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Silverton a successful host of 43rd Kendall Mountain Run

Silverton Alpine races offered a doubleheader of trail running
In order to reach the summit, Kendall Mountain runners must scramble the last 350 feet to the top before descending to Silverton’s Memorial Park.

Races across the world have been canceled in 2020, but a 43rd edition of the Kendall Mountain Run in Silverton was completed with great success.

With a few race modifications, including a start of only 10 runners at a time in waves every five minutes, organizer Aravaipa Running held a smooth event that saw 144 finishers complete the 12-mile race from downtown Silverton at 9,318 feet to the top of 13,066-foot Kendall Mountain before a return run down to the finish at Memorial Park in Silverton. That number was down from 215 finishers in 2019

It was 35-year-old Seth Demoor of Englewood who would be the fastest finisher, as he reached Memorial Park in 1 hour, 37 minutes, 59 seconds. Allie McLaughlin, a 29-year-old from Colorado Springs, won the women’s race in 2:02:20.

Demoor’s time is now the fifth fastest in men’s Kendall Mountain Run history. McLaughlin clocked the 10th fastest women’s time. Jim Walmsley owns the men’s record of 1:31:05 set in 2017. In 2015, Stevie Kremer posted the women’s fastest mark of 1:55:27.

Silverton, San Juan County and the Bureau of Land Management approved modifications to allow the race to take place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The runner’s meeting was held virtually, and the start allowed for social distancing with runners spread out with start times between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. There was contactless packet pickup and aid stations, and runners were required to wear a mask unless they were running or eating. At aid stations, only pre-packaged nutrition was provided.

The biggest change was at the top in the middle of the 12-mile race. Instead of returning down the same route after reaching the top of a 300-foot scramble to the summit of Kendall Mountain, runners this year instead went up and over the summit to avoid runners having to pass each other on the singletrack section of trail. Runners then picked back up the off-road trail where there was more room to make passes as they returned down the mountain and into Silverton.

Second place in the men’s race went to 23-year-old Tayte Pollmann of Salt Lake City. Third was Joseph Demoor, 29, who finished in 1:43:07.

Durango’s Matthew Warriner was fifth in the men’s race. The 25-year-old finished in 1:50:01.

Second in the women’s race went to Boulder’s Deanna Ardrey, 37, who finished in 2:02:50. Fort Lewis College alumna Becca Bramley of Durango placed third in 2:18:07.

Bramley was one of several women who helped Durango flood the top 20. Michelle Wilson, 35, was fourth in 2:19:15. Elizabeth Haubert, 25, placed seventh in 2:28:40. Jennifer Allison, 39, was 11th in 2:49:59. Kayla Rodriguez, 31, took 13th in 2:58:23. And, in a stunning result for a young runner, 13-year-old Bryn Aggeler placed 16th in 3:02:03.

Elisa Mullikin, 28, of Mancos was 19th in 3:04:48.

Elizabeth Caldwell of Santa Fe won the 11-kilometer version of the race that does not go to the summit of Kendall Mountain. The 34-year-old finished in 1:29:46. Bayfield’s Danielle Patton was second in 1:37:26.

Sawyer Flinders, 14, of Bayfield was the first man to the finish line in the 11K, as he finished in 1:40:43. Second in the men’s race went to 71-year-old Bill Corwin of Durango, who finished in 1:57:09.

Sage Flinders, 12, was the fourth woman to the finish line in the 11K. The Bayfield girl finished in 1:47:43. Rebecca Flinders, 42, was fifth in 1:47:45.

Silverton Alpine Marathons

Also held last weekend was the Silverton Alpine Marathons with distances of eight miles, a marathon and 50-kilometers. That event also was hosted by Aravaipa Running.

Scott Schrader of Littleton was victorious in the 50K. The 35-year-old finished in 4:19:32 to edge 29-year-old William Mitchell of Denton, North Carolina, by 2:43. Boulder’s Laris Copeland, 23, was third in 4:32:46. Matt Welz, 40, was Durango’s top finisher in 5:02:51. He placed ninth.

Schrader’s time is now the fifth fastest in race history behind Ryan Kaiser’s 3:56:21 record set in 2019. Mitchell’s time was good for sixth all-time.

The women’s 50K was claimed by Houston’s Maria Sylte, who finished in 5:16:25. Caitlin Jones, 37, of Hesperus was second in 5:26:27, and Colleen Lingley, 41, of Flagstaff Arizona, was third in 5:39:54. Sylte’s time is fifth-fastest in the event’s history. Leila Degrave set the fastest mark of 5:04:23 in 2013.

Elisa Mullikin of Mancos was a strong sixth in the women’s 50K in 5:54:48, as she completed the Kendall Mountain Run and Silverton Alpine 50K double.

The men’s marathon was claimed by 33-year-old Drew Frehs of Flagstaff in 3:33:24. Denver’s Brittany Carboneau was second overall and the women’s winner, as the 32-year-old finished in 3:35:30.

Nick Coury of Scottsdale was second in the men’s marathon in 3:58:06, while Silverton’s Cody Braford was third in 4:03:53.

Kelly Wood, 28, of Gunnison was the second woman in the marathon in 4:19:43. Durango’s Elizabeth Haubert, 25, was third in 4:38:23.

Durango had a few more top-10 placers. In the men’s race, Jackson Charrette, 26, was sixth in 5:00:19. Joshua Coon, 35, placed seventh in 5:00:30, and Shea Rivers, 36, was eighth in 5:04:01. Rachel Schur, 33, took eighth in the women’s race in 5:16:43.

The 8-miler win went to 22-year-old Benjamin Hearon of Ridgeland, Missouri. He finished in 51:37 for a new course record. Aurora’s Daniel Grant, 28, was second in 54:27, also breaking the previous course record. Jonah Barber of Tucson, Arizona, placed third in 1:01:58.

The women’s record also was broken in the 8-miler, as Scottsdale’s Hayley Pollack, 33, finished in 1:11:00. That was 1:02 better than her previous record set a year earlier.

Second in the women’s race went to Leah Klempner of New Castle, Kentucky, as the 35-year-old finished in 1:12:28.

Durango’s Kayla Rodriguez, who was 13th in the Kendall Mountain Run, was third in the women’s 8-miler in 1:16:10.

•••

This week would have been the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run, the 100.5-mile ultramarathon that starts and ends in Silverton. But that event, which hosts 145 runners from around the globe, was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



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