Winter Sun 10K draws record number of runners
 

     The rain Friday night turned into blue skies on Saturday and helped the 23rd Annual Winter Sun 10K live up to its name. The run started right on time at the Moab Golf Course and finished on the high school track, with a record 225 entrants coming from as far away as Mississippi, North Carolina, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin. The majority of the runners hailed from Utah and Grand Junction, Colo.
    In a time of 33:36, 43-year-old Bernie Boettcher of Silt, Colo. took the men’s title for the second year in a row, while 21-year-old Emily Williams from Farmington, UT was the women’s winner in a time of 41:05.
    Local age group award winners included Sheena Stucki, 1st place, females 12-15; Faye Gilbert, 1st place females 20-29; John Bishoff, 3rd place males 20-29; Jim Lewis, 2nd place and Gregg Stucki 3rd place, males 40-49.
    Due to the cold weather, the refreshments and awards ceremony were moved inside the high school. Participants oohed and awed during the raffle drawing that included cool prizes from local merchants Zeal Optics, Arches Book Company, Canyon Voyages, Poison Spider Bike Shop, Chile Pepper Bike Shop, Rim Tours, Poplar Place, Mondo Café, Sgt Peppers Music and Video, and Gearheads.
    Race organizers made a few changes to this year’s event: the course was modified to incorporate the new Mill Creek Parkway bike and pedestrian path, making the run safer and more scenic. Race officials also used computer chip timing to test out a potential timing company for the spring race, Canyonlands Half Marathon.


The Winter Sun run had good weather for this year's running, with clear skies and temperatures in the 30's (or as Felsher would say, perfect weather for a run). The Pine Belt Pacers were very poorly represented, despite the fact that it's an easy 3 day drive to Moab Utah. Only Running Bear showed up, and observers wondered if the pressure of being the sole PBP might cause another dreaded DNS. Of course he's been seen brazenly wearing his Mountain Masochist 50 Mile sweatshirt all over town, so some might wonder if the pressure was as great as was first assumed. And since there would be no witnesses, his account of the race would be irrefutable.

Here's RB's account: Started out running with my neighbor Rich who was planning an 11 minute pace. I was kind of hoping to break the psychologically tough one hour barrier. The race starts at the golf course (the Moab Golf Course of course, as everything in Moab is the Moab Diner, Moab Grocery Store, etc. as they don't have a lot of unnecessary duplication of anything except bike shops and motels). It goes gradually uphill for a mile and then is generally pleasantly downhill into town (it's a one way course) except for a wickedly steep half mile uphill right after mile 2. After the first mile in 9:35, I lost track of  Rich (it wasn't really a promise) and I just went with the flow. The flow ended up over five minutes short of my one hour goal. Splits were 9:35, 17:50, 26:10, 35:18, 43:53, 54:27 (chip time, with over 200 runners it probably took me quite awhile to cross the mat), 108th of 183 finishers. Rich finished in 1:03:25, faster than his goal time. The slow first mile probably killed my chances at a medal as I was only 10 minutes out of third at the end. The race cruelly finished on the high school track with a lap on the track after you passed within 15 feet of the clock! The overall winner was a Master's runner winning for the 3rd consecutive year, finishing in 33:something, which leads me to wonder if he somehow cut the course on a one way run?

The local Rim Runners club has a beautiful web site apparently maintained by someone who knows what she's doing. I would give you the link but that would only lead some cynics to insultingly check the veracity of my account and times, or make disparaging remarks about the art work on the PBP site.  The Bear photographer took a lot of pictures, some of which are sampled below. If anyone wants a set of the original full size photos, drop me an e-mail or get a life whichever is easier. The scenery on the course was naturally awesome (you can't pick a course in Moab where it isn't), with fresh snow on the La Sals and even some on the rim overlooking town.


Rich Curtin and Running Bear warming up

 

 


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