Joseph Gray, Lee Troop, Deborah Conley, Lyndon Ellefson, Alan Lind, and Peter de la Cerda will be inducted into the Colorado Running Half of Fame. The Colorado Running Hall of Fame recognizes Coloradans for remarkable achievement and influence on the sport of distance running. Each year nominees are accepted, and in January the inductee class is selected and notified. In February the class is announced. The year 2020 forced the delay of honoring the Class of 2020 in May 2020. As a result, this year we will celebrate the six 2020 honorees plus three additional members will be selected for 2021.
Joseph Gray is an American world champion runner who competes mostly in trail, mountain and snowshoe races. He won the World Mountain Running Championships in 2016 and 2019. He is the first Black American to not only make the Team USA World Mountain Running Team, but also the first Black American to win the USA National Mountain Running Championships and the World Mountain Running Championships.
Joseph has been a 31-time Team USA national team member. He is the only Black American to be part of the U.S. Mountain Running Team at any level. He is an 18-Time USA National Champion and is a 5-time Xterra World Trail Running Champion.
He is the American record holder at the Mount Washington Road Race. In August 2016, Gray won the Pikes Peak Ascent in a time of 2:05, the fastest climb since 1995. The following month, he won the World Mountain Running Championships which were held in Sapareva Banya, Bulgaria. In April 2017, Gray won the RRCA Colorado State Championship 5K Non-Road Race, held in conjunction with the Hams and Hamstrings 5K.
On July 20, 2018, Joseph Gray ran the fastest known time (FKT) up Mount Antero from the bottom of FS road 277 to the top of Mount Antero in 1:23:10. He used a running power meter during the attempt. Gray has the FKT on the Manitou Incline in Colorado Springs with a time of 17:45 verified with GPS.
Lee Troop started out as a long-distance track runner and represented Australia in the 5000m at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and attended his first World Athletics Championships the following year. He was a 4X national 10,000m champion and broke the Australian record in the 5000m in 1999. He competed for Australia two times in the World Cross Country Championships and moved up to the marathon distance in 1999 with a 2:11 performance.
He made his Olympic debut in the 2000 Olympic marathon race in Australia. After a series of injuries, he returned and competed in the marathon at the 2003 World Championships and competed in his second Olympics at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He made his third Olympic team and raced again in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Much later, as a masters athlete (40 years old) Lee placed in the top 15 with a 2:17:52 at the 2013 Boston Marathon. With personal bests that include 13:36 (5000m), 27:51 (10,000m), 1:01 (half marathon) and 2:09:49 (marathon), this 3X Olympian is a complete distance athlete. He completed his elite career in 2014.
Lee owns and operates T.E.A.M – Troop Events Athlete Management and is a Race Management Company dedicated to Road, Track, XC and Trail Races in Boulder, Colorado. T.E.A.M Boulder also provides coaching options for Youth, Teens, Community and Elite runners. His company consistently donates considerable money to local charities each year. Lee lives in Boulder with his wife, Freyja, their daughter Macy and their two sons, Max and Jack.
Deborah Conley is a Colorado native, and former University of Colorado runner. She was a member of the first women’s Cross Country team to win a conference title. As a master runner, she has been on multiple Cross Country teams that have medaled at USATF Cross Country National Championships and USATF National Club Cross Country Championships.
She was the president and founder of Lending Sight, a USABA (United States Association of Blind Athletes) sport club that provided guides to visually impaired athletes. The World Games and Paralympics running events now award medals to both guide and VI athlete. Lending Sight created a precedent for races to waive registration fees for guides.
Her numerous awards include: (2012) Pacesetter Award in appreciation of contributions in the field of Quality of Life presented by Daily Camera, (2012) Boulder Chamber of Commerce Women Who Light the Community, and (2013) Sportswoman of Colorado-Dorothy Mauk Pioneer Award in recognition for developing the sport of VI running. She developed running and swimming tethers which are manufactured by Athletic Speed Equipment, Inc. and sold world-wide.
