On the cold, foggy morning of Saturday, September 10, 2022, at 8 a.m. runners launched from TEENS, Inc. at 151 East Street in Nederland for the half marathon course of the 40th annual Ned*Ned. The Ned*Ned event, sponsored by TEENS, Inc. and Eldora, was part of Colorado Mountain Half Marathon Series and catered to both casual runners and running enthusiasts with a half marathon course, a 10k, and a 5k course, to raise funds for TEENS, Inc.

The Nederland High School Loquations performed The National Anthem to start the event and local author Kay Turnbaugh fired the starter pistol to launch the half marathon course.

Turnbaugh was the former owner of

Mountain-Ear and has written many works based on local history and on hiking trails and ski routes, as well as a children’s book. Turnbaugh created the Ned*Ned 40 years ago along with Pat Willits.

The half marathon course runs past the Nederland Middle Senior High School onto Route 926 towards trails looping around to CR 132 East and continuing on a second loop through Big Springs before returning into town, down 1st Street back to TEENS, Inc.

Running fun Top, left; A young competitor receives their complimentary sticker for registering for the 5k run. Top, right; Runners for the 10k course start from TEENS, Inc. Bottom, right; Leashed dogs were also allowed to take part in the 5k run. Bottom, middle; Competitors were encouraged to wear costumes in the family friendly 5k. Bottom, left; Race creator and local author Kay Turnbaugh fires the starter pistol to signal the official launch of the Ned*Ned’s half marathon.[/caption]

Out of the 89 runners who tackled this first course, Austin Wozniak won the half marathon with a time of 1:36:32, with Shawn Laursen about a minute shy of first place with a time of 1:37:12, and Mike Binder only 40 seconds behind Laursen.

The 10k course launched at 9 a.m. and took runners through trails on Super Mag and West Magnolia. Of the 50 runners Andy Ames took first place with a time of 00:46:32, with William Truesdell at 00:49:16 followed by Derek Debellis at 00:52:24.

The 5k launched at 10:00 a.m., was to the Nederland Middle Senior High School and back to TEENS, Inc., and was also a family friendly race that was open to leashed dogs. Runners were also encouraged to come compete in costumes.

Of the 66 runners John Novack took first place in the 5k with a time of 00:18:54, with Austin O’Pry at 00:27:31 followed by Ryan Cox just a minute behind at 00:28:27.

The courses of the event featured a total of three aid stations with the Indian Peaks Radio Club volunteering to assist in communications and dispatch between the stations.

This years Ned*Ned, being the 40th anniversary, was asking for registered individual runners to reach the fundraising goal of $400, and for registered teams to reach $1000. Those who reached their goal were awarded with a variety of prizes, including local- goods and gift certificates to Nederland restaurants and stores. The Ned*Ned raised a total of $3,195 this year, with the proceeds going to fund TEENS, Inc.

TEENS, Inc. has served the youth of Nederland and the Peak to Peak region by providing them with programming aimed to educate and empower; such programming as Youth Employment which prepares teens with the job related skills and interview practice needed as they venture into the workforce.

The Ned*Ned race committee is composed of Annette Frank, Jennifer Karowe, and Steven LeFaiver, who have been running the event since 2015. The Ned*Ned event was the winner of Best of the Rockies by Elevation Outdoors Magazine in 2016 and 2017.

For the full results from the event go to: https://results.sporthive.com/ events/6973056383564298752

For more information on TEENS Inc. go to: https://teensinc.org