Vail – Beaver Creek
21.2mi/4,623ft climbing

For a sixth straight day, the competitors in the 4th Annual GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run were treated to perfect late summer Rocky Mountain weather with clear blue skies and only the merest hint of a breeze blowing down the Eagle River Valley from Vail to Beaver Creek.

The route for Stage 6 of this year’s event was a gruelling 21.4 miles long and included over 4600 feet of climbing including a final grunt of nearly 1000 feet up to the finish line in the gorgeous surroundings of Beaver Creek Resort. Even in the confines of this developed valley—home to three world-class ski resorts—the TransRockies Run organizers mapped a challenging route that headed up Buffehr Creek Trail and then down the technical and steep Buck Creek Trail. Runners made short run through downtown Avon—no doubt surprising many drivers in the process—before the climb up to Beaver Creek Resort and the finish line.

While the time gaps in the overall standings were large enough that there would likely be no changes atop the standings during this last stage, there was still one more chance for stage glory, plus nearly 250 type-A personalities for whom coasting to the finish was unthinkable. Like horses catching the smell of the hay in the barn, they charged full bore from the start line at Mountain Plaza in Vail out onto the racecourse.

Leading the charge as they have all week were Andy Martin and Max King (Montrail/Hammer Nutrition) who were only able to resist the temptation to hammer for a couple of miles before they kicked it into high gear and charged to a scintillating finish in 2:54:34 a full 15 minutes ahead of their closest competition. As they have all week, Jason Wolfe and Eric Bohn (GORE-TEX/ Salomon/ Run Flagstaff) crossed the line in second place, leading Nick Selbo and Josh Wheeler (Rock/Creek Sports) who recovered from a tough stage 5 to finish third and hold the final overall podium position as well.

Having grabbed the leaders jerseys for the first time after stage 5, Ellen Parker and Melody Fairchild, the Lasportiva Dirt Divas knew they just needed to stay close to the second-placed team of Danielle De Guire and Amelie Fournier (Salomon) and they did so, coming across the line less than a minute behind the Canadian Duo to clinch the overall win. Though each team won three stages, the Lasportiva duo had a lower total time. In third were Jaclyn Greenhill and Roxanne Zobava (Rock/Creek Racing) who ran solidly all week behind the leading duo.

Though they made a valiant effort to recover from a disastrous first stage, the Northwestern Duo of Care Wakely and Mark Nelson (Frontrunners/ Westshore) had to settle for second place in 2010 behind Bryan Dayton and Krissy Moehl (Vasque). The teams came across the line with hands raised together, the sort of mutual respect and camaraderie which typifies the bonds that runners develop after six tough days spent together in the Rockies. Aliza Lapierre and Chad Denning (Outdoor Research) confirmed their third place overall on another hot day in the Rockies.

While the Masters who race the TransRockies might have a few more miles on their running clocks, the 80+ combined age divisions regularly mix it up with the Open Division teams throughout the TransRockies. In the 80+ Men’s Division, the Salomon Duo of Ted Russell and Ross McMahon had been a machine all week and they won again on the final day to confirm their overall win. Behind them Mark Thurston and Andres Santiago grabbed second place ahead of Dan and Tom Moline who completed the overall podium.

Over the first 4 stages Julie Leasure and Peter Courogen (Nike/GORE-TEX) had established a nearly unbeatable lead in the 80+ Mixed divison but the other podium teams made big efforts in the last two stages to grab a win each. After the second-placed overall team of Adam Chase and Sara Wagner (Salomon) grabbed Stage 5, it was the third-placed Mere Mortals team of Ken Sinclair and Denise Bourassa who ran to the win in the Stage 6 highlighting their third overall position.

After a strong second place in the Open Women’s division in 2009, Niki Kimball came back in 2010 to race the 80+ Women Division with new partner Monica Ochs and, racing as the North Face Betties, they crushed all comers with a final Overall win of over 3 hours! Behind them, Team Erin Babes Jeannie Debari and Kelly Hambelton used all that delicious sport cookie power to finish second, ahead of Canucks Carolyn Hawes and Liz Vanderkruk (Team CANA-MAMA-RUN) who finished third.

Normally runners come across a finish line and stay only long enough to check placing and time and start their recovery process. The finish line of the GORE-TEX TransRockies Run is a very different—winners and podium finishers hang around for hours cheering new and old friends across the line as they celebrate the achievements and struggle of the previous week.

Those celebrations are just a preview of the party which follows at Friday night’s awards banquet when all gather together one last time to mark the successful conclusion of another edition of North America’s most unique and rewarding running race. The theme song of the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run exhorts competitors to “Keep On Running” but for one night, the shoes and shorts, the water bottles and jackets, can all be left behind as 250 runners celebrate this most special adventure.

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Complete official results from Stage 6 and Overall Final Standings

Stage 6 Results TransRockies Run

Overall standings after 6 Stages

By Kelly Blake

Every evening, when dinner is finished, the nightly activities of the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run begin.  Before the daily motivational slide show and video, members of the TransRockies crew speak to the runners, giving them an overview of what to expect on the next day’s stage. They share information on the route, the weather, medical advice and “housekeeping”.