Deb spearheaded the Instep Real Women, Real Fast masters racing team and created Boulder Olympic Day held in conjunction with the Bolder Road Runners all comers track and field meet. Deb guided the first visually impaired athlete in a USATF Cross Country National Championship meet and led the effort to change the Boston Marathon registration process for mobility impaired athletes meeting qualification standards.
Peter de la Cerda lives with his wife and five children in Alamosa, CO, where he teaches 7th grade social studies and has coached at Alamosa High School (15 years XC and 7 years track). He is a 2X NCAA Individual National Champion (5000m Indoor ’93, 10,000m Outdoor ’93) and 11X All American.
Peter was inducted in three Hall of Fames: Adams State HOF (2X), RMAC HOF, NCAA D-2 HOF and inducted into RMAC All Century Cross Country Team 2009. Post collegiately, Peter was a 2X US National Road Champion, 2000 US Olympic Marathon Trials Runner Up, World University Team Member 1997 (Italy), and ranked Top 3 in the Marathon in the US 2000 & 2001.
Peter has coached both men and women semi-pros/pro runners and others, served as an agent for many pro-runners, and during his high school coaching as an assistant coach, his teams at Alamosa HS have celebrated 5 XC Championship Teams, 3x 4×800 team titles, and 8 regional team titles. During his coaching of the Penguins Track Club (Penguin XC and Track team) they have produced 10 All-Americans and 1 National Champion. Peter has been selected for seven World Teams: World University Team, 3 Half Marathon Teams, 1 World Team for the marathon, World Relay Marathon and World Mountain Team.
Alan Lind’s 47 year career in running began at Poudre HS where he achieved a 13th place finish at the ‘76 Colorado State Cross Country meet and 6th in the mile at the State Track meet in the spring of ‘77. At Colorado State University he lettered all four years and ran his 1st marathon in 1978 and followed this with a 2:37 effort in 1980 and ran 2:26 in the next three years.
He was the 2X winner of the Denver Mayor’s Cup Marathon, running 2:25 at altitude. Alan finished 23 marathons, 9 of those in 2:27 or faster with a personal best of 2:20:58 at Boston ’88. In 2003, Alan founded and co-race directed with Maureen Roben the Platte River Half Marathon. Today the Platte River Half Marathon is the longest running half marathon in the Denver area. In 2007, Alan and Maureen Roben also founded the Park to Park 10 Miler which was very popular. This Labor Day race through Denver ended in 2013.
From 2004-07 Alan coached cross country at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver where he was twice awarded the Denver Public Schools Cross Country Coach of the Year. He started the DPS Middle School Cross Country Championship meet, and from 2009 to present he has been an assistant coach at Rock Canyon High School in Highlands Ranch where he helped create the Rock Canyon Invitational which has transitioned to the Douglas County Middle School Championship meet which is held annually during the Invitational.
Lyndon Ellefson lived an adventurous life ending tragically in mid stride as he fell through a glacier crevasse near Cervinia, Italy, 1998. He was there as a member of the original, international Fila Skyrunners Team and was on a high-altitude training run in preparation for the Skyrunning Marathon.
Known as a fearless Alpine marathoner, Lyndon always approached life with a high sense of humor, tempered with passion for running. Lyndon was a pioneer in mountain running and was instrumental in starting the U.S. men’s mountain running program.
His high school classmate at Barron HS, Tom Koser said Ellefson “was hilarious, (with) a great sense of humor. He was a lot of fun to be with, he had a smile and a joke for all, and, during our junior and senior years, he was the leader of the pack to organize and do things.”
His legacy lives on in two mountain races, the Lyndon Ellefson Memorial Half Marathon and 5K (Barron, CO) and the annual Vail Athletic Club Vail Mountain Winter Uphill Race and Hike. At the time of his passing, Lyndon was a Vail, Colorado gondola manager and is survived by his wife Tashina and his sons Sylvan and Kjell.
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