The inaugural Silverton 6/12/24 Hour Mountain Runs was held on the 1.0 mile trail around the Kendall Mountain Recreation Area on June 30. Participants run the loop as many times as they can in the allotted amount of time, switching directions of the loop every 3 hours.  The trail which climbs a total of 250 feet each lap to the top of the Kendall Mountain Ski Area features a combination of existing dirt roads and new trail built for the town as a Nature Trail by Silverton resident Rodger Wrublik in 2010. Runners passed through the large white event tent located at the ice rink each lap which housed the timing equipment, providing mileage totals and lap times as well as an aid station serving a wide variety of foods and drinks to keep runners fueled. This first year event featured 41 runners from nine states ranging in age from 7 to 77. We are excited to continue this event next year!

24 Hour – Twenty runners ran in the inaugural Silverton 24 Hour.  While Silverton locals (and crowd favorites) Cody Bradford and Ivy Lefebvre lead their respective races early on in the day, they weren’t able to hold on to their leads as the night and early morning hours settled in. Vlad Henzl of Los Alamos, New Mexico held off Cody finishing 3 miles ahead with a total of 83 miles. Ken Rubeli of Las Vegas, Nevada was third with 75 miles. Beiyi Zheng (a veteran of the 48 hour held on the same course in the Fall) of Broomfield, Colorado placed first for the women with 66 miles, Tammy Massie of Gaithersburg Maryland finished second with 62 miles and Ivy rounded out the top three with 55 miles. Silverton local and long time supporter ofSilverton running events Bob Boeder celebrated his 70th birthday with 36 miles out on the course.

12 Hour –  There were sixteen runners competing in the 12 hour event, all choosing to start at 8am except for eventual winner Anthony Culpepper of Durango who began at 8pm. The women’s race was very exciting with Candice Burt of Bellingham, Washington leading for much of the day until she was overtaken by Abby McQueeney Penamonte of Denver in the final few hours. Abby continued to push the pace, completing her 50th mile with just over a minute to spare! Candice held on to second place with 48 miles and Carol Tichio finished third with 44 miles. Culpepper took the overall win with a total of 54 miles and Dan Vega of Colorado Springs placed second with 41 miles. Of special note were Tajh and Teagan Redden of Scottsdale, Arizona who at ages 9 and 7 each finished 26 and 20 mile respectively while running with family and friends.

6 Hour – A total of five runners competed in the 6 hour event, with Michael Miller of Phoenix, Arizona completing 27 miles of the course. Laurie Nakauchi of Lakewood, Colorado placed first for females with 25 miles.

We want to thank Rodger Wrublik for the use of his event tent and equipment, Ivy Lefebvre and Cody Bradford for volunteering their time to help setup the event, Justin Lutick and Rachel Iacomacci of Fountain Hills, Arizona for their many days of trail work on the course, Ray Dileo for taking close to 300 photos of the event and all of the other volunteers who made the event possible. We hope the event becomes a Silverton tradition leading up to the 4th of July festivities.

Upcoming running events in Silverton this summer include:

Kendall Mountain Run and Marathon on July 21
Silverton Alpine Marathon & 50 Kilometer on August 25
Silverton 1000 Mile, 6 day, 72 Hour, 48 Hour, 24 Hour on August 28

More information at Silvertonalpinerunning.com or Silverton1000.com

Event Results:
24 Hour: http://www.aravaiparunning.com/results/2012S24Results24h.htm
12 Hour: http://www.aravaiparunning.com/results/2012S24Results12h.htm
6 Hour: http://www.aravaiparunning.com/results/2012S24Results6h.htm
Splits: http://www.aravaiparunning.com/results/2012S24Splits.txt

Event Photos:
http://www.aravaiparunning.com/photos/2012%20Silverton%2024