PHOTO: It was a fast start for runners in the Pikes Peak Road Runners Winter Series short-course final Saturday in the Black Forest. Race winner and short-course series champ Michael Weiss (No. 1820) hit the finish line in 33 minutes, 59 seconds.


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PHOTOS: Winter Series No. 4: Weiss, Ewing, Meredith and Maksimow win overal...
PHOTOS: Winter Series runners battle wind and hills in Black Forest
PHOTOS: 10K Gallery 1
PHOTOS: 10K Gallery 2
PHOTOS: 10K Gallery 3
PHOTOS: 10K Gallery 4
PHOTOS: 20K Gallery 1
PHOTOS: 20K Gallery 2
PHOTOS: 20K Gallery 3

VIDEO: Winter Series Long-Course women's champ Stephanie Meredith
VIDEO: Winter Series Short-Course men's champ Michael Weiss
VIDEO: Start of 10K race
VIDEO: Start of 20K race

Winter Series short-course age-group final standings
Winter Series long-course age-group final standings

Peter Maksimow isn't an angry man. But he did have some frustration to blow off at the Pikes Peak Road Runners Winter Series finale.
Maksimow, who runs for Team Inov8 and the Colorado Running Company, had traveled to Texas last week in search of a 2-hour, 25-minute marathon finish. It didn't work out that way. A combination of warm temperatures, high humidity, hills, and who knows what else, left him with dead legs and a finish time of 2:39.
But he put that Texas nonsense behind him on a windy 20K course Saturday in the Black Forest.
"I didn't know how my legs would feel after last week," he said. "But I came here mentally ready to run fast.
Maksimow, 32, of Manitou Springs, hit the finish line in 1:17:47 to take the victory - his third of the four Winter Series Races - and capture the series' long-course championship.
Joe McDaniel, 28, of Colorado Springs, was second in 1:18:24 and placed second in the series. Maksimow said McDaniel stuck with him for much of the race.
"Joe and I ran together for about nine miles," Maksimow said. "Then I pushed it on the hills and in the wind. I kind of turned it on the last four miles."
Stephanie Meredith (Runner's Roost, 28, Colorado Springs) finished third in the long-course final (1:36:20) but won the series championship. She said the wind, which gusted to 40 miles an hour, was the most difficult part of the day.
"Oh my gosh, it was like running in place half the time," she said. "It was a tough race, awesome course and a good challenge, but the wind was brutal."
Meredith has now claimed two series titles in a row. She won the Grand Prix of Running last year.
Leah Thorvilson of Little Rock, Ark., won the final long-course race in 1:23:11. Amelia Evans, 16, of Colorado Springs, was second in 1:34:28.
In the 10K short course race, Boulder Running Company runner and pro triathlete Michael Weiss, 29, of Colorado Springs, won with a time of 33:59. He also sewed up the Winter Series title. Pat McGuire was second on Saturday with a time of 36:29.
In the women's short-course race, the Colorado Running Company's Amanda Ewing, 29, Colorado Springs, completed the sweep, winning in 42:18. She was followed by Ruth Waller of Lake Charles, La., who crossed in 44:18.
"It means a lot to win the series," Ewing said. "Starting out, I had no expectations, but I kept winning and, especially with this last race, I wanted to finish strong."
Ewing won the Winter Series long course last year.

In one of the closest age-group competitions, Nathan McCrary (35, Colorado Springs) turned in a big effort to beat Gerald Romero (39, Colorado Springs) and take the 35-39 series short-course championship.

"Gerald and I have raced each other for a long time," McCrary said. "Out of our last 20 races he's beaten me every time, except for these last three."

McCrary trailed Romero by six seconds heading into the final. He then clocked a 39:56 on the tough Black Forest course, with Romero following in 41:14.