Houda out of the office and running Stage 4

The housekeeping presentation is done nightly by “Houda” and, despite the dull-sounding name, it’s always the most anticipated of the presentations. Kevin McDonald, otherwise known as Houda, goes over the not-so-exciting details of the early shuttle pick up and the duffle bag placements with enthusiasm and humor . . . if you can understand what he is saying, since it’s all delivered in a thick Canadian accent.

Houda hails from Southern Ontario and has been the director of operations for the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run since its inception. He has years of experience working on events and met many of his current TransRockies co-workers 10 years ago at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin. Houda brings an enthusiasm for fun and hard work to everything he does.  Lisa Bahan, responsible for sponsorship fulfillment, said “Houda has an amazing ability with people. He always pulls together great people for his team.” McDonald is approachable and, much like a great coach, motivates his team to work hard and have a positive attitude throughout the long TransRockies work days.

The team aspect is an area where McDonald obviously excels and it’s no surprise that his competitive background is team sports like lacrosse and hockey. Appropriately enough, his nickname comes from the iconic Canadian sport – it’s an homage to the former NHL defenseman, Doug Houda of the Detroit Red Wings. Generously described as a “journeyman” by Wikipedia, Houda averaged 2 penalty minutes and .16 of a point per game over his 561-game career. In Canada, it’s not necessarily a compliment to have your playing style compared to Houda but the nickname stuck and McDonald and his great attitude go with the flow.

Jeff Thompson, course director and ranger for the US Forest Service in Colorado, said, “He has a ‘do what I gotta do’ attitude and he does it all in good spirits.”  McDonald works hard and plays hard.  Martin Gaffuri, who has run all four years, simply calls Houda a “big kid.”

Whatever you call Kevin McDonald he is definitely hard working, dedicated, loyal and a good friend to have at the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run.

By Devon Sibole

Regardless of the official times, if a team races in the 80+age group of the Gore-Tex TransRockies Run, they always win everyone’s respect.   Last night, I had the honor of meeting a group of women that I will forever revere with the highest of admiration.  And, quite clearly, there is a reason that race Director Aaron McConnell is getting international calls for status updates from their friends in Germany; with a combined age of 257, Team Millipede and Team Ducktail of Muenster, Germany, may just be some of the most extraordinary athletes in this testing Colorado terrain.

Julia Suwelack, Helga Landfried Teodoruk, Hildegard Durynek and Almuth Hecking took up running at an age that most women start to consider retirement.  Hailing from a one of Germany’s better-known running clubs, LSF Muenster, these fleet-footed femmes turned their golden years into almost two decades of racing, traveling, pushing themselves to extremes and, as of late, trekking between high altitude tent villages with hundreds of like-minded running zealots.

In 2006, Team Millipede took on the TransAlpine Run.  After recruiting a fellow team for the Gore-Tex TransRockies Run, Teams Millipede and Ducktail also looked for specialized preparation.  This focused mountain training came from German running legend Birgit Lennartz.  Lennartz, an established world champion, created training manuals specific for each of the women detailing every factor from plyometrics to nutrition.  The extra training certainly worked, although it’s arguable that these teams could subsist on vigor alone.  “We can’t stop running.” Said 73-year old Durynek.  To be honest, since they began their running journey, I doubt they have ever tried to stop.

Team Millipede (named aptly for the hopes of quickly moving feet) and Team Ducktail (named not for the waddle, but more for their suspected positioning of the running pack) were quick to smile when I asked them about their Rocky Mountain experience.  For a few, it was also their first North American experience.  “This is a place of untouched beauty,” said runner Landfried Teodouruk, adding “these mountains and trails are unpolluted. To be in nature like this is overwhelmingly magnificent.” With a nod, Suwelack added “Each day is the most beautiful day. Each day is my favorite day.”

Today, all 257 years of Teams Millipede and Team Ducktail will take on the final leg and the last day of the Gore-Tex TransRockies Run. To both teams:  may you never be able to stop running!

By Gordon Wright

Leave a wet tee-shirt or a soaked pair of shoes out in the high-country Colorado sunshine, and you can almost watch the damp get scorched into vapor.  The air is so thin, the solar radiation so intense, that anything left outside in mid-day for, say, seven hours turns into a desiccated, crumpled, arid shell.

Unless, maybe, you’re Tamara Cartwright and you’re running a dream.  Today, Tamara teamed with Dean Karnazes for Stage Five of the Gore-Tex TransRockies Run, and rather than collapse into a hyperthermic puddle at the finish, she sprinted in, slapping high-fives the whole way and, improbably, thanked everyone around her in a bubbling display of glee.

Sure, it took Karnazes and Cartwright seven-plus hours to cover the 24 miles, but few have done it with as much equanimity.   Karnazes, don’t forget, won the Badwater Ultramarathon, a scorching 135-mile sufferfest, so 24 miles on a mid-90s day doesn’t really rock his boat.  And Cartwright?  She just likes being out here.

Last year, she supported her husband, Michael, as he and a teammate competed as the Porch Dogs in the 2009 TransRockies Run.  So taken was she that she hired a coach and took up trail running herself.

