April 26, Denver, CO
Colorado 50K Trail Championships
Race Website

Race Director and Team Member Derek Griffiths reports:

	Lisa Goldsmith; 2nd place, 1st Master in the 25K in 1:55:17.

A blanket of cloud cover hugged the skyline and spits of snow smacked runners shivering legs at the start of the Greenland Trail 50K. Temperatures hovered in the 30s, making it difficult to attach race bib numbers and tie shoelaces.

Luckily for runners, once the race began, the smooth double-track dirt course was dry and easy to maneuver. Nestled between Colorado Springs and Denver, the course is located within the 3,000 acre Greenland Open Space Park in Douglas County. The course passes through native grasslands, by ponds, through rolling Gamble oak hills and skirts ponderosa pine forests allowing for outstanding views of Pikes Peak and the surrounding buttes.

Boulder's Charlie Kelley out sprinted the 50K field from the gun. Running the first half of the race with the 25K leaders, he had nearly 15 minutes on second place at halfway. The 28-year-old runner faded late in the race but was able to stay ahead of last year's winner, Tim Geldean of Erie, by six minutes. Kelley finished the race in a course record time of 3:37:36.  Brian Fisher of Highlands Ranch was third overall and first masters runner in 3:46:25.

	Bernie Boettcher sets the 25K course record in 1:38:30.

Boulder's Tressa Breindel, 27, topped the women's field in four hours, 40 minutes, and 52 seconds. She was followed eight minutes later by Boulder's Lisa Ledet, the first female masters finisher.

Lisa Ledet is the second female in the 50K and 1st Master in 4:48:14.

The Greenland Trail 50K once again served as the 2006 USATF Colorado 50K Championship. The first place finishers received $200, second place $150, and third place $100. Age group winners were awarded with La Sportiva trail running shoes and GoLite Drimove running shirts and GoLite water bottles.

Silt's Bernie Boettcher defended his title in the 25K, beating Boulder's Bryan Dayton by a mere 20 seconds. Boettcher set a new course record in one hour, 38 minutes.  Heather Hunt of Englewood also defended her title in the 25K, setting a new course record in one hour, 49 minutes. Lisa Goldsmith of Nederland was the first female master's runner, finishing second overall with Bronwyn Morrissey hot on her heels in third.

Lisa Goldsmith adds:

A fun day in the Cooooold; I was super conservative on the first loop, planning to run a negative split, which I did!  Cool place to run.   (Really cold actually.) 

Bernie Boettcher's comment was even more succinct:

"YES!   For only $99.95 I will send you signed photo of me grimacing my way to yet another victory, a bag of magic silt from the headwaters of the Colorado River, and a 1" square of smelly sock worn at the race.   No credit cards please.   Remember, "Silt Happens".