Colton Stice builds a lead on the uphill portion of the Devil's Thumb Hill Climb.
The Battle Mountain Husky and the Lake County Invitational suddenly have a lot to live up to. How difficult is Delta's new Devil's Thumb Hill Climb?
Last week, Colton Stice ran 17:20 and finished second at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede. Yesterday, he ran 22:36 and won the Devil's Thumb Hill Climb. That's better than five minutes slower.
A glimpse at the course map will give you an indication of why:
It's probably a bad indicator when the course map is a topographical map. As I read the contour lines, this course starts at about 5270 feet and climbs to circle the base of Devil's Thumb at about 5770 feet. That is roughly 500 relentless vertical feet in a little over 1.5 miles. That, brother, is an intense climb rate for something where you're supposed to keep running. It doesn't match the ascent rate for your typical 14er here in Colorado, but it's also true that most people don't even pretend to run up 14ers.
Patrick Scoggins of Rangely finished second in 23:01, just edging Evan Graff of Montrose. Scoggins won at Basalt with a time of 16:51 last weekend.
Over on the girls side, Grand Junction's Dolcie Hanlon, a freshman, took top honors 27:53 after running 20:42 at the Central Warrior last week.
Ladies and gentlemen, we may have a new "most diabolical course" contender here in Colorado. I don't believe any other course in the state can quite measure up to these standards.
The race-time start temperature was 70F in nearby Delta, but it's also true that the course is more or less directly aimed at the morning sun.
Gunnison ran away with both team titles, scoring 35 points on the girls side and 34 on the boys. Rifle was a distant second where the girls were concerned. Paonia was only 10 points back on the boys side--demonstrating, for the second week in a row, that they have a contending kind of team this year in Paonia.
Paonia's Logan Green took boys freshman honors at this event with a time of 25:47. Sarah Wagler, Bria Rickert, and Annelise Pelletier joined Hanlon as the only other girls under 30 minutes.