We've always known that Pikes Peak, the Manitou Incline and Barr Trail provide some of the best trail workouts in the country. But Elevation Outdoors Magazine has now caught on.

Our favorite single track was named the best place for a trail run in the magazine's first "Best of Colorado Awards."

Here is what the editor's said:

"OUR PICK: Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs There’s a lot of pretty trail runs in these parts. So the best of the best needs that special something— like, say, 7,800 feet of vertical. Meet the Incline in Manitou Springs, which is nasty enough on its own, but when combined with the Barr Trail to the summit of Pike’s Peak, equals a 13.3-mile course that’s the most challenging (and the most rewarding) trail run in the state. For an added punch, the last three miles are above treeline (and can slow your pace down to 30-minute miles).

For what it's worth, readers of Elevation Outdoors chose Imogene Pass outside of Ouray, home of the Famous Imogene Pass Run.

Two other nearby areas got the not by the Elevation Outdoors editorial staff. Shelf Road near Canon City was chosen for rock climbing.

Say's EO: "The sport climbing here is outstanding with easy (5.7) one-pitchers like Crynoid Corner, true classics like No Passion for Fashion (5.11b/c) and toughies like The Example (5.13a) but it’s the people who climb here, who care more about climbing than their egos, that make it."

And "The Gautlet" on the Arkansas River was named best River Trip. Their reasoning - and who can argue - goes like this: "The run starts in class III Granite Gorge then shoots into a mile of class V rapids. Here, the river gets squeezed to half its width (if this means nothing to you, Google the Venturi Effect) and drops over 200 feet. The fun starts when it slams right into class V Triple Drop. Then, The Numbers is up. Determined to be unnavigable waters by 1880’s miners, it’s a series of of gaping holes, huge boulders and lots of rabid water."

Readers liked the Ark as well, but picked Brown's Canyon as their favorite place.

You can read it all here...