2007 GORE-TEX (TM) TransRockies Run
Stage 5 Report

2007 TransRockies Run Results »

Basalt to Aspen
18.25 miles/2200 feet climbing

Most often, the final stage of a multi-day race is little more than a parade lap for the victors but the 2007 GORE-TEX (TM) TransRockies Run turned that pattern completely upside-down. With first-time stage winners in three out of the four categories and a dramatic change in the overall lead in the fourth, there was no end of surprises at the finish line in Aspen, Colorado.

Stage 5 featured a route which was very different from the rest of the event—made up of primarily urban path and including 2000 feet of gradual climbing, and it always held the potential of letting speed specialists shine on this day.

The skies dawned clear and warm in Basalt with a later 10am start for the runners allowing more time for adrenaline and temperatures to rise. The field went out at full speed and stayed close together through the first of two checkpoints. While Erik and Kyle Skaggs of Team Montrail broke out to their usual lead, this day the chasing team, Ben Evans and Eli Lane of Team Adi Zero, kept them in sight limiting the gap to less than a minute.

Team Adi Zero accelerated and caught the Skaggs brothers with less than five miles to go and when they attacked, Team Montrail did not follow. Lane and Evans kept on the gas all the way to the finish line, finishing in 2:34:56 and becoming the first team other than the Skaggs to win a stage in the inaugural GORE-TEX(TM) TransRockies Run. With a dominant lead built over the previous four days, Team Montrail’s overall victory was never threatened and they  still won became the first-ever champions of the 2007 GORE-TEX (TM) TransRockies Run.

In the Men’s Masters (80+ combined age) category, the face of the race changed on Stage Four when Run with GORE-TEX (John Dimeo and Robert Steele) broke through to win a stage from the previously dominant Flying Monkeys duo of Whit Rambach and Billy Simpson. In the process, they closed the gap in the overall classification to 8:50, a gap which they felt they could overcome on the last day.

Through the first checkpoint, they opened up a two-minute gap on Rambach and Simpson who were fighting with all their strength to hold onto their lead. With time gaps from race officials showing that overall victory was within reach, Dimeo and Steele continued to apply the pressure and crossed the line in 2:29:22 for the stage win. At that moment, the clock started ticking and quick match showed that the Flying Monkeys needed to cross the line before the clock hit 2:38:12 to hold onto their lead . . . while other teams crossed the line and celebrated their finish, Dimeo and Steele crossed their fingers and the celebrations began when 2:38:12 came and went with no sign of the Flying Monkeys allowing Run with GORE-TEX to snatch the overall win on the last day of the race.

Michelle Barton and Adam Chase of Team Running Times had been dominant in the Mixed category through the first four stages of the race but Stage 5 saw another of the mixed teams show their speed. With a background in multisports, both Stefani Jackenthal and Mark Matyazik of Team NY-Powerbar were familiar with running on hard surfaces and dug deep to get the most speed out of their tired legs. With the Nike-ACG duo of Julie Leasure and Peter Courogen hot on their heels, Jackenthal and Matyazik crossed the line in a time of 2:34:56 to become the first team other than Running Times to win a stage in the Open Mixed, division. Chase and Barton crossed the line 8 minutes later to confirm their overall victory.

From the start, the local Beaver Creek duo of Emily Kloser and Cindy Crawford had dominated the Open Women’s division, establishing a overall lead of an hour in the process. Like the other categories, though, the Women’s division would be turned upside down, as Team Beaver Creek found themselves in a battle with the 4th-placed overall Team Trixie, Lara Battalini and Amy Comstock. As the line approached, Team Trixie slowly crept out to a lead which was never more than a minute, but their legs and lungs held as they approached Koch Park in Aspen and they were able to snatch the stage victory in 3:05:41, a minute faster than Team Beaver Creek who defended their overall victory.

Over 100 of the 110 runners who stepped to the start line in Beaver Creek five days earlier successfully crossed the line and completed the first GORE-TEX TransRockies Run. In the process, they ran nearly 110 miles, in conditions which ranged from driving snow and torrential rain, to clear hot skies on the last two days. They crossed the Continental Divide twice in the process of climbing more than 18,000 feet through the wild and beautiful Colorado Rockies.