FlagStaffers Take 2011 Gore-Tex TransRockies Title

Jason Wolfe and Mike Smith (Team Run Flagstaff) won the 2011 TransRockies Run title in Beaver Creek today. After six ultra-competitive stages, the men from Arizona, clocked 14h57m23s over 125 miles of grueling mountain racing. They also increased their lead to 21m50s over runners-up Max King and Ryan Bak (Team Bend) over a tough 24 mile finale from Vail today.

"It was like the final rounds of a boxing match, where the fighters are punch drunk and swinging with everything they've got", said an exhausted Mike Smith after clinching the title today. "We planned to push hard all day, but it was a tough stage, and we managed to pull close to 6 minutes on Max and Ryan today, after cranking up the ascents. It feels really good to be done with this six day battle."

King and Bak were happy to make it home after some struggles with injuries. "We are happy to be here", said King. I towed Ryan up all the ascents today, as his broken toe made it really hard to run uphill. It's painful to finish second after winning last year, but it was good day considering the circumstances!"

British duo, Ricky Lightfoot and Tom Owens (Team Salomon)crossed the line third and cemented their position on the bottom rung of the podium with a total race time of 15h31m19s.


The sisters Ashley and Cynthia Arnold ( Team Trail Runner Magazine) made it six out of six with yet another stage victory in the Women's Open Division. Their total race time was 18h46m20s.

Other division winners in the Gore-Tex TransRockies were:

Mixed 80+ : Jeff and Katie Caba in 18h32m42s
80+ Women: Tracy Garneau and Nikki Kimball: 19h20m06s
80+ Men: Christian Vachon and Joel St-Louis: 19h09m02s
Open Mixed: Rickey Gates and Anna Frost: 17h07m37s




Team EverymanTri athlete Lori Lyons finishes her first GoreTex TransRockies Run in Beaver Creek today with her stand-in partner.

Location:Beaver Creek, CO

Smith and Wolfe Take Five

Jason Wolfe and Mike Smith (Team Run Flagstaff) (pictured here) took control of the 2011 GoreTex TransRockies Run with a dominant performance in the penultimate stage of the race from Red Cliff to Vail today.

The Run Flagstaff duo completed the 24 mile, course in an amazing 2h44m, which was close to 14 minutes ahead of arch protagonists Max King and Ryan Bak (Team Bend) who finished third today, with Bak struggling with multiple injuries, sustained in yesterday's stage. The British pair of Tom Owens and Ricky Lightfoot (Team Salomon) were second today despite losing their way on the course.

"Our strategy paid off today, said an elated Smith after winning the stage. We planned to push really hard on the uphills and were running a little over 6 minute miles at 11,000ft, which helped us break clear of the chasing pack."

No one could hang with the Flagstaff flyers today. They were in a class of their own and with one stage to go they seem to have the title well within reach.

Ashley and Cynthia Arnold (Team Trail Runner Magazine)retained control of their grip on the women's open division with five stages and five wins. We felt good again today' said Ashley at the finish. We have about an hour over over nearest competitor's, so we feel pretty good about it.




Ryan Bak had to cut the toe box of his shoe to ease the pain of his broken foot

Location:Vail, CO

Elite Racer Interview: Jason Wolfe

Team EverymanTri caught up with Flagstaff's Jason Wolfe for an exclusive chat at The GORE-TEX TransRockies Run. Jason and his teammate, fellow Flagstaffer Mike Smith, are contenders to win the very competitive Open Men's category of the six-stage, 120 mile race.

Team EMT: Jason, you took second last year at this event - did you come back because you have some unfinished business here?

Jason: Lots of reasons, actually. One, I'm a GORE associate, and since it's a GORE-TEX sponsored event, there is always a lot of electricity at work leading up to it, folks training for it, and preparing for the race. There is also a fairly large representation from Flagstaff, and a tremendous amount of energy in the running community - it's easy to get swept up in the whole vibe of it. Of course there's also the 'unfinished business' part. I feel like we can win it, which is always better than second place.

Team EMT: What's your favorite part of the race?

Jason: I think training with a partner leading up to it, there's a certain amount of buildup, and then racing together in a stage-format, it feels like a journey as opposed to just a race. Running can sometimes be such an individual sport, that it's nice to a have a team experience sometimes. You build up to the event with your partner, then when you get here, it's so amazing. The scenery, you get to hang out with and get to know people really well, it makes the journey complete. I've been running for a long time, and I've never had the same feelings toward a race as I have with this one. It's definitely special.

Team EMT: What is the hardest part?

Jason: the competition is intense, and you have to run hard every minute of it. There's no letting off the gas. And to do that every day for six days straight is tough on your body and your mind. Not much recovery time for either.

Team EMT: How did you and Mike come together for this?

Jason: Flagstaff has a really close running community, and so I think we first met and ran together with mutual friends three or four years ago. We have run together off and on since. He really wanted to do this race and I wasn't sure yet, but it didn't take him very long at all to talk me into it. Plus, like I said, I think we work well together and have a strong shot at winning.

Team EMT: did you do most of your training in Flagstaff?
Jason: yea, it's an incredible place for runners. The town is at 7,000 feet, and we went up to 12,000 ft several times in our training. It's in close proximity to great year-round training, and there are a lot of really accomplished racers that train there, so good support and people around to push us.

Team EMT: how would you summarize your training leading up to this event?
Jason: in one word, our training was pretty insane. Compared to training for other races, we did a lot of steeps and technical trails to get ready. Mileage ranged from 90-110 per week, on tough trails. We had to get time on our feet. I did yoga and core work a couple times a week just to balance it out a bit.

