Vail – Matt Carpenter just doesn’t lose. In races where runners typically are separated by seconds, Carpenter screams across the finish barely breathing heavily – and several minutes ahead of every other racer.
It’s always impressive to watch the Manitou Springs racer run. He finished Sunday’s 10K trail running race in 45:23, followed by Josiah Middaugh at 48:16 and Bill Fanselow at 48:36. Middaugh was running tired, though: He had paddled a kayak race and finished 11th in the Teva Mountain Games’ mountain bike race the day before.
Eagle running champion Anita Ortiz won the women’s trail race in 54:14, followed by Del Norte’s Laura Haefeli at 55:11 and Brandy Erholtz at 55:47.
“Absolutely insane”
The biggest crowd pleaser at the Teva Games unquestionably is the gladiator-styled “8 Ball Sprint,” in which six kayakers race down Gore Creek while six others – the “8 Balls” – work to stop their passage.
The toll extracted by the 8 Balls often is heavy, with kayakers flipping and slammed hard against rocks. In the final showdown, nearly 40 paddlers were whittled down to final six, while the number of embittered and battered 8 Ball kayakers swelled to 14. That meant a brutal cluster of 20 kayakers funneled through Gore Creek’s shallow rapids in a display that ranked as the highlight of the Teva Games’ kayaking events.
“That was absolutely insane,” said 13-year-old Dane Jackson, whose small size leant him agility to blocking the passage of racing boaters.
Andrew Holcombe of Asheville, N.C., weathered ruthless blocking to find the finish line first in the surprisingly carnage-free finale.
“There’s not a whole lot of strategy involved: Be aggressive and take what they give you,” Holcombe said. “If someone gets in front of you, hit ’em hard so they’ll remember you next year.”
Nick Troutman took second and Rush Sturges third.
Among the women, Carbondale’s Eleanor Perry bested the blockers to win. Idaho’s Devon Parker finished second and Australia’s Tanya Faux, who won the Games’ 5K fun run Saturday night, finished third.
Dial 303 for bragging rights
The 303 crew represented on Gore Creek on Sunday, winning the third annual East vs. West amateur kayak rodeo for the first time. With a score of 146.5 to beat the West Slope playboaters, the three-paddler team from the 303 area code earned $1,500 and bragging rights for a year. Props to Zach Mitchell of Evergreen and Golden kayakers Eric Bissel and Amy Leppo. “This is our time, finally,” Mitchell said.
Impressive climbing
Vail’s afternoon thundershower nixed the finals of the speed bouldering competition Sunday, leaving the lithe climbers to rely on their quarterfinal results. Climbing like ants, with jaw- dropping strength-to-weight ratios, the climbers flew up the overhanging wall. Arms bulging and legs waving, the boulder-climbing teens navigated a series of a dozen holds to reach the top and ring a bell in a matter of seconds.
Ryan Roden, a 17-year-old from Dallas known simply as “Future,” won the men’s comp with a two-lap combined time of 20.11 seconds, followed by Nicholas Sherman of Boulder (20.69) and Longmont’s Daniel Woods (21.88). Rachael Blievernicht, 19, of Flagstaff, Ariz., took the women’s comp with a two-lap time of 46.19 seconds, followed by Texas climber Alex Puccio (46.22) and Boulder’s Angela Payne (49.04).
No stopping Ned
Like fine wine, Ned Overend just gets better with age.
Last year at 50 he won the Teva Mountain Games hill climb, a newer version of the famous Coors Classic race of the early 1980s. This year, only eight days after finishing third in the Durango- to-Silverton Iron Horse Classic, Overend bested his time of last year by more than 30 seconds, again reaching the top step of the vaunted race’s podium with a time of 27:29. Michael Carter finished second in 28:35, and Josiah Middaugh of Vail was third in 28:54.
Pua Sawicki led the women’s racers with a time of 38:27, followed by Gunnison’s Jenny Smith in 38:35 and Boulder’s Chloe Forsman in 39:18.
