Leadville 100 Run and Mountain Bike Race
First-timer wins Leadville Trail 100 footrace
By Scott Willoughby
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Steve Peterson at the finish
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It was a classic example of the power of positive thinking. A few hundred hours of training and a dedicated support crew pushed Boulder, Colorado, resident Steve Peterson over the finish line first in the 14th annual Leadville Trail 100 at 11:29 Saturday night.
It was Peterson's first attempt at a 100-mile footrace. "I really wanted this," he said after the race. "I've been thinking about it for a long time. I even dreamt about it. I wanted it more than anything."
It was perhaps healthy of Peterson to get his dreaming in before the race's start at 4 a.m. on August 24. He spent the next 19 hours, 29 minutes, and 58 seconds jockeying for the top spot on the podium with Michael Ehrlich from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Fresno, California's Joe Schlereth, who finished second and third, respectively.
A total of 156 runners completed the ultradistance classic, about 49 percent of the field. Last year's heavy rains and muddy course allowed only 42 percent to finish, the lowest success rate in the event's history.
In the women's race, Martha Swatt of Sheridan, Wyoming, worked her way past Littleton, Colorado's Theresa Daus-Weber in the final 30 miles, finishing in respective times of 23:30:11 and 24:32:46, 14th and 27th places overall. Daus-Weber led the women's field for almost the entire race, but Swatt apparently pushed her too hard and she faded in the late going in a replay
of last summer's third-place performance. Hosi Haghighian of Austin, Texas, was the third woman across the finish line this year in 26:27:58.
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Michael Ehrlich crosses
a river at 40 miles
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Ehrlich proved to be Peterson's greatest adversary in the field of 320, forcing the lanky athlete to draw deep in his well of reserves on more than one occasion. Peterson took the lead at about the 20-mile mark, followed into the second checkpoint by Divine Madness Ultraclub teammate Kevin Taverner, then Schlereth. Not far back, Ehrlich moved into second place by
the next aid station at 39 miles. At Hope Pass, the highest point on the route (12,600 feet), Ehrlich took control, putting about five minutes between himself and Peterson at the 50-mile mark. But on the return trip over Hope, Peterson shrank the gap to a mere minute and a half.
"I was glad I was only a minute and a half behind at that point. After he went by me, I never really knew where he was until the Twin Lakes aid station," Peterson said. "He was running up Hope Pass. They say no one runs up Hope Pass, but he was doing it."
The energy Ehrlich used to run the pass may have cost him along the rolling return stretch to the Half Moon aid station. Although Peterson never saw Ehrlich on the trail, Peterson breezed past him at the aid station, using the help of strong pacesetters to pull away through the remaining 30.5 miles.
"This was my first time doing this, so I really didn't know what to expect aid station to aid station," Peterson said. "I was mostly surprised that I was out front. I don't usually run like that training with our team, but I felt strong. That was the biggest surprise, that I felt so strong the whole way. I usually kind of come from behind."
As for Ehrlich, his runner-up status didn't seem to bother him at all. "I don't have a watch on," he said after crossing the finish in 20:22:46. "I'm not really concerned with time. I just try to run my own race and not really beat anyone."
The sentiment was echoed by Peterson at the next day's awards ceremony. "As far as I'm concerned, I was first winner, Michael was the second winner, Joe was the third winner, and it goes right on down the line." Peterson said to the crowd. "You should all be proud."
Scott Willoughby is a writer from Minturn, Colorado
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