Barbara Lawlor

Eldora

Of the 151 runners in the LaSportiva 10K trail run at Eldora Mountain Resort last Saturday, July 27, only a handful were local residents. Of those, the first person to cross the finish was David Roche, who is spending the summer at his parent's cabin across from Peak View in Nederland.

Roche, 25, from Millington, Maryland, had a time of 38:40, two minutes ahead of Bryant Mason, 24, of Boulder who had a time of 40:50. Roche said he is studying for the bar, but spends as much time on the trails as he can.

"It was like a roller coaster ride," said Roche of the course, "but I prefer running trails. It makes me feel like a kid."

Last year, Roche was 10K Trail National Champion after competing in North Carolina. He also won the LaSportiva Race two years ago, but was five minutes behind this year's time, but not too many people recognized the winner's name as he registered under the pseudonym "Kilgore Trout," because he wasn't confident that he would win.

The first woman to cross the finish was Maggie Conley, 29, from Portola Valley, California, who was visiting a friend in Boulder and decided to give the EMR course a go. Her time was 46:55. Conley runs for New Balance in Silicon Valley. "It was a beautiful course. There was some mud, but it wasn't too bad. I mostly road run, but you can't not trail run when you are in Colorado."

Conley said the second place woman, Nan Kennard of Boulder, 31, was ahead for two- and- a-half miles, but then Conley caught up to her, very quietly. She ran this race four years ago, her first race in Colorado, but said she didn't do very well.

Three Nederland women who don't normally do races decided to celebrate Kestrel Hanson's 38th birthday with an early morning race and eat cake later. Hanson came in 68th with a time of 1:02.55; Sara Born, 39, of Nederland, came in 72nd with a time of 1:03.41; and Jordin Murphree, 40, of Nederland, came in 73rd with a time of 1:03.42.

Murphree said she runs on the trails all around Nederland but never raced before. "I decided to do it just for fun with my friends. I am not a racer but it was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning. "It was beautiful. The dirt was soft from the rain and there was a nice balance of ups and downs."

Coming through the finish with arms pumping victory was the second place under 19 category winner Tommy Beckett, 9, of Lyons, who came in 78th place overall with a time of 1:05.10. Beckett said he runs three times a month and it was 'pretty cool' to come in second place. When asked what his strategy was, he said, "Just keep on running and don't give up and try to keep on believing in God."

Members of the Nederland High School cross-country team and parents volunteered to hand out water to the runners as they came through the finish. After the race, raffle prizes of all kinds of running goodies were distributed and awards presented to the winners.