The Ned Gravel mountain biking race event kicked off on Saturday, July 9, with the first and most challenging course, the Ultra Course, launching at 5 a.m. Throughout the day over 700 racers participated in the events, trekking hundreds of miles and thousands of feet in uphill gain, to come right back to the festivities taking place on the Jeff Guercio Memorial Ball Field.

As the sun was rising, 49 participants arrived in Nederland to compete in the Ultra Course, a grueling 107 mile course with a total of 12,979 feet in uphill climbing. The first half of the course takes riders into Gilpin County and into Mammoth Gulch, through the ghost town of Apex and over to Missouri Gulch and Gamble Gulch.

Racers launched from Guercio Field at 5 a.m. and were given six hours to reach the checkpoint outside of Tin Shed (112 East 2nd Street), eight hours to reach the Gold Hill checkpoint, and 12 hours to reach the final aid station at mile 97 off the Peak to Peak Highway. This was the first year that Ned Gravel has instituted checkpoint cut-offs due to the intense challenge of the Ultra Course.

Leah Van Der Linden claimed first place in the Ultra Course for the female category, beating the course within 8 hours, 7 minutes and 56 seconds (8:7:56); 8 minutes faster than second place Tess Amer. Matt Pike claimed first place in the Ultra Course for the male category with a time of 6:58:31, and Apollo Leonard claimed first place for the non-binary category with a time of 9:37:45.

Prizes were provided by some of Ned Gravel’s many sponsors, from Floyd’s of Leadville CBD products to Suerte tequila. First, second, and third place winners were also awarded cash prizes based on the four courses designed for the event.

In addition to the female, male, and non/binary categories signifying the overall best times for completing one of the four courses, prizes were awarded to top three winners in allotted age groups, which are every 10 years from 19 years old to 70 and over.

In addition to the Ultra Course there were three other challenging courses available at Ned Gravel. The Tungsten Course began at 7 a.m., with 272 racers departing from Guercio Field; the 60 mile course has 7,100 feet of climbing and takes riders north on the Peak to Peak Highway, from Cold Springs Road to Sugarloaf Road to Switzerland Trail and farther.

Erin Huck won first place in the Tungsten Course for the female category with a time of 4:23:00, just two minutes in front of second place Revae Huyette. Eric Brunner won first place for the male category with a time of 3:29:22. Karin Budding who is 67 years old won first place in her age group, completing the 60 mile Tungsten Course in 5:26:53.

Reese Ruland scored first out of 247 participants in the Gold Course, a 39 mile course with 4500 feet of climbing that launched at 7:30 a.m., for the female category with a time of 2:41:26. George Simpson scored first place for the male category with a time of 2:12:30. Kai Sakimoto won first place in the Gold Course for the non-binary category with a time of 3:03:20, almost eight minutes in front of second place Haiden Freeman.

Sarah Sullivan won first out of 135 participants in the Silver Course, a 20 mile course with 2200 feet of climbing that launched at 8 a.m. Sullivan scored first place for the female category with a time of 1:19:45, just mere minutes in front of 55 year old Erin McGinnis, who won second place. Peter Cahalane won first place for the male category with a time of 1:12:16. Jim Horvath who is 73 years old won first place in the Silver Course for his age group with a time of 2:25:09.

Racers collected their prizes and posed on their podiums back at Guercio Field, where the MC for the event, Dave Towle, took the stage and called up the winners one by one. Between the awards ceremonies, The Andy Reiner Band and Smooth Money Gesture commanded the Eldora Stage; their music accompanying Nederland’s beautiful weather to provide the perfect backdrop to the festivities laid out across Guercio Field.

Racers and visitors perused the Ned Gravel Expo and partied from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Expo provided mountain bikers with free bike washes by Pelli Bike Care, demonstrations from Cannondale and Base Performance, and a recovery tent by the Boulder Centre for Orthopedics. Visitors had a selection of beers to choose from, provided by Busey Brews and Upslope Brewing, and Eldora Ski Resort provided their Corduroy Food Truck.

Ned Gravel’s website provided participants and visitors with a detailed race packet which outlined an event schedule complete with parking information, safety tips, and warnings about local wildlife. The race packet also provided a list of Nederland’s restaurants which, along with the packet’s layered parking plan, created foot traffic throughout town and made “record numbers” for several businesses, from Salto to Tres Gringos.

Event Medical Specialists, based out of Boulder, were present for the entire 13 hour event, providing instant medical care to the racers and patrons at the event. The event also provided free bottled water for all attendees of the event, on what was one of the hottest days of the summer so far. With over 700 riders spread out over 100 miles there were only a handful of minor accidents out on the courses.

Founder of Ned Gravel and Director of the event Gavin Coombs, despite being at all places at once during the entirety of the event, took the time to share a few words with The Mountain-Ear.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all the Nederland residents that come out to support the riders,” Coombs said. Coombs is a professional trail runner who utilizes this expertise as a run coach for his business Peak to Peak Endurance, which presents the Ned Gravel event, along with several sponsors.

“The one thing I constantly hear is how great the community support is. So many people come out to cheer and ring cow bells. Thank you for showing how great a place Ned is!”

For more information on Peak to Peak Endurance please go to: https://www.peaktopeakendurance.com.

For more information on Ned Gravel please go to: https://www.nedgravel.com.

For the complete results of all courses for all categories and age groups, please go to: https://mailchi. mp/1a710b6d0c56/thank-you?fbclid=IwAR22Brui0DD3sc8x9mJ0kW_ LB20a6k_ yNEQGrCoH4hEbPjAQ8VtlCilWJD4.