Brandon Stapanowich, the founder of the 'Inclinathon' - a 13 lap sufferfest on the brutal Manitou Incline - won the inaugural competition on Saturday, April 14, with a time of 11 hours, 47 minutes. He beat the record (13 hours, 15 minutes) set last week by Ed Baxter. Stapanowich climbed a total of 26,134 feet and covered about 26.5 miles, a little more than marathon distance.
Fred Baxter (Ed's twin brother) finished in 12 hours, 55 minutes.

More Inclinathon coverage here: http://www.pikespeaksports.us/group/theincline/forum/topics/type-1-diabetic-greg-cummings-completes-brutal-inclinathon-with-a

Stapanowich, an ultra runner who placed seventh in the 2011 Pikes Peak Marathon, hatched the idea of the Inclinathon in January.
"Honestly, I was sick and there was nothing to do and my mind was just going," Stapnowich said. "The more I thought about it, with all the Olympic sports that are here in town and the traffic that the Incline gets, I was surprised nobody had thought of doing 13 laps, the length of a marathon."
On about lap seven, he was questioning whether it was worth it.
"My legs were cramping up going up and down," he said. "Six laps to go, it wasn't a pretty site."
There were eight names on the lap sheet, but only six recorded times. Stapanowich and Baxter had finished my Saturday afternoon. Greg Cummings had finished 10 laps by 4 p.m. and was determined to complete 13. But the others dropped out and two never recorded a lap time.
They began the day at 3 a.m. and had the popular trail to themselves.
By the time Stapanowich had finished a small group of area ultra runners and Incline regulars had come to gathered to see the show.
Ed Baxter - who competed in the EXTERRA Cheyenne Mountain State Park 24K on Saturday morning, stopped by to see if his record from a week earlier would hold up. His time of 13 hours, 15 minutes included a 45-minute nap on lap nine.
"I didn't think I'd keep the record," he said. "Brandon was really impressive."
But as it became obvious that his brother Fred would record a faster time than his, Ed became more antimated.
"I shouldn't have taken that damn nap," he said.
Fred crossed the finish line and vowed that he'd never do the Inclinathon again.
"I don't think I'd do it if the prize money was $10,000," he said.
Baxter crushed the first ascent of the morning, ascending the old railway bed in 25:39. He held the lead for about four laps, then began to fade as Stapanowich passed him.
Stapanowich's ascent split times (approximate): 27:00, 27:00, 31:01, 32:38, 31:54, 33:58, 33:58, 36:58, 36:28, 36:50, 37:01, 37:40, 42:12.
Baxter's ascent splits (approximate): 25:39, 27:06, 28:55, 30:03, 32:28, 36:08, 38:19, 41:49, 37:27, 35:32, 34:54, 35:24, 43:14.