T h e s t r i d e r
In this issue: TRACY THELEN & RYAN SULLIVAN WINNERS @ G M ULTRAS! (Tracy is also 2nd in the Bears Ears 50mile) Ian Rogers and Michelle Oberndorf are “Baddest” Breakers! MAX ROBINSON sets new Turkey Flats Course (w)Record ! & ESME ROSTEL wins women’s race!
Next issue? “Just Peachy 5k”
MMS Directors meeting, June 21: 6 directors in attendance. & Roxie. We discussed upcoming races we’ll be timing: G.M. Ultras, Kokopelli, Santa Cause. Also talked about upcoming&soon races: Turkey Flats and Crag Crest – both good opportunities to “get OUT OF the heat”. And “Breaking Bad” (duathlon). And, of course, the seemingly valley-wide house-foundation subsidence issues. Larry was considering putting on “beginner”s race and running clinic(s). Annual Picnic. Ice Cream Night. Always a bunch of stuff to look forward to!
The M M S Directors, currently, are:
KARLA NEPHEW – President (& Jaguar-Timing-System).
ANDY WINNEFELD – Vice-President (& frequent medical insight).
TOM ELA – Membership (among many other things). ROSCO BETUNADA – Secretary, NL.
LARRY INGRAM -- Calendar, Race Director Consultant. MARTIN WIESIOLEK -- Web Site &. SHERYL DOUGLAS (former President). CONRAD COLE – Treasurer & Purchaser of Stuff.
Flaunt your Striderness with an official t-shirt or trucker cap! Available at the Monday and Thursday evening group runs or by contacting [email protected]
Natalie Cotela is working with our local BLM team to get a trail work clean up day set up for September or October. It would be held on a weekday. Please like this post if you are interested in helping out so she can give them an idea of how many people we will have to help out.
Please note that we are trusting that if you show up for group runs or events, you are either vaccinated or you will adhere to recommended safety protocols of masking and distancing. Thanks for keeping the community healthy!
For submissions for next newsletter: Email articles to [email protected]
Doesn’t have to be a ‘submission’! Let me know of O-missions, etc.
or ‘regular’ mail to MMS, c/o Betunada, 230 Sunset Hills, Grand Jct., CO 81503
MESA MONUMENT STRIDERS website: http://www.mesamonumentstriders.com –
www.facebook.com/pages/Mesa-Monument-Striders/282653486288
C A L E N D A R
Note: all phone numbers “970” unless indicated otherwise
August 27, Saturday, Kokopelli Classic Trail Runs ! “More Trail, Less Road” – start times are: 1/2Marathon, 6:30 a.m.; 8-mile, 7:00 a.m.; 5k, 7:30 a.m. Entry fees increase after July 31 and go up $10 if entering on race day (no t-shirt guarantee if registering then). Yes: all events are at the Mary’s Loop Trailhead. https://mesacountysearchandrescut.org/kokopelli
Support Mesa County Search and Rescue and have a great run!
Kokopelli Trailhead (I-70 Loma exit)
Register: https://www.active.com/loma-co/running/distance-running-races/kokopelli-classic-2022 Striders are timing this race and we are in need of a few volunteers. Volunteer by using this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4EADAF2EA0FCCF8-koko
New race on the calendar! Support high school Cross Country:
Saturday, September 3 Palisade High School
We will be adding a citizens open 5km as our fundraiser at our PHS XC meet.
The citizens 5km online registration is now open and will follow the XC meet at 10:15 AM.
https://runsignup.com/Race/CO/Palisade/Riverbend5KM
Begin thinking snow with the Grand Mesa Nordic Council at this new Grand Mesa race!
Sunday, September 11, 11AM Run for Snow 10K – Trail (running) RACE
County Line Trailhead, Hwy 65 on Grand Mesa 970-200-6337 gmnc.org
our opportunity for a local tri at a wonderful venue!
