The Colorado Colfax Marathon will serve as the 2006 national wheelchair marathon championship, with competitors vying for spots on the U.S. world championship team that will compete in Holland in September.
Except for the mile-high altitude and a long climb the last 8 miles, the straight-shot Colfax course is ideal, according to elite wheelchair athlete Scot Hollonbeck.
“You can’t ask for a better wheelchair course,” Hollonbeck said. “The pavement is well-maintained, there are very few turns, no technical, screaming downhills into a 90 (degree turn) or 120 like (the) New York (marathon). I think this is ideal to run a very fast time.”
Hollonbeck, the U.S. Paralympics track and field athlete of the year, served as a wheelchair consultant to the Colfax Marathon and is not competing.
“You can get into a rhythm,” Hollonbeck said. “You can stay on pace, and barring a headwind coming off the mountains, you’re looking at potentially world-record pace.”
Up to a point, that is. There is that climb the last 8 miles.
“If people overpace and don’t save for that, that’s going to hurt a lot of athletes,” Hollonbeck said. “But if an athlete trains for that, it’s surmountable.”
The race has attracted about 25 wheelchair athletes, only three or four of them female. Here are two wheelchair competitors to watch:
Jacob Heilveil, Longmont – A four-time winner of the Seattle Marathon and two-time winner of the Chicago Marathon, Heilveil has the advantage of living and training at altitude. Said Hollonbeck, “He was my pick anyway, because he’s had some good marathons.”
Adam Bleakney, Savoy, Ill. – Won the Chicago Marathon in 2002 and the Nashville Marathon in 2005. Second at Columbus and Chicago in 2004. Said Hollonbeck, “This is a great course for him.”
