By Bob Stephens
PikesPeakSports.us
Alex Nichols was running third, often unable to see the leaders, and starting to feel just a little desperate about his chance to win Sunday’s 60th running of the Pikes Peak Marathon.

It’s a victory he’d dreamed about for at least three years – since finishing second in 2012 and again in ’13 – and it seemed to be slipping away.

“It’s obviously a long race, so no single mile will win or lose the race,” said Nichols, 30, who ran for Colorado College a decade ago and is now the long distance running coach for the CC women. “I could see the two guys ahead of me occasionally, but it’s still nerve-wracking to be two or three minutes behind in a race like this.

“I had a big mental battle on the second half of the uphill. I didn’t feel great and just had to let them go ahead of me. I just had to have faith in my training.”

Nichols’ advantage – besides being the only one of the three leaders to regularly train at altitude – was his improved skill at running downhill. That made the difference.

He caught the leaders just a few miles after making the turnaround at the summit of Pikes Peak. He passed Rickey Gates, who took third, at an aid station and swept past Abu Diriba at a narrow spot on the trail and scraped his leg on a rock.

At that point, though, nothing could stop Nichols from achieving his goal. He finished first in 3:46:40 – that was seven minutes, 24 seconds ahead of Diriba (3:54:04), a New York City resident of Ethiopian descent, and nearly nine minutes ahead of Gates (3:55:31), who is from Aspen but lives in Madison, Wis. – and crossed the finish line with a big smile after slapping high fives with race spectators over the final hundred yards.

“I ran with considerable effort all the way down from the Summit to Barr Camp,” Nichols said. “That’s by far the rockiest stretch and I thought it was my best chance to pull away.”
He called the victory “redemption” for having finished second in his two previous Pikes Peak Marathons. Considered the pre-race favorite, he said it was also “a huge relief” to win.

“I was picking up my packet (Friday) and everybody’s telling me I’m going to win,” he said. “That’s great to hear, but it’s also a lot of pressure. A lot can happen on that mountain.”

He was energized by people calling out his name during the race and said he benefited from all the support.

“The Colorado College volleyball team was about a mile up the trail,” he said. “I saw a lot of faces I recognized.”

Nichols, who went to high school in Minneapolis, Minn., said he first became interested in trail  running while on a family vacation.

“I did some runs on the Continental Divide and that sparked my interest in trail running,” he said.

Part of Nichols’ difficulty in running the uphill, he said, was due to a left hip injury that’s bothered him for a few weeks. But his experience in running internationally – particularly the Sky Runner series in Europe – aided him greatly on the downhill portion of Pikes Peak. He said European mountain courses are a bit more straight up and down, and thus steeper, than in the United States.

His time going up Pikes Peak was 2:25:50, which was 73 seconds slower than Gates, who led Diriba by 11 seconds. On the descent, Nichols was clocked in an impressive 1:20:50 while Diriba got down in 1:29:16 and Gates in 1:30:52.

“I am much stronger uphill,” said Diriba, 27, who said he was bothered by the heat and altitude. “I have never run at 14,000 feet before.”

Gates, who has run the Ascent a few times in addition to lots of Ultras and marathons, was competing in his first Pikes Peak Marathon. He knows Nichols from competing in mountain races across the country.

“A big challenge for me was the downhill,” said Gates, 34. “I haven’t had the proper training. My calves seized the first six miles down. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, just wanting to make the podium.”

He offered respect and congratulations to Nichols.

“This is Alex’s home course,” Gates said, “but he’s getting better and better at going downhill. For 10 years, he’s been getting better. It’s surprising that he’s still considered the underdog in some races and that he’s a bit off the radar. He’s gotten really good.”

After the top three finishers were three runners from Colorado Springs: 28-year-old Carlos Ruibal (4:03:39), 21-year-old Darren Thomas (4:09:01) and 20-year-old Jared Hazen (4:15:17). Then came Jim Rebenack, 31, of Littleton, Colo. (4:27:45), Mark Torres, 39, of Lakewood, Colo. (4:28:18) and the first female finisher, Hirut Guangul, 23, Abu’s friend from New York City (4:29:09).

Tim Parr, 33, of Leadville, Colo., was 10th after finishing third in the Pikes Peak Ascent the day before. He was top “Doubler” of the weekend.