Saturday was the kickoff to the 2013 La Sportiva Mountain Cup.  The field was loaded with fast runners for both men and women.  The course begins on a fairly easy dirt road for the first 4 miles.  Jason Bryant led the men up the first climb over the first mile.  Once the course crested, several runners rolled by as the dirt road descended in the canyon.  Justin Ricks moved to the lead with Jace Nye following closely.  Josh Brimhall and Trent Briney ran close together in 3rd and 4th with James Bonnett following just a little further back in 5th.  After the first aid station, the course heads off on rough jeep roads and begins climbing again.  It is mostly up to the second aid station around 8 miles with some short downs mixed in.  Over this section, Justin and Jace maintained their position as the pair at the front.  Josh and Trent were still close together.  Jason had moved back up to 5th.  The top six guys were within about 2 minutes at the 8 mile aid station.  From aid station 2 to aid station 3 at 15 miles proved to be one of the decisive parts of the course.  Justin had some knowledge of the course and made a conscious effort to gap anyone possible.  Jace was the only one close enough to keep contact.  This was important as this slickrock section of the course is tough to follow.  Justin wanted as few guys as possible following his lead, which proved to be a good strategy.  James commented after the race that he felt a bit like a guide.  He kept directing Jason back toward the correct course over the early miles in this section.  They caught Josh and Trent who were running together at around 12-13 miles.  Now James was main navigator for the group of four.  James said that your head had to be on a swivel to find the course markings quickly.  Post race, Josh said it was a little orienteering where you run hard then stop and look for flagging.  I’ll attest that there was a lot of run hard then slow down to look for the flagging.  This left an interesting race for 3rd through 6th with the group of 4 arriving at the final aid station together.  The last 5 miles is back on a relatively easy jeep road that is mostly flat to down.  Josh wasted little time at the final aid station getting out first followed closely by Jason, then Trent and James just behind.  Soon Jason moved by Josh to set the pace for the group.  Up ahead, Justin was pulling away from Jace for the win.  Jason was able to maintain 3rd until about 1 mile from the finish at which point Trent overtook Jason.  About a 1/2 mile from the finish, the jeep road turned steeply down and rocky.  Jason’s wild downhill style allowed him to catch Trent and reclaim 3rd.  It was not to last as the road flattened and Trent moved back by Jason about 1/4 mile from the finish.  There was to be no more racing drama as Trent took 3rd to the finish.  Behind, things had spaced out just a little with Josh taking 5th and James 6th.  This was Jace Nye’s first or second trail race (I didn’t have my notepad when I spoke with him).  Jace is another steeplechaser finding an easy transition to the trails.  He commented on the similar mental focus needed to race both the steeple and trails.

On the women’s side I have a little less information as I don’t get a first hand view of that race.  Alicia Shay lead from start to finish.  Megan Lund Lizotte ran in 2nd up the first climb and out to the first aid station.  Megan Kimmel and Kristi Anderson ran gradual and progressive races moving from back in the pack early to finish in 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Megan Lund Lizotte finished 4th.  I will work on my reporting skills as the Mountain Cup season progresses and try to give more info on the women’s races.  In talking to Alicia, she did say that she needed to scoot down some of the big drops on her backside.  I know that she was not the only one.  That lets you know that although the course is on a jeep road, some of it has some tough ups and downs.

I’ll also mention that a friend, Rob Krar, blasted the Red Hot 55K in a new course record of 3:44.06.  If it matters, he looked whipped at the finish.  Rob commented that the course is hard on the body and mind, with all the harsh up and down, then staying focused to spot flagging.  I’ll say that performance showed that Rob is hard of body and mind.  Congrats.  Also Emily Harrison took the women’s 55K in course record 4:24.03.  There were a lot of course records on Saturday.  The depth of fields in trail running is getting tougher and faster.  Post-race was more great trail community socializing.  There was a gathering back in town that several of us came back out for.  It was nice to catch up with racing friends and get to know some others.  Several of us tend to gather after races which makes the Mountain Cup special.  I hate that I missed out on the Sunday run some were planning, but home and regular life were requesting my presence.

Red Hot 33K top 10 Results so also Mountain Cup top 10 after race 1:

                    Men                                                            Women

1. 1.Justin Ricks            2:09.01  CR                     Alicia Shay                  2:37.56   CR
   

2. 2.Jace Nye                2:13.33                            Megan Kimmel            2:42.08
   

3. 3.Trent Briney           2:16.31                             Kristi Anderson           2:48.57   Masters CR
   

4. 4.Jason Bryant          2:16.43  Masters CR       Megan Lund Lizotte    2:54.34
   

5. 5.Josh Brimhall         2:17.17                            Kristy Falcon               2:55.11
   

6. 6.James Bonnett       2:17.58                            Christina Bauer           2:56.10
   

7. 7.Mike La Roux         2:23.56                            Karen Thorpe              2:58.50
   

8. 8.Gavin McKenzie     2:27.23                            Erika Galen                 3:00.38
   

9. 9.Marty Wacker         2:28.37                            Shannon Wells           3:08.05
   

10. 10.Kevin Tuck            2:28.39                            Bobbie Hackenbruck   3:14.56
    

For my personal race report, go to Mountain Goat Blog

Also check out my own races at top of the page.  If you want to weigh in on what’s too tough of a course for the USA 10km Trail Championships, go to Mountain Goat Blog - 10K