“I just knew I had to do it,” she said after tonight’s awards show.  She signed up for and completed each day of the Run3, which put her in the same field as Michael and his Porch Dog teammate, who are back for another heapin’ helpin’ of sufferin’.  But Tamara also had the stellar luck to enter into the Run a Day With Dean experiment in social running and human patience.  She got a slot, and thus punched her dance card for one more day here in the high Rockies.

This was a route that would have normally taken Karnazes four hours or less.  When asked how it felt to nearly double the effort, shepherding a lovely, game, but far slower partner, he said, “Oh man, it was amazing.  Tamara is awesome and we just had a great time really just talking, and hanging out with the other teams.  It was a great day.”

This, folks, is not sandbagging — it’s the Karno experience.  Every day, Dean lines up at the starting line for a rough run, each day with a different partner.  Most, like Tamara, are fans of his.  But everyone he comes across aren’t treated like “fans” (even as they make him pose for dozens of photos each day; even as hotel bell captains and shuttle drivers give him the hey-yo-Ultraman!) – to Dean, they’re simply boon companions and fellow runners.

“You have to write this,” commanded Tamara during our interview, “Dean is gracious, kind and supportive.  What’s most impressive is all throughout the day, he chatted with folks and knew every one of their names.  It proves that he genuinely cares, and he listens.  It was just the most extraordinary thing.  He helped me today in so many ways, and honestly, without him, it would have taken me nine hours.  I’m just very proud.  And very happy. ”

We couldn’t have written it better, Tamara.

The Longest Days Takes Runners Up and Over Vail Mountain

Red Cliff-Vail

22.8mi/ 5500ft climbing

With over 44 miles of running and 10,000 feet of elevation gain during the last two stages, there’s no easy way to the finish line of the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run. Stage 5 from Red Cliff to Vail was going to be the longest day on the trails of the 2010 TransRockies Run with the most climbing and the hottest temperatures of any day so far this week.

After a great Stage 4 and second night in Camp Hale, the runners packed and dressed for the day’s run in cold sub-40 degree temperatures knowing that this would be another hot day as the sun rose in the cloudless deep blue mountain sky. Sure enough, even as the runners started the climb up Shrine Pass they were taking off jackets and armwarmers and stashing them away for the rest of the day.

If Stage 5 was going to be the toughest grind of the week, it would make up for it with superb trails, incredible scenery and the promise of the traditional last camp feast prepared by local favourites Cowboy Catering. It’s amazing what athletes will do for food after a few hard days of racing . . .

One of the early casualties of the heat and course was Will Kelsay (Team Timex Multisport) who was the last athlete standing of the three who had signed up to try and become the first to complete the TransRockies Bike/GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run. Suffering from a flu bug, he gamely tried to get through the stage but was forced to pull out at checkpoint 1. The challenge for 2011 remains in place—who will be the first athlete to complete two TransRockies stage races in two sports with only a week’s rest in-between?

Ironically, for all the climbing which was in the stage, it was the 3,000 vertical foot final descent which was toughest for many of the runners as the constant pounding led to very sore and beat up legs at the finish. Open Mixed leaders Bryan Dayton and Krissy Moehl remarked that they felt like they were “just hanging on” after five days of racing which has seen the second-placed duo of Mark Nelson and Care Wakely win four straight stages in closing to within 12 minutes of first place. It’s a tall order but there are 21 tough miles left to race tomorrow and experience shows that anything can happen.

There were some changes front of the pack as the Open Women’s Leaders jerseys changed hands and the La Sportiva Dirt Divas Melody Fairchild and Ellen Fairchild turned in a strong Stage 5 peformance to win by 16 minutes and grab a 9 ½ minute lead heading into the final stage.

In the 80+ Mixed Division, Julie Leasure and Peter Courogen finally had their clean sweep of stages broken as four-time TransRockies Run participant Adam Chase and his partner Sara Wagner (Team Salomon Mixed) grabbed a satisfying five minute win in Stage 5. There was no such upset in the other categories as the other overall leaders continued to pad their leads with stage victories.

It would be surprising enough for an event as grueling as the 2010 GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run to have one competitor over 70 years of age but this year, the TransRockies Run had two 70+ runners and more over 60 as well. While 71-year old Doug Malewicki of the California Old Goats was back in the Rockies again having already completed the Run, 73-year old Hildegard Durynek had come from Münster, Germany with her teammate Almuth Mecking to take on the TransRockies for the first time. It’s so far, so good for Hildegard as she’s completed five stages successfully and it set to add a TransRockies Run finisher medal to the ones she already has from our sister European event, the TransAlpine Run.

There’s just one stage left for Hildegard, Doug and the rest of the 2010 GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run participants. It’s always a tough one though, as Stage 6 takes runners over 21 miles from Vail Resort to Beaver Creek Resort further West down the Eagle River Valley. With temperatures forecast to be in the 80s and more than 4500 feet of climbing including a steep last 700 foot grunt to the finish line, this year’s finisher medals and shirts will be honestly earned by all who reach Beaver Creek.