This story has been archived from the Friday, August 19, 2005

PAIN GAME

Assortment of injuries troubling top runners

By MERI-JO BORZILLERI
THE GAZETTE

As if racing up 14,115-foot Pikes Peak wasn’t enough, some prominent names running the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon expect to be hurting for other reasons.

Five-time women’s marathon champion Erica Larson, 34, of Los Alamos, N.M., decided to enter just last weekend, even with her training hamstrung by a pulled calf muscle and strep throat over the winter.

Bernie Boettcher, 42, of Silt, could finish in the top 10 in the men’s marathon if he’s healed enough from a serious mountain bike fall last month.

Women’s Ascent champion Anita Ortiz, going for her fifth straight title, has suffered a foot muscle tear and broken foot while competing as part of the U.S. Mountain Running team.

Danelle Ballengee, the world-renowned adventure racer, won the Marathon (26.21 miles up and down Pikes Peak) four straight years, 1994-97.

She’s expecting a different kind of adventure. Ballengee is running with a sprained ankle.

“I’m just going to tape it up and hope for the best,” Ballengee said.

Can she win?

“No,” Ballengee said. “I hate to be pessimistic about the whole thing, but also being realistic, I don’t think I can. I’m going to run my best, but I also don’t think I have trained the way I need to train for this race.”

Galen Burrel, the 2004 men’s Marathon champion from Boulder, is a favorite to repeat. He’s healthy and one of a group of elite “skyrunners” — an international team of racers who compete in marathons reaching 13,000 feet in elevation — who will run Pikes Peak. The group includes Ballengee and Corinne Favre of France, who has won the sky running world championship.

Skyrunner Agusti Roc of Barcelona crossed the marathon finish first last year, but Burrell was awarded the victory after it was discovered Roc cut corners — allowable under skyrunner race rules but not Pikes Peak rules.

Pikes Peak became part of the Skyrunner World Series last year and continues this year. Race director Ron Ilgen said organizers will make the rules clearer this time. Runners must follow Barr Trail.

Some familiar faces will be missing from the starting line. Manitou Springs’ Matt Carpenter, the six-time marathon and five-time Ascent champion, is running the 100-mile Leadville ultramarathon this weekend, while Boulder’s Scott Elliott, an eight-time Ascent winner, has not entered because of a hamstring injury.

For the women’s Ascent, Ortiz could get pushed from Nederland’s Lisa Goldsmith or three-time champion Cindy O’Neill (1998-2000) of Manitou Springs.

With Elliott out, the men’s Ascent is wide open, with adventure racer Michael Kloser, 45, of Vail, among the prominent names along with Peter Vail, 31, of Boulder, who finished fourth in the Barr Trail race.

Of course, there could be surprises. Rules allow past champions’ entry until the race start.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0259 or merijo@gazette.com

Copyright 2005, The Gazette, a division of Freedom Colorado Information. All rights reserved. Used with permission.