Boulder – Sara Slattery broke new ground for the Colorado Buffaloes when she toed the starting line of the Bolder Boulder’s elite race Monday. She made an even bigger mark when she crossed the finish line on the brink of collapse.
The first former Buff to run in the women’s International Team Challenge for Team USA made a daring move with a mile left in the 6.2-mile race for a Memorial Day to remember, winning the race and leading the U.S. women to their fifth team victory in the past six years.
Wearing red, white and blue ribbons in her braided hair and a stick-on Buff tattoo on her cheek, Slattery finished with a time of 33 minutes, 42 seconds. Dorota Gruca of Poland finished on Slattery’s heels, one second behind.
Slattery, 24, won two individual NCAA track titles at CU and ran on two NCAA champion cross country teams, but nothing tops what happened on the campus of her alma mater Monday.
“This is by far the best race I’ve ever won, besides winning the NCAA (cross country) with my team my freshman and senior year,” said Slattery, who turned pro a year ago. “To be able to win the individual race and the team race with Team USA is awesome. Doing it in my hometown, I can’t rank this with any other race. It’s out of the park.”
Several former CU men have run in the International Team Challenge, including two-time Olympian Alan Culpepper (2002, 2003 and 2004). The CU distance program has become a national power since Adam Goucher won three NCAA titles in 1998, but the Bolder Boulder brings far wider exposure.
“For Sara and I and Alan Culpepper, this is like the Olympics,” said Slattery’s husband, former CU steeple- chaser Steve Slattery. “It’s Boulder.”
Slattery wouldn’t have been in the race if three-time champion Deena Kastor, America’s most accomplished female distance runner, hadn’t initially declined the invitation to enter after winning the London Marathon five weeks ago. In recent days Kastor, the 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medalist, let it be known she was recovered and ready to go if one of the U.S. women needed to withdraw.
They didn’t need her.
Jen Rhines of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., finished fifth and defending champion Elva Dryer, a Durango native who lives in Albuquerque, fought through an off day to finish ninth. Kenyans Lineth Chepkurui and Jemima Jepligat finished third and fourth, respectively, but they had to settle for second in the team competition when their third runner, Sally Barsosio, finished 15th.
“I just didn’t feel that strength in the legs,” said Dryer, like Rhines a two- time Olympian. “My energy was a little flat. I saw the (U.S.) girls doing so well, and I just tried to hang tough, just tried not to let anyone else pass me because I knew it could come down to that. I didn’t want to be the cause of us losing the team title. I knew it was going to be close.”
Slattery and Rhines ran in a tightly bunched lead pack of five runners until the final turn on the criterium course when Slattery made an admittedly “risky move” and surged with a mile to go. She opened up a nice lead but began to falter on a pair of climbs just before the ramp down onto Folsom Field, letting Gruca back in the race.
“I was hurting up that last hill,” said Slattery, who crumpled to the stadium floor after finishing. “When I came into the stadium I was just thinking, ‘Relax your legs, relax your legs and go.’ I felt like I weighed about 400 pounds coming around that (final) curve, but I did not want to lose. I was just getting to that line.”
28th Bolder Boulder
Women’s elite winner: Sara Slattery, Lafayette (33:42)
Men’s elite winner: Berhanu Adane, left, Ethiopia (29:37)
Women’s citizens race winner: Mikie Takanaka, Japan (35:25)
Men’s citizens race winner: Nelson Laux, Arvada (31:31)
Women’s wheelchair winner: Shirley Reilly (28:19)
Men’s wheelchair winner: Saul Mendoza, Mexico (23:14)
Runners registered: 46,768
Finishers: 43,635
