Last Saturday, the La Sportiva Mountain Cup’s sixth race of the year took place at the Don’t Fence Me In Trail Runs. A 30-kilometer circuit through the mountains above Helena, Montana, it was the longest of three races taking place that day. Helena was once a gold-mining town, and the course consisted of about 4,000 vertical feet of gain over and around the hills that once made miners rich and famous. It finished with a couple blocks of Helena’s historic, bricked streets.
La Sportiva and the Don’t Fence Me In Trail Runs race director partnered to present this race’s Standout Award, which honors a local entrant with a gift package. Said La Sportiva’s Events and Promotions Manager, Ian Achey:
We awarded Mark Scarff with the Standout Award. Mark is 69 years old, the oldest participant to run the 2012 DFMI and placed 75th overall at Saturday’s event. We look forward to seeing him in Manitou Springs this summer as he plans to run Pikes Peak in August.
So here we go with our LSMC race coverage! We’ll let you know how the race played out, provide current Mountain Cup standings data, unveil our giveaway contest(s), ask you for your comments, and list the full La Sportiva Mountain Cup schedule.
Men’s Race
Arizona’s Robert Krar, who sat in third place in the LSMC standings prior to this race, made a clean sweep of the field, finishing the gnarly course in 2:07:53. Jared Scott, who is also from Arizona and who was second overall in the LSMC standings before Saturday, finished second and just shy of six minutes back. La Sportiva athlete and Pennsylvanian Matt Byrne finished seven seconds behind Scott for third. Byrne’s race result doesn’t tell the full story of his day, but Ian Achey has the details:
With the sound of the gun, the 30K racers were off at 7:30am. Almost all of them. La Sportiva Athlete Matt Byrne was trying on shoes at the La Sportiva booth [at the race’s finish line a few blocks away] when he heard a faint echo. Alarmed, he stripped out of his outwear and gave the field a two-minute head start as he sprinted for the starting line. Matt battled his way past all but two runners, catching Jared Scott in the last kilometer. Byrne was unable to pass him, and he finished 3rd overall.
Rounding out the top-five men were Montanans’ Mike Foote (The North Face) and Justin Yates. Ryan Woods, the overall leader of this year’s LSMC, finished sixth at DFMI in 2:23:12. Ian Achey says that, after the race, Woods reported that he had no spring in his step.
1. Robert Krar — 2:07:53
2. Jared Scott (Inov-8) — 2:13:42
3. Matthew Byrne (La Sportiva) — 2:13:49
4. Mike Foote (The North Face) — 2:18:05
5. Justin Yates — 2:20:04
Women’s Race
It was also a no-contest win for Colorado’s Megan Kimmel, last year’s LWMC women’s champion and a La Sportiva athlete who, according to Ian Achey, turned up at the race for a hard training run. In her first race of the season, she bested all the other ladies by 8 minutes, finishing in 2:50:09. The balance of the women’s top five, second place Sarah Keller, third place Em Kendrick, fourth place Debbie Gibson, and fifth place Lindsay Swan, are all Montanans and all finished within a few minutes of each other.
1. Megan Kimmel (La Sportiva) — 2:50:09
2. Sarah Keller — 2:58:08
3. Em Kendrick — 2:59:43
4. Debbie Gibson — 3:01:06
5. Lindsay Swan — 3:03:00
Full Results
Here are the results from the three Don’t Fence Me In Trail Runs.
La Sportiva Mountain Cup Standings
Men
Despite what sounds like a tough racing day for Ryan Woods, he preserved his top spot in the overall LSMC rankings. Jared Scott stayed in second place overall, but he now has to share that ranking with Robert Krar because of Krar’s many-points-scoring victory over the weekend. Prior to the weekend, Matt Byrne was tied for fourth place with Jason Bryant. Since Bryant didn’t turn up for the race and since Byrne scored 19 points, Byrne takes over a solo spot for fourth place, leaving Bryant solidly in fifth.
- 1 – Ryan Woods – 95 pts from five races (12 pts at DFMI)
- T-2 – Jared Scott – 82 pts from four races (23 pts at DFMI)
- T-2 – Robert Krar – 82 pts from four races (28 pts at DFMI)
- 4 – Matt Byrne – 62 pts from three races (19 pts at DFMI)
- 5 – Jason Bryant – 43 pts from three races (Did not race DFMI)
Women
Most of the women occupying the top five spots in the overall LSMC standings did not race last weekend, so the only change to this list is the addition of Megan Kimmel. She earned 20 points for her victory and slipped into fifth place overall.
- 1 – Christina Bauer – 51 points from three races (Did not race DFMI)
- 2 – Gina Lucrezi – 50 pts from three races (Did not race DFMI)
- 3 – Alison Bryant – 42 pts from two races (Did not race DFMI)
- 4 – Maria Dalzot – 22 pts from one race (Did not race DFMI)
- T-5 – Heidi Rentz – 20 pts from 0ne race (Did not race DFMI)
- T-5 – Megan Kimmel – 20 pts from one race (20 pts at DFMI for first)
iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup Contest
James Wedekind of Henderson, Nevada, you won yourself a pair of La Sportiva Skylite 2.0 from our Hell’s Hills giveaway. Contact us to claim your prize.
Next up on the giveaway list? The La Sportiva Wildcat. The Wildcat is a great all-around trail shoe that’d fair well at DFMI and most anywhere else.
Want to try a pair of the Wildcats? Well, to win a pair, just leave your name and town (in the US or Canada) in a comment before we write about the next Mountain Cup race to be run at the Jemez Mountain Half Marathon in New Mexico on May 19. As a reminder, if you enter to win the Skylite 2.0, you’ll also automatically be eligible to win the grand prize – any three pairs of La Sportiva trail shoes and some sweet Sportiva schwag at the end of August.
Call for Comments
Did you race one of the Don’t Fence Me In Trail Runs last weekend in Helena? Give us a shout-out in the comments to let us all know how you did and what you thought of the race. Feel free to chime in if you’ve run in previous years as well!
Schedule for the La Sportiva Mountain Cup
