More than 450 runners show to race in snow, ice
BY SCOTT KANIEWSKI
THE GAZETTE
When Logan Wealing woke up Saturday morning, he saw the snow flurries and knew it would be bitter cold out. Never did it cross his mind to forgo running in the third leg of the Pikes Peak Road Runners Winter Series.
Good thing too. Wealing held off a couple of late surges from Michael Weiss and won the 5-mile event in 33 minutes, 19 seconds.
“I couldn’t really tell how far behind me he was, because I had the wind blowing in my face,” said Wealing, whose goatee frosted over with snow and ice. “He gave it a surge and I tried to stay with him, and threw in another surge, and I came out on top.”
Wealing wasn’t the only one covered in deep freeze. When the 5-mile race started at 10 a.m., the temperature in Gleneagle was 12 degrees, according to AccuWeather.com. And that wasn’t counting the wind-chill factor.
See a gallery of photos from the race here! And more photos here!
Men crossed the finish line with snow-covered beards. Women crossed with their eyelashes frosted over. The weather was bad enough to shorten the 10-mile race to a second 5-mile race.
The last time the weather was similarly nasty was 2007 on the same course, race director Michael Shafai said. That year the wind caused the group to cancel the competition.
See the Men's Results.
See the Women's Results.
Shafai was happy with the turnout: 299 runners signing up for the 5-mile race and 171 signing up for shorted 10-miler-turned-5-miler.
“It’s definitely bigger than I would’ve expected,” Shafai said. “I saw there were a lot of race-day registrations today, which is great. It’s a positive sign for running in our community – they’ll run in any weather.”
The cold didn’t faze Wealing, who also runs in snowshoe competitions.
“Honestly, this was real similar to it,” Wealing said. “The footing today was tricky in spots, for sure.”
Chantae Steele, 10, isn't accustomed to running on hard-packed snow and ice. Nor is she used to running directly into a freezing wind for 2.5 miles. But The Classical Academy Central student took second in her age group in 39:32, trailing Kayli Tabares (37:36).
“It was hard, but I really liked it,” Steele said. “Coming back (was more difficult) because it was really cold and the wind was against you.”
Rochelle Persson won the female division in 35:37. Mike Claflin, 17, set a course record for his age group in 30:13.
In the would-be 10-mile race, cut in half, Ryan Hafer finished first overall in 28:23, and Stephanie Meredith won the women’s race in 36:42.
Wealing was glad to have taken to the frozen track, though he never considered not running.
“The Winter Series is a blast,” Wealing said. “We’ve had great weather for the first two. It’s only fitting that we have a tough-weather day today.”
Although some runner were unhappy the 10-mile course was shortened, race organizers said safety is paramount.
"While some of the hard-core long-course runners were disappointed, we were concerned about frostbite for runners heading south," Shafai said in a news release after the race. "Doubling the distance not only doubles the chance for exposure, but it spreads out our safety volunteers with El Paso County Search and Rescue (EPCSAR) over twice the distance. We just didn't feel it was worth it.
"This was a joint decision between me and co-director John Gardner, with significant input from the EPSCAR crew. Ultimately, we rely on their advice but we have to make the call. We did so about 30 minutes before the start as weather conditions worsened. As my friend John Noll with Search and Rescue put it, "You can always run longer tomorrow."
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