September 17-18 Desert Edge Triathlons Saturday, Olympic and Sprint distances
Sunday, Off Road Highline Lake State Park
https://www.grandjunctionsports.org/desert-s-edge-triathlon
Saturday, September 17 Mountain RATS Trail 55K, Marathon, Heavy Half
Eagle https://geminiadventures.com/mountain-rats/
OCTOBER 8: ROUGH CANYON TRAIL RUNS! Aravaipa is bringing a race to the Grand Valley on this day, with a mtn bike race the next day. These people put on quality races including one of my (Tom E) favorites, the Kendall Mountain. https://www.aravaiparunning.com/rough-canyon-trail-runs/
Group training run every Monday, 6 PM 8/22 Pollock Canyon Trailhead, run Pollock Bench Loop 8/29 Mary's Loop Trailhead, I-70 Loma Exit 9/5 Devil's Canyon Trailhead 9/12 Pollock Canyon Trailhead, run Flume Canyon Loop
We will rotate through these four locations in this order through the season. For all but Mary's Loop, take Colo Hwy 340 south from Fruita across the river and turn right at Kings View Rd. Follow through the subdivision and onto the gravel road. Devil's Canyon parking is soon after on the left, Pollock parking is a couple of miles further on the left. We run in all conditions. Like the Thursday night group, this is casual and all abilities are welcome with various distances to choose from. Tom 970-773-3124
Group training run every Wednesday, 6 AM Tabeguache Trailhead on Monument Road (Lunch Loops) Cathy 970-201-6741
Group training run every Thursday, 6 PM Tabeguache Trailhead (“Lunch Loops”) on Monument Road We'll be out there rain or shine. As always, this is casual and all shapes and speeds are welcome with various routes to choose from. We'll look out for you.
Tom 970-773-3124
MORE running websites:
sjmr.club ( SJMR ) San Juan Mountain Runners, 631 S. 2nd Street, Montrose, CO 81401
West Colorado GIRLS ON THE RUN: gotrwesterncolorado.org
Steamboat Springs: www.runningseries.com – this site should show all you need to know about most (or all!) the Steamboat-area races. Get on their e-mailing list!
rrca.org (road runners clubs of america) and colorado runner: www.coloradorunnermag.com
Support the underwriters / sponsors of the MESA-MONUMENT STRIDERS:
The following: Summit Canyon Mountaineering, ALPINE AUTO-HAUS, the FOOT SUPPORT GROUP, WEBCREATE.COM, and Dr. Andy Mohler, family practice, have assisted in keeping membership costs lower than they could be. And: they support running in the Grand Valley (& elsewhere). Support them if you can!
ALPINE AUTO-HAUS, 539 BOGART LANE – (970) 248-8004
Consider this auto-repair/servicing shop – especially for your Audi or BMW or VW or MINI ~
FOOT SUPPORT GROUP Foot/gait/orthotics/bracing/modification specialists
“European Craftsmanship – Biomechanical Design” 3212 F Road, Clifton, CO 81520
888-242-3881 or, in the 970 area code: 434-2727
Summit Canyon Mountaineering 461 Main Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501
Ask about a possible MMS discount ~ (970) 243-2847
Dr. Andy Mohler, family practitioner – with the Primary Care Partners PC, 3150 N. 12th (G.J., 81506), 245-1220
WEBCREATE.COM – just as it appears: need help with your website? [email protected]
June 25 Bears Ears Ultras 30K/50K/50Mile Monticello, UT
50 (miles): Chris McQuivey (41, from Flagstaff) was an hour ahead of the runner-up with his 8:52:29 (averaging just under 11-min. miles). TRACY THELEN (from G.J.) was 2nd woman, 12th over-all, with 12:27:13 of, uh, fun.
Chris Dawson (26, Denver) won the 50k – 5:14:21. CLARISSA TOFEL (48, G.J.) was the 8th female finisher, 8:41:34.
