As the race enters its 40th year, we talked with local runners, Molly Melamed and Judy Moir, about their race experiences. Molly has been in the Nederland area since 1971. She was a teacher of 6th grade for eight years and then 4th grade for eight years at the Nederland Elementary School. Since she retired 15 years ago, she has been volunteering at the Nederland library. After her daughter, Megan, was born in 1978, Molly took up running. Her first race was the first Bolder Boulder in 1979. She has subsequently run every Bolder Boulder race since then, one of only eight celebrated women to participate in all 42 races.

Though she hasn’t run every Nederland race, she commented that “The Neder- Nederland was a no-brainer addition to run in to support a local entity that donates proceeds to kids’ programs. It has a very Ned-vibe. Not competitive, no hype, just homegrown fun.”

She has run the 10k portion of the race multiple times and involved her family in joining her. Her son and daughter started running the race around the age of 9. It was a hard run for them and they needed some encouragement but having friends doing it with them helped all to complete it. Molly’s son, Caleb, is back in Nederland as the new principal of the elementary school. His parents’ active lifestyle and participation in the race fostered his interest in physical activity and he continues to incorporate it into his lifestyle.

Molly is now at an age where she isn’t sure she’ll do the race anymore as running at altitude is less enjoyable, but she continues to incorporate activity into her daily life. Her advice regarding running? “Just do it, if your knees hold out. It’s cheap, uncomplicated and very rewarding.”

Judy Moir is also a longtime Nederland runner, coming to the area in 1992. Already a runner when she moved from Ohio, she was looking for a running community and found the Boulder Road Runners. After winning her first award, she got the running bug and began a long amateur career of racing. Along the way she connected with the Nederland Chamber of Commerce who took over managing the Neder-Nederland after Kay Turnbaugh and her business, The Mountain-Ear, moved on from their sponsorship of the original 10 races. After making some race improvement suggestions, Judy found herself as the director of the race.

Over her three years of directing, Judy grew the race from 150 participants to around 600 with a 5k and 10k offering by tying in increased advertising and word of mouth through the Boulder Road Runners. She ran and medalled in the 10k part of the race 14 times including the three years she was directing it.

Her main driver to competing was simply the goal of getting out in the mountains and having fun. In fact, formalized training didn’t work well for her. She shared that, “One year before the Bolder-Boulder I did decide to join a training group to see if it would improve my times. It did, a little, but it made it too much like work…I ran, yes, to be competitive, but also for the fun of it!”

These days, this running star focuses on road biking and hopes to get back into classic Nordic skiing. Though she doesn’t run much anymore, she characterizes the Ned*Ned “as a high altitude run in the aspens in a funky little town.”

Feeling ready to join the fun? The race will take place on Saturday, September 10, 2022. Registration is open at www.nednedrun.com. Hope to see you there! We also welcome volunteers to help put on this great event.