Boulder – When Sara Slattery collapsed at the finish line after barely winning last year’s Bolder Boulder, her distress made it painfully obvious what the race meant to her. On Monday, her tears of sadness told the story.
On a warm, muggy day distinguished by approximately 50,000 finishers in the citizens’s race, Slattery had what road racers of all levels call “a bad day” – a race when the body doesn’t perform up to expectations for some inexplicable reason – and finished 13th. Edna Kiplagat of Kenya won with a time of 33 minutes, 42 seconds.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t higher,” said Slattery, a former University of Colorado star, dabbing tears. “I feel terrible. I feel like I let CU down and the town down.”
But thanks to gritty performances by Gunnison’s Elva Dryer (third) and Katie O’Neill (sixth) of Mammoth, Calif., the U.S. women finished second in the International Team Challenge behind Ethiopia, whose women finished second, fourth and seventh.
The U.S. men also finished second to Ethiopia, but individual honors in the men’s race went to Ridouane Harroufi of Morocco (29:52), who lurked in the shadow of Ethiopia’s Solomon Tsige until surging to the win with a devastating kick the last 500 meters. Lafayette’s Alan Culpepper paced the U.S. men, finishing fourth.
The 29th running of the annual Memorial Day event was marred by its first fatality when an unidentified man in his mid-60s went into cardiac arrest midway through the race. More than 782,000 have participated since the race’s inception in 1979.
Temperatures for the women’s elite race were in the upper 70s, but a lead pack of 10 came through the first mile in 5:04, a blistering pace for a road race at altitude.
“The Kenyans and the Ethiopians set a pretty brisk pace to start, faster than I ever remember it going out,” said Dryer, who won the race in 2005. “The first kilometer was like 3:09. I don’t know that I’ve ever gone faster than 5:15 or 5:20 the first mile. It stayed pretty good to the second mile.”
Then the race evolved into an African skirmish between Kenya and Ethiopia, traditionally spirited rivals.
“I just had to focus on running my race, knowing there was a chance some of them would fall off due to such a fast pace at the start,” said Dryer, a two-time Olympian still running strong at age 35. “It’s such a rivalry. They were probably more concerned about each other than they were about us.”
Dryer’s strategy paid off when the third Kenyan, Viola Bar, lost contact and faded to finish 17th. Dryer had a chance to catch runner-up Amane Gobena of Ethiopia but finished 2 seconds behind her.
“I was trying hard that last 2K,” said Dryer, a former Western State runner. “I just needed one more gear, which I obviously didn’t have.”
O’Neill, a 2004 Olympian in the 10,000 meters, also was taken aback by the early pace.
“I think that made all of us really feel the altitude in the end,” O’Neill said. “I was glad I could hang on. I wish I could have passed a few more people at the end.”
A Bolder Boulder rookie, O’Neill came away impressed by the race and the runner-friendly atmosphere around town.
“People here are just so fitness conscious,” O’Neill said. “It’s really great to run around here and see everyone in such good shape, happy to be out in the sun, exercising.”
It’s also a town full of people who could empathize with Slattery.
“Sometimes it’s just not there,” Slattery said. “Every time someone would come up on me, I’d try to accelerate with them, but I didn’t have the gas today. I think the combination of a fast (first) mile and the heat might have done it.”
Slattery said she wants to duke it out with Kiplagat again next year.
“I challenge her next year and I’ll be ready for it,” Slattery said. “I won’t let anyone down.”
Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
