Bolder Boulder photo album here. Results here.
When there are 50,000-plus runners in the race, including thousands from the Pikes Peak Region, it’s tough to focus on one person. Area runners performed well Monday in the 32nd Bolder Boulder. The following is my mad scramble to keep up with it all.

Citizen’s race: Colorado Springs' Ryan Hafer (above in foreground and at right) hit the line in 31 minutes, 16 seconds to capture third place. Hafer, a Coronado
High School graduate, wore his old Coronado cross country uniform. He is training for the June 19 Mount Washington Road Race, which will be the 2010 U.S. National Mountain Championship. The race is a qualifier for the World Mountain Running Campionships. The U.S. team will be chosen there.
Liberty High School graduate Joel Hamilton (Runner’s Roost) dashed home in sixth place in 31:31. Boulder Running Company’s Robby Young was 12th at 32:12.
Other area runners in the Top 100 included Tommy Neal (24th, 32:54); Peter Maksimow (25th, 32:54); Andy Rinne (56th,
34:07); Mark Misch (58th, 34:09); Carlos Ruibal (87th,
35:09); and Ahren Lowell Reiter 994th, 35:15.)
Brian Medigovich of Alamosa won the race in a time of 30:14
followed by Josh Eberly of Gunnison (30:49).

In the women’s citizen race, Boulder Running Company/adidas
runner Cassie Slade of Highlands Ranch, took the title with a time of 35:11.
The BRC/adidas team is managed by Cody Hill, who is also the manager at the Boulder
Running Company store in Colorado Springs.
And this from a woman who hated to run: Boulder Running Company’s Wendy Thomas, left) finished fourth among the women (140th overall) with a time of 36:07. What is amazing is that Thomas has only trained seriously for about a year.
She currently lives in Windsor,
but grew up in Colorado Springs where she was an excellent volleyball player at St. Mary’s High School, helping the Pirates win a state championship in 1997. She was Wendy Moyle back then. Now she is the mother of two. “I never wanted to run,” Thomas said. “I ran track my
freshman year in high school and I hated it. Coach (Ed) Latimer (St. Mary’s) saw me recently and was surprised. He said, ‘I couldn’t get you to run 200 meters and now you run 10K.”
She may not love running, but she loves the competition.

“I do like it,” she said. “It’s torture and it hurts. But
I’m really competitive.”


Elite race: Manitou Springs’ Alisha Williams (BRC/adidas) placed 19th among a field of 27 elite women. Williams, (at right in the blue) who ran for Team Colorado, had hoped for a sub-34, but wasn’t
disappointed.
“That’s OK,” she said. “It’s still fun.”
She did have a plan to start slow and then reel in
the field.
“I may have started too slow,” she said. “I got myself
stranded with nobody to run with, which is always my fear.”
She was much faster than last year, when she clocked a
36:16.
“I certainly felt better today,” she said.
Mamita Daska of Ethiopia (below) won with a time of 31:16.
She was followed by teammate Amane Gobena (31:58) in second, and Kenyan Emily Chebet (32:20.)

Ethiopia won the team competition, followed by Kenya
and the United States. The U.S. was paced by Boulder’s Renee Metivier-Bailee (9th, 33:35); Amy Hastings of Mammoth, Calif., (11th in 33:42) and Magdalena Lewy-Boulet (14th, 33:52.)
In the men’s elite race, the Ethiopian team of Lelisa
Desisa, Tadese Tola and Tilahun Regassa destroyed the field. The trio entered Folsom Field to a thunderous roar from fans that filled every seat. They joined hands and ran side-by-side until they reached the finish, then charged across the line in a dead heat (below). Desisa was awarded the win.
Then came Team Colorado, which placed second behind a tough run by Brent Vaughn of Boulder.
While it’s not devastating to have been passed over for Team USA, Vaughn and his Colorado teammates James Carney
(Boulder), and Aaron Braun (Alamosa) were motivated to run well. Vaughn placed fourth with a time of 28:53. Carney rolled in
at 29:02 (sixth) and Braun clocked 29:22 for ninth place.

All three Colorado runners placed ahead of the USA team members, including, Andrew Carlson of Flagstaff,
Ariz.; and Jason Hartman and Jorge Torres of Boulder.
“We know and train with those guys,” Vaughn said. “I guess
this was for bragging rights.”