It may be just beginning to feel like summer in Summit County, but Race Breck’s summer trail running series is already halfway over.
The third race of the six-race series was hosted on Wednesday, June 14. Following races on the trails around Dillon and French Gulch Road in Breckenridge, the competitions moved to Gold Run Road in Breckenridge for the Tom’s Baby/ZL race.
Much like the previous races in the trail running series, locals dominated the competition with many bolstering their Summit Trail Running series point totals.
The race night consisted of both a short-course and a long-course race. Both courses sent participants on trails like Tom’s Baby, the Flume trails and Left Discovery Ridge. The short-course race was 6-kilometers long with 584 feet of climbing, and the long-course race was 9-kilometers long with 761 feet of elevation gain.
Leading the long-course race was Summit High School sophomore Cain Steinweg. After winning the first two races in the series, Steinweg added another 100 points to his point total by nabbing another title in a time of 30:17.
Steinweg was followed by Summit High School freshman Lukas Remeikis in a time of 31:19 and sophomore Carter Niemkiewicz in third with a time of 32:43. Crosby Hume and Elliot Drumwright mixed up the competition by rounding out the top five in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Hume, 12, finished in 33:14, and Drumwright, 11, finished in 33:49.
Dillon’s Jenny Wong was the first female to cross the finish line to place ninth overall with a time of 37:47. Wong was followed by more young, local talent in Bodhi Adnan (10th), Danny Butler (12th) and Cooper Levi (13th). Breckenridge’s Seth Aungst, Mark Thomas and Chris Tatro solidified the top 20 with the trio claiming places 15 through 18, respectively.
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In the long course race, Summit locals swept the top five. Frisco’s Arthur Whitehead and Breckenridge’s Alicia Vargo were the first male and female to cross the finish line. Whitehead and Vargo once again showed off their aerobic abilities and dominated the competition. Whitehead won the overall race by close to four minutes, finishing in 37:21. Vargo placed second behind Whitehead and was the first female athlete to cross the finish line by over five minutes. Vargo finished the race in 41:14, and Breckenridge’s Dominic Baker placed third in 42:27. Breckenridge local Joshua Ernst placed fourth (44:39), Mark Martin-Williams placed fifth (45:13) and Moab’s Kasey Sutherlin was the second female across the finish line in (46:35).
Breckenridge’s Hayden Scheffler and Mike Schilling placed ninth and 10th with times of 47:28 and 48:08, respectively.
With the race series now halfway over, several Summit locals have emerged as favorites in the overall race series standings.
Steinweg leads the short-course boys 17 and under category with three wins and 300 points. He is followed by Drumwright and Remeikis with 200 and 170 points, respectively.
Seth Aungst leads the men’s short-course 18- to 29-year-olds category with three consecutive age group wins and a total of 300 points. Thomas Beveridge leads the men’s 30- to 39-year-olds category with 280 points. Ben Pleimann has 210 points to have the current lead in the men’s 40- to 49-year-olds category.
In the girls short-course 17 and under category, Adaline Avery and Elsie Robinson lead the field with 100 points each. Naomi Winard leads the women’s 18- to 29-year-olds category with 170 total points. Wong tops the women’s 40- to 49-year-olds short course standings with 300 points.
In the long-course point totals, Meghan Hill leads the female 18- to 29-year-olds age division with 200 points. Cate Cavanaugh leads the 30- to 39-year-olds age division with 290 points. Vargo sports a 20-point lead in the 40- to 49-year-olds age division with 200 points.
On the men’s side, Whitehead has 270 points to top the 18- to 29-year-olds age division. Baker leads the 30- to 39-year-olds age division with 280 points. Martin-Williams has a perfect 300 points to lead the 40- to 49-year-olds age division.
The next Race Breck Summit Trail Running Series race will take place on Wednesday, July 12, at the Horseshoe Gulch trailhead off of Tiger Road in Breckenridge. The race will take place at 5:30 p.m. Registration can be completed at RaceBreck.com.
Race Breck will host its third Summit Mountain Challenge mountain bike race — Hungry Hippo — on Wednesday, June 21. The race will start out of the Tiger Dredge lot in Breckenridge and then converge upon the Hippo, Soda Creek and other trails in the area.
Registration and more information can be found at RaceBreck.com.