Boulder – Nelson Laux is on a roll. The former Western State All-American won the Cherry Creek Sneak a month ago, and Monday he won the citizens race of the Bolder Boulder.
With chilly early-morning temperatures making for near-ideal race conditions, Laux finished in 31 minutes, 31 seconds for his first Bolder Boulder victory after several top-five finishes. John Supsic of Boulder finished 14 seconds behind.
“The last three years, two of my college teammates have won it, Mike Aish and Josh Eberly,” Laux said. “With them not in the race, I wanted to keep that tradition going of having a Western alumni represent well in the Bolder Boulder.”
Mikie Takanaka of Japan won the women’s race in 35:25.
Mendoza makes it nine straight
Saul Mendoza of Mexico City won his ninth consecutive Bolder Boulder wheelchair race with a time of 23:14. Jacob Heilveil of Longmont, who won last week’s Colorado Colfax Marathon, was second in 24:22.
“I’m a climber and I train at altitude all the time,” Mendoza said. “This is a perfect race for me because of all the climbing – that’s my specialty.”
Shirley Reilly of Tucson, who won the women’s race on Colfax last week, took Monday’s women’s race in 28:19.
“It was nice to get a little break from doing marathons,” Reilly said. “My body is still recovering (from Colfax).”
Kudos for organization
Longtime Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray, who will serve in the same capacity for the new Denver Marathon on Oct. 15, ran his first Bolder Boulder and came away impressed.
“When someone says 50,000 people, point to point, that’s a formula for disaster,” said McGillivray, who runs the Boston Marathon course backward after the race every year. “I just said, ‘How do they do it?’ I have high standards. This thing was nailed. I was very, very impressed. I was humbled, as a matter of fact.”
Dr. Dave Martin, a Georgia State sports physiologist who has been marathon chairman of USA Track & Field’s Men’s Development Committee since 1979, was equally impressed after his first exposure to the race.
“There just weren’t any mistake,” said Martin, a world-renowned expert on the marathon and a key adviser to U.S. Olympians regarding the course and weather conditions they could expect in the 2004 Athens Marathon, which yielded medals for Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor. “I’ve never been so impressed. This is really like an Olympic final to put on.”
Bright hope
Defending champion Elva Dryer on CU graduate Sara Slattery, who won the women’s elite race not quite 12 months into her career as a professional: “She’s a little stud. She’s doing great things. Who knows what she’s going to do in the future, but I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic.”
The numbers
Total registrants for the Bolder Boulder were 46,768 and 43,635 finished. Both numbers are third-highest in event history.