Location:TransRockies, Colorado

High Noon In Redcliff

The pendulum kept swinging in stage 4 of the GoreTex TransRockies Run in Red Cliff today. The 14 mile stage, which included a 27 degree climb of four miles, was again a duel between the leaders Max King and Ryan Bak and chasers Jason Wolfe and Mike Smith.

Today it was the turn of Smith and Wolfe to win the stage in 1h44m from Coloradans Peter Maksimow and Alex Nichols (Inov 8). King and Bak faltered on the steep descent when Bak took two major tumbles which cost them valuable time, and they crossed the line 5m43s behind the winners, which drops them back to second in the GC. Bak was taken to Vail hospital for treatment to his lacerations after the stage.

Sister power continued to dominate the women's open division with Ashley and Cynthia Arnold increasing their overall lead after yet another strong performance today.

Location:Red Cliff CO

High Noon In Redcliff

The pendulum kept swinging in stage 4 of the GoreTex TransRockies Run in Red Cliff today. The 14 mile stage, which included a 27 degree climb of four miles, was again a duel between the leaders Max King and Ryan Bak and chasers Jason Wolfe and Mike Smith.

Today it was the turn of Smith and Wolfe to win the stage in 1h44m from Coloradans Peter Maksimow and Alex Nichols (Inov 8). King and Bak faltered on the steep descent when Bak took two major tumbles which cost them valuable time, and they crossed the line 5m43s behind the winners, which drops them back to second in the GC. Bak was taken to Vail hospital for treatment to his lacerations after the stage.

Sister power continued to dominate the women's open division with Ashley and Cynthia Arnold increasing their overall lead after yet another strong performance today.

Location:Red Cliff CO

King and Bak Take Charge On Stage 3

It took three stages, but finally the 'king' of the GoreTex TransRockies Run came good. Max King and Ryan Bak (Team Bend) blasted through the 24 mile stage from Leadville to Camp Hale in 2h47m and in so doing moved into the overall lead of the GC.

Today's stage, arguably one of the toughest of the race - with 3000ft of vertical, provided yet another intense battle between the leading protagonists - with Jason Wolfe and Mike Smith (Team Run Flagstaff) running in second on the stage, some seven minutes adrift of the leaders. Wolfe and Smith seem to have the upper hand on the uphills and King/Bak have the faster legs on the descents, which has set up an interesting contest between these four.

Ashley and Cynthia Arnold (Trail Runner Magazine) kept a tight rein on the lead in the Women's Open division winning the stage in 3h44m fromAmy Golumbia and Rosemarie Gerspacher (Team Arcteryx).

In the Mixed 80+ division Jeff and Katie Caba continue to lead the race after a solid 3h31m run in today's stage.

It was a tough day for Team EverymanTri, with Paul Shippey dropping out of the stage at mile 14, leaving teammate Lori Lyons to run solo to the finish at Camp Hale in 6h03m. This effectively drops them from the race classification.

'This is a tough race to run with injury and sickness and after three days of pain and not feeling great, my body had the final say today. I may be able to soldier on tomorrow, but today was brutal for me and my teammate', said Shippey after the stage.




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Location:Camp Hale, CO

Stage Two Recap: the Wounded Warrior

Today's crossing of the Continental Divide was magnificent. The elevation map of the route was fairly straightforward, looking much like the bell curve. Based on dinnertime and pre-start conversations, I was not the only only one intimidated by the climb/descent of Stage Two; even Max King, who was not pleased about his second place finish yesterday, was concerned about his ability to retake first on this particular stage. We would be climbing over 3,000 ft up a singletrack to Hope Pass, which lies at an elevation of around 12,700 ft, and navigating our way back down a steep, rocky trail on the other side. Once the tedious descent was behind us, we had another 6 or so miles of rolling trail though the forest and alongside Twin Lakes to the finish.

Three things worried me: The rapid elevation gain could lead to altitude sickness, Paul's ability to manage the technical descent with a sprained ankle, and, of course, my ability to stay upright.

Paul reported to the medical tent for an ankle taping in the early morning, and came out with a wrap so substantial that it would have kept a linebacker standing tall. The problem, however, is that he couldn't run with this 'cast' on, and the squeezing became unbearable just shortly after the start. So we stepped aside and removed tape until he felt some relief.




We had some ground to make up but the uphill singletrack kept people in a line, snaking up the mountain. So we just stayed steady, focusing on solid foot- placement, looking up at the jaw-dropping scenery whenever we dared to take our eyes off the trail.


When we summited, we took a couple of quick pictures and immediately began our descent. Paul was clearly uncomfortable, but we were cautious and controlled. Racers streamed past us, and Paul remained focused on getting down without incident, instead of letting his competitive spirit take over. As for me, I just stayed a safe distance behind him studied the backs of his shoes.


We didn't exchange words but I know we were both relieved to be down. The remainder of the run was a rolling, root-studded single track, so we weren't quite out of the woods yet (so to speak). It is typically when fatigue sets in or when electrolytes are low that people stumble, so I had been drinking and eating gels on a very regular basis. Since there were only two aid stations on this stage, I ran out of both food and liquid with about six miles to go. Not great. Thankfully, Paul's pack was still relatively full, so we shared water to the finish. Paul ran strongly after our descent, focusing his mind away from his discomfort, and onto the impending relief of the finish. He was an unbelievable warrior today.



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