It took a hardy soul to make it to Lyons for this morning's Fastest Coach in the State Race. And Estes Park is brimming over with hardy souls.
A small handful of the hardiest of competitors peeled down to shorts and singlets for the race. But, the winds and 30-ish temperature meant keeping the layers on for most.
Everywhere you looked, the purple-and-black of Estes Park was in evidence. Estes Park was easily the best-represented school in the field of about 20 competitors (with roughly equal numbers of spectators). Lily Tomasula-Martin served as the race announcer. And, wow, those 90s-era uniforms!
Evidently, running in snow and a little wind is no big deal in Estes Park. Evidently, it is in places like Loveland and Lafayette--but more on that later.
Defending his crown from the last Fastest Coach in the State race two years ago was Thompson Valley assistant coach James Vance. Vance crossed the finish line in 18:11, a bit slower than his record-setting performance from two years ago, but the course wasn't covered in snow two years ago.
Terry Witkowksi, the pride of Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin, crossed in second at 18:30, just ahead of Geo Tam of Boulder.
The top two women finishers were Lisa Gibbs (above) of KIPP Collegiate at 24:10 and Vicki Hunter of Boulder at 25:35. The women endured the slowing effect of running through the snow, just as the men did.
A big part of today's story, though, were the no-shows. Ben Hershelman picked up a bug from his daughter and never made it all the way to Lyons. Notables such as Jake Link and Matt Norton evidently looked out the window and called it a day. As late as last night, however, Norton was proclaiming his intentions to represent in Lyons:
Apparently, Coach Norton had the softer kind of Representin' in mind... Perhaps Coach Norton will take to the comments section of this article to better explain that to us.
We have no details on the Jake Link no-show, but Centaurus head coach Devin Rourke dragged his post-2:35-marathon body around the course to the finish line.
The 50-and-over crowd excelled in representation with Jeff Mages, Vicki Hunter, Alan Versaw, and Mark Roberts dashing through the snow to the finish line.
All contestants, whether young or old, we're dutifully grateful to Mark Roberts for running a baseball field grate over the entire course on Friday--thereby skimming an inch or two off the top of the pile.