Spread out over two days, the Classic 10K in Colorado Springs offered real life, head to head racing with elites battling it out for the USATF Colorado 10K championship.
Starting on Saturday morning with the Brewers’ Cup race, the event saw nearly 300 runners over both days take to the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail for an out and back event from North Monument Valley Park.
Hosted by Mad Moose Events, the race would normally run point-to-point from Woodman Dr to North Monument Valley Park. However, due to COVID-19 concerns with shuttling runners, the event was changed to an out and back this year and spread out over two days help maintain social distancing.
Sunday’s open race also served as the Colorado USATF 10K Championship and allowed some of the state’s best runners to toe the line in a real live head to head competition. In the first wave were 15 men who started together and then three minutes later, the top women took off. After that, waves went off every 30 seconds allowing runners the ability to easily spread out along the race route very quickly.
In the men’s championship, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Girma Mecheso of Colorado Springs and Marty Andrie of Golden ran stride for stride for nearly four miles before Kipchirchir pulled away for the win in 30:45.
Ivy Kibet, Atesede Baysa and Elvin Kibet (all of Colorado Springs), did much the same with Ivy Kibet taking the victory in 34:03.
Overall, 117 runners finished the open event on Sunday morning under perfect conditions (60 degrees with partly cloudy skies and calm winds).
On Saturday, 159 runners tackled the same course in the Brewers’ Cup edition of the race.
Most runners not from Colorado Springs may ask “What the heck is the Brewers’ Cup?” Well, it is a a beer/running competition in partnership with local running store the Colorado Running Company. Breweries in the local area establish teams of up to 15 runners, and then these teams compete against each other at various events throughout the Pikes Peak region for bragging rights and the official Brewers’ Cup trophy. For more info on the Brewers’ Cup, click here.
In this event, Jason Brosseau of Colorado Springs led wire to wire to win by over three minutes in 36:05. Sarah Stover of Colorado Springs was the top female in 46:07.
Below are some photos from Sunday’s USATF Colorado 10K Championship race.