And … Willie Milam (Ophir, CO, age 30) won the 30k in 2:26:50. MEGAN SAND (32, G.J.) was 9th woman, 19th over-all of 84 finishers with 3:46:17.
https://www.madmooseevents.com/
Striders (& hoo-ever else) moved up out of the heat above Glade Park for another great trail run amongst wildflowers and aspens and pines. Yes, the June 26 Turkey Flats Run, 9.6 mile trail experience – 6/26/2022 (Women in CAPS)
1 1:03:01 Max Robinson, 29 2. 1:21:44, James Roche, 35
3. 1:21:44 Marty Wacker, 51 (Master’s Winner) 4. 1:22:07, Tyler Coleman, 34
5. 1:29:11 Josh Drews, 38 6. 1:30:39, ESMERALDA ROSTEL, 35
7. 1:36:23 Nick Andrews, 44 8. 1:38:24, Dan Denowski,
9. 1:38:37 CHERYL STAHLY, 38 10. 1:40:44, Ernie Langelier, 70
11. 1:46:44, SHANNON KOCH, 47 12. 1:46:47, KRISTI SIMAN, 4
13. 1:47:08, Oliver Berg, 28 14. 1:48:24, DARBY SPENCER, 27
15. 1:55:58, KARLA NEPHEW, 42 16. 1:56:08, SUSAN BIERMAN, 49
17. 1:59:47, Scott Hollmaier, 68 18. 2:00:00, KAJE JENSEN, 52
19. 2:03:51, LAUREN DIX, 47 20. 2:09:12, Donnie Tietsema, 37
21. 2:15:41, Gordon Harbert, 62 22. 2:24:40, D PLUNKETT, 57
23. 2:29:07, RANNA BIESCHKE, 64 24. 2:29:08, TRISH HEDIN, 52
25. 2:32:16, KRISTINA SILADI, 37 26. 2:32:16, Sean Meissner, 48
27. 2:38:36, Lou Villaire, 58 28. 2:50:38, Steve Defeyter, 70
29. 3:11:00, KARLA ARANEDA, 54 30. 3:11:00, MEGAN STENHOUSE, 42
New course record at Turkey Flats! Max Robinson is all trained up and showed it as he posted a new course record on a cool day and a dry course. His time of 1:03:01 handily (?) bested the previous record of 1:03:38 set by Garrett Piispanen way back in 2007. No one has come within three minutes of that record until now. Esmeralda Rostel was the first woman in with a solid time. Thanks to Steve Defeyter for once again performing sweep duties. No bear sightings this year but lots of columbines.
July 17, CRAG CREST (Male in CAPS)
1. 1:36:21, NELSON JONES, 31 2. 1:37:49, IAN ROGERS, 28
3. 2:05:30, Megan Sand, 32 4. 2:07:13, Amy Metzger, 43
5. 2:11:43, JOE EVANS, 41 6. 2:15:13, BRIAN BUECHLER, 40
7. 2:16:10, NICK EMMENDORFER, 34 8. 2:18:18, Courtney Barella, 33
9. 2:22:51, ERNIE LANGELIER, 70 10. 2:24:12, Kristi Siman, 42
11. 2:31:28, Laura Venner, 40 12. 2:31:30, Faye Rogers, 29
13. 2:32:30, ERIK LIONBERGER, 44 14. 2:38:49, TEDDY MARTINEZ, 47
15. 2:41:13, SCOTT HOLLMAIER, 68 16. 2:43:01, Karla Nephew, 42
17. 2:43:59, Susan Bierman, 49 18. 2:46:24, DAVE TOLEN, 67
19. 2:48:02, Hannah Holm, 52 20. 3:03:41, CHARLES EVANGELISTI, 37
21. 3:13:03, STEVE DeFEYTER, 70
It was beautiful day for running on Crag Crest amongst the wildflowers and mosquitoes! It was a counter-clockwise course again. This year's 1-2-3 podium was Nelson Jones, Ian Rogers and Megan Sand. Watermelon and beer was the reward.
