Although many of the trails across Summit County are still thawing out after a long winter season, Race Breck’s summer-long Summit Trail Running Series has officially begun.
The first race of the season was hosted on Wednesday, May 15, on trails that surround Dillon’s Summit County Resource Allocation Park (SCRAP). Coined as the Scrap Yard Scramble, the competition included a 6-kilometer race and an 8-kilometer race.
Runners in the longer of the two races led off the action from the Tenderfoot Trailhead before climbing the Sage River Trail. Runners then traversed the Oro Grande Trail before crossing onto Landfill Road and beginning to loop back to the start/finish area.
Forty-nine runners competed in the long-course race, with Silverthorne trail runner Jacob Skraba leading the pack and crossing the finish line as the champion in a time of 34 minutes and 6 seconds.
Nearly a minute later, Breckenridge’s Jared Burris followed in second in a time of 35:02. Breckenridge’s Jason McGowan took third in 36:55, Jay Meservy finished in fourth (37:18), and Breckenridge’s Alicia Vargo crossed the finish line as the first female finisher in fifth overall with a time of 37:27.
Fresh off a standout track and field season, Summit High School sophom*ore Cain Steinweg was the next runner across the line, taking sixth overall in a time of 40:35. Breckenridge’s Ryan Schrader took seventh (42:44), Longmont’s Madeline Watts took eighth (42:47), Matt Desrosiers finished in ninth (43:00) and Breckenridge’s Mark Hurlbert took 10th (43:08).
Breckenridge’s Brooke Steinkopf was the third overall female finisher, placing 12th overall in 43:46.
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In age-category results, Steinweg won the 17-and-under title, and Watts won the women’s 18-29-year-old category. Kira Deming (46:08) followed Watts in second and Breckenridge’s Gloria Greenstein took third (51:08).
Skraba won the male 18-29-year-old division, and McGowan took second while Schrader took third. For males 30-39, Burris took first place and Meservy took second.
Steinkopf took first place for the female 30-39 division.Vargo handily won the women’s 40-49 year-old division, and Silverthorne’s Sarah Carney took second (57:02) and Denver’s Christal Davis took third (1:07:28).
Hurlbert won the male 50-59 age division, and Centennial’s Kyle Elliot took second (53:13).
The short-course race followed a similar route as the longer race, starting from and ending at the Tenderfoot Trailhead then climbing to the Sage River Trail. Instead of traversing Oro Grande Trail, however, trail runners cut to Buzztail Trail to begin looping back toward the finish.
The short-course race featured numerous Summit Middle School students at the front of the field with seventh grader Crosby Hume winning the race in a time of 26:03. Dillon’s Tate Martinez, 24, followed in second in 26:23 before Summit Middle School eighth grader, Cooper Levi, rounded out the top-three podium with a time of 26:25. Bodhi Adnan, an eighth grader at Summit Middle School, finished in fourth (27:36) before Dillon’s Scott Siriano, 58, placed fifth (28:11).
Breckenridge’s Danny Butler, 15, took sixth (29:09), Summit Middle School eighth grader, Mason Ramey, finished in seventh (30:52) and Breckenridge’s Seth Aungst took eighth (31:29).
Dillon’s Jenny Wong was the first female finisher, taking ninth (32:11). Frisco’s Linsey Joyce was the second woman across the line. Denver’s Angie Hayes was the third. Joyce took 15th overall (35:23), and Hayes finished in 17th (36:39).
On top of being crowned the overall champion, Hume won the male 17-and-under division. Levi followed in second and Adnan took third.
Breckenridge’s Makayla Martinez (39:07) won the women’s 18-29-year-old division while Tate Martinez won the men’s 18-29-year-old category. Aungst followed Martinez in second in the men’s 18-29-year-old division, and Breckenridge’s EJ Gomez took third (36:06).
Wong won the women’s 40-49-year-old division, and Siriano claimed the men’s 50-59-year-old classification.
Siriano, who used the race as a tune up for USA Track and Field’s (USATF) Masters 1 Mile Championships in California, raced conservatively throughout the trail race but was able to gain quite a bit of confidence in his fitness level ahead of the championship event that took place on May 19.
“I had nationals in just four days on my mind, so I eased up a lot on the steeper, fast sections,” Siriano said. “I wanted to run 30 or 31 minutes, but was relaxed running 28 minutes again like I did last year when I labored to run that same time. That’s a good indicator of my current fitness level. I’m in way better shape here in May this year than I was in May of last year.”
The next Summit Trail Running Series race — the Carter Park Scurry —will take place on Wednesday, May 29. On Wednesday, May 22, Race Breck’s first Summit Mountain Challenge mountain bike race will take place on the Frisco Peninsula’s trails. The first race begins at 5:15 p.m.
To register for any of the Summit Trail Running Series or the Summit Mountain Challenge races, visit RaceBreck.com.
