue pottery artist EJ Harpham, 56, in 3.57:58. Harpham, the 1987 American Birkebeiner women’s queen, placed fourth in Women’s 55-59 and was the 92nd woman. Her overall placing was 480th.

Rick Stark, 54, of Bellevue finished 426th overall, 349th among men and 42nd in the Men’s 50-54 age class, with a time of 3.54:51.

Placing sixth in Women’s 55-59 and 112th among women was Charlotte Alexander, 59, of Sun Valley in 4.02:54. Her overall finish was 538th.

Women’s winner Kim Dobson, 28, of Grand Junction, Colo. shattered the 31-year-old course record with a climb of 2.24:58 for a total payday of $8,000 including a $5,000 bounty for the new course record.

Dobson placed sixth overall of all finishers, over 13 minutes faster than women’s runner-up Ellie Keyser, 23, of Fort Collins, Colo. (2.38:11).

Making her fourth straight Pike’s Peak Ascent, defending women’s queen Dobson shaved over nine minutes off her winning 2.34:07 climb of 2011 and broke the 2.33:31 record of Lynn Bjorklund, who was 24 and from Los Alamos, N.M. when she set the standard in 1981.

First-time winner of the first-place men’s prize of $2,000 was Jason Delaney, 32, of Golden, Colo. in 2.13:18.

Interestingly, 30 years have passed and Sun Valley’s Gabriele Andersen still holds the Pikes Peak Marathon record for the Women’s 35-39 class.

In 1982, the 37-year-old Andersen—and 1980 Olympic marathon contestant—finished her ascent in 2.48:37 and her descent in 1.36:36 for a final marathon time of 4.25:13.

 

Smoke cancels Shop to Top

Elephant’s Perch owner Bob Rosso, organizer of last Saturday’s Shop to the Top ascent of Baldy, announced early Saturday that smoky skies and air quality issues forced a cancelation of this year’s event.

Rosso said, “The Perch had to call off the Shop to the Top Run due to obvious air quality issues. A simple consideration of what would we gain or lose based on a concern for the participants’ health, made the decision obvious to cancel.

“Everyone was very understanding. I would like to thank Sun Valley Company for their help, and our volunteers who were ready to go. There will not be any date set at this time, until the fires and air quality are back to the wonderful mountain air that we all appreciate and enjoy so much.”

 

acheter viagra
comprar viagra
buy viagra