Maybe it was the burden of being a new Dad but Charles Evangelisti pulled a calf muscle about half way around and had to walk it on in. That was the worst of the injuries. Sean Meissner and Kristina Siladi started to run the full loop as their farewell to Colorado run but, realizing there was scarce water for their dogs across the top, turned around and returned the lower loop. So long to two fine runners!
July 30, GRAND MESA ULTRAS (30k, 55k, and 50 mile).
Yes, three races were concurrently run – read the Race Directors’ “Greetings”, below, detailing the weather-related havoc being wreaked …
55 stalwarts finished the “short” run (18 miles is short?!), paced by RYAN SULLIVAN (age = 32) from Grand Junction. He had 2:17:10 of … fun. Stuart Kramer (36) of Paonia was next, 2:36:40; then Matt Wubben (28), Ft. Collins was close behind Stuart. In 4th place over-all was Master’s fastest, Kevin Koch (47) – 2:39:36, presently residing in Ouray. Keri Nelson (41) from Moab was women’s winner, 3:08:13. 2nd & 3rd-place ladies were Chelsey Heiden (27), Ft. Collins, 3:23:55; and Megan Ciarlo (30), Grand Jct., 3:34:34. A couple impressive “seasoned” runners were Ernie Langelier (70, from G.J.), 14th-over-all in 3:58:35; and Debra Cunningham (60), Denver, 15th over-all, 4:01:41.
55k: Won by Kevin Hadfield (36), Carbondale, 6:03:55 and Katelyn McDaniel (29), Denver, 6:14:31. Katelyn was 3rd over-all – preceded by 2nd-place man Matt Lenagh (30), Colo. Spgs., 6:14:29. 3rd man, 4th over-all – Stewart Walther (38), Albuquerque, 6:23:28. 6th over-all and women’s runner-up: Eva McDonough (18), Aspen, 6:49:07. It is sort of rare to see someone so (relatively) young up towards the front in an ultra, eh? In 8th place was the first Grand Valley “local” – Josh Drews (38), 6:58:25; and in 9th place was the over-all Master’s winner (& 3rd woman), Heather Carter (40), N. Ogden, UT, 7:00:17.
The “big one” – FIFTY MILES – 26 runners finished (one less than completed the 55k) – paced by Pat Noonan (33), from Brooklyn, NY (!) – who endured 9 hours, 3 minutes, 55 seconds of effort. TRACY THELEN was fastest lady (and Master’s winner) – age 40-years-young and 11:28:39, 8th over-all. Scott Shine (39), Durango, was over-all runner-up, 9:43:10. Bennet Levine (35), Minturn, was 3rd, 10:09:58. In 5th was men’s Masters fastest, Mark Bauer (43), Glenwood, 11:00:21. Tracy was followed by Ariel Benney (21), Leadville, 11:43:23; and 3rd woman was Amy Markovich (38), Steamboat, 11:45:17. Mark Leistico (45), G.J., was 15th with a 12:33:37. www.grandmesaultras.com
Greetings!
Thank you so much for joining us for the 2022 Grand Mesa Ultras! We love sharing the beauty that is the Grand Mesa with you and, most of all, we love seeing all of the friends we’ve made over the years & making new ones!
It was so inspiring to watch you strive to achieve your goals particularly in light of the gnarly weather that took us all by surprise (especially since Scott & I were smiling ear to ear when we walked out of our camper at 3 AM on race morning to crystal clear skies & billions of shining stars)! What started as a clear, starry morning ended with runners and volunteers having endured 37 degrees temperatures in July & 2 monsoonal floods as the skies opened and unleashed just under 2 in of rain and pummeled us all with chickpea-sized hail (the 50 milers even figured out the hard way how Flowing Park Trail got its name as the trail filled with 6 inches of freezing cold, slushy rain water that flowed for miles upon miles). You finishers need to pat yourselves on the back for being so BAD ASS (the rest of you also deserve a shout out as there’s no doubt that you’re probably a lot wiser than the rest of us)!
