It was a glorious, crisp fall day for racing in the low 40’s for the men’s race at 9:40 a.m., and low 50s for the women’s race at 11:00 a.m. With the majestic Rocky Mountains forming an impressive backdrop, the top runners from that part of the world were determined to make their mark.
OVERALL
Joseph Gray, known as the best Mountain Runner in the country, but also a 2013 USATF Club Cross Country individual champion at Bend, Oregon, led the way. Despite the best efforts of Neil McDonagh, a fellow Colorado Springs resident, Gray took his second win on the Masters circuit this year, clocking 15:30 flat. This complements his 10 km win in April. McDonough, who won the Masters 1 Mile Championship in May, had to settle for second this time, 19 seconds behind Gray. Tyler Butterfield, two-time Olympic Triathlete, finished third in 16:14. The first sea level runner finished 18th. Melissa Dock won the gold medal in Cross Country at the WMA Outdoor Championships this summer in Sweden. She pulled away to win the title in 17:53, 22 seconds in front of the 2022 winner on this course, Ann Kirkpatrick. Despite running a minute faster this year, Kirkpatrick had to surrender any dreams of a repeat win. It is a good thing she did run faster because Michele Yates was just 12 seconds back in third.
AGE GRADING
The age grading score, the Performance Level Percentage (PLP), identifies the runners, across all age divisions, who had the best performance relative to the fastest times in the world. Top honors went to Frank Zoldak, 57, who won his division in 16:55, achieving a PLP of 91.58%. Daniel King, 65, who took the age grading crown in 2022 finished second this time at 89.86%. In a reversal of the overall finish, McDonough, 43, edged Gray, 40 for third 87.53% to 87.37%. Kristine Clark, 61, enjoyed a massive age grading win of over two percentage points. Her division winning 21:13 age graded at 88.3%. Dock was the best of the rest at 85.68%. Kirkpatrick took third with an 84.58%.
AGE DIVISION
National women’s champions were crowned in 40-44 Dock 45-49 Sara Callor 21:28 50-54 Nicole Howley 21:25 55-59 Cheryl Aley 22:05 60-64 Clark 21:13 65-69 Suzanne Cordes 23:43 70-74 Connie Harmon 31:46 75-79 Irene Herman 34:15.
National men’s champions were crowned in 40-44 Gray 45-49 Taylor Carrington 17:53 50-54 Gregory Mitchell 16:52 55-59 Zoldak 16:55 60-64 Nat Larson 18:56 65-69 King 18:28 70-74 James Linn 22:39 75-79 Gary Ostwald 23:00 80-84 Jan Frisby 28:00.
TEAMS
Score by summing the places of the first three finishers on each team, except for in men’s 40+ and 50+ where it is the first five; low score wins.
WOMEN 40+ T.E.A.M. Boulder M Dock, J Mannhard, K Davis, L Johnson, A M Cody took the 40+ title ahead of the Fort Collins Running Club and the Impala Racing Team, 4-9-15.
WOMEN 50+ Athletics Boulder K Clark, K Leader, l Bruess prevailed in a very tight contest, ahead of Fort Collins and the Shore Athletic Club 22-24-24. WOMEN 60+ Fort Collins K Schulte, M Gill, M Mueller took the win ahead of Impala and the Atlanta Track Club 11-14-25
MEN 40+ The Fort Collins Running Club J Toth, J Morales, M Saunders, C McCullough, J Fay, (P Webb) fielded the only complete team. They win with 15 points.
MEN 50+ The Boulder Road Runners F Zoldak, G Mays, T Stockford, F De Simone, R Granquist won this division with the only complete scoring team. MEN 60+ It was all Boulder in this division as the Boulder Road Runners A team R Sayre, M Tatum, A Feerst, p Hegelbach defeated Athletics Boulder and the Boulder Road Runners B team 9-13-23.
MEN 70+ With six complete teams scoring this was the largest men’s field. The Boulder Road Runners D Chesnut, G Ostwald, D Bell, (J Frisby, R Castro) claimed first in a tight contest with the Shore AC, 12-14, with the Boulder Road Runners’ B team, with 27 points, finishing ahead of teams from Atlanta and Ann Arbor.
The was the final event of the 2024 Masters National Grand Prix. The 2025 Grand Prix kicks off in Tacoma WA at the 2024 USATF Club Cross Country Championships. Details are here.
Submitted by Paul Carlin