2022 saw participants who travelled from 19 states and the 30k male record smashed by a speedster that was fast enough to beat the hailstorm (not to worry; as one of our medical volunteers, he, too, had to endure the storms as he accompanied Scott on a couple rescue missions after his finish… Dr. Sullivan, you’re one heck of a guy)!
We are already looking forward to next year’s event! While we work to open registration, enjoy the linked results (https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=87698), know that we’re working to upload pictures to our Facebook page and mark 7/29/2023 on your calendar.
Thank you for racing with us and allowing us to do what we LOVE!
Happy Trails! Kristi Siman & Scott Vig
Breaking Bad Dirt Duathlon 7/9/2022
Race Time Run Time Bike Time
1 1:30:28 0:23:24 (1) 1:07:04 (1) Ian Rogers 28 M
2 1:41:07 0:24:42 (2) 1:16:25 (2) Michelle Oberndorf 29 F
3 1:45:18 0:25:17 (3) 1:20:01 (3) Lexi Van Roekel 31 F
4 1:52:32 0:25:51 (4) 1:26:41 7() Sean Meissner 48 M
5 2:08:44 0:46:45 (7) 1:21:59 (5) Esmeralda Rostel 36 F
6 2:08:45 0:47:55 (10)1:20:50 (4) Aleksey Kovtun 33 M
7 2:12:33 0:47:14 (8) 1:25:19 (6) Tim Davis 47 M
8 2:16:30 0:47:32 (9) 1:28:58 (8) Kinsey Laine 33 F
9 3:24:53 0:43:53 (5) 2:41:00 (9) Doralene Deokielal 47 F
10 3:24:53 0:43:53 (5) 2:41:00 (9) David Vindiola 47 M
11 0:49:29 (11) D Plunkett 57 F
The 2022 Breaking Bad Dirt Duathlon was as bad as ever, hot and dusty and tons of fun! Ian Rogers cruised to a new course record and set a new record for the run portion as well. That was despite needing to slow for directions at a crucial intersection from which the signs had been poached overnight. Ugh! Ezzie, Tim, Kinsie and Alexy all get overachiever awards for missing that turn and running 5+ miles instead of 3. Sean rode a good portion of the course on a sunken seat post and Doralene got to deal with loose and rotating handlebars to add a little extra challenge. Lesson: carry some tools!
Strawberry Shortcut – June 19, Glenwood Springs
When the Editor first lived in the Grand Valley, local races didn’t draw too many entrants. I wrote for a Denver-area “running” newsletter (fore-runner (heh) of Colorado Runner magazine) and they asked me what were the two biggest/well-attended races in Grand Junction, and without hesitation I answered “Glenwood (Strawberry) and Moab (spring Half-Marathon You would see more than a 100 Grand Valley entrants in those races, whereas we were lucky to approach 100 in any local race then. Things have changed … though the Glnwd Strawberry Shortcut experienced it’s 45th incarnation this year, attendance has dropped – from the many hundreds who participated “back in the day.” 36 finishers for the 10k, 98 ran the 5k, and there was a one-mile event besides. Justin Garrard (31-40 age group) won all three races! 33:42 for 10k, 16:09 for the 5k, and a 5:07 mile. Amy Joyce was first women’s 10k finisher, 8th over-all with 46:33. Craig Burger, who the Editor used to work with, was 14th (49:32). Emily Worline (17-21 group) was women’s winner in the 5k with 19:43. John Ferguson may have been the only Grand Valley runner, winning the “60’s) with his 20th-place 23:46. And … there was a Johnny Utah finisher in the 5k. Wasn’t he played by Keanu in the movie “Point Break”?