Blood flows during race on Barr Trail

By Keala Murdock/The Gazette

Runners were lucky if they came out of the 12-mile Barr Trail Mountain Race without bleeding.

A maximum of 300 participants flocked to Manitou Springs at 7 a.m. Sunday to run the All American Trail Association’s race up Barr Trail, with 3 miles of switchbacks on rocky terrain, to Barr Camp at 10,200 feet before heading down to the finish line.

World-class altitude runner Matt Carpenter won the race in 1 hour, 31 minutes, 22 seconds.

With less than a half-mile left, South African cross country champion Jacques Van Rensburg, who was in second place, fell, gashing his elbow and knee. Those seconds on the ground gave Greg Augspurger of Manitou Springs enough time to catch Van Rensburg and take second place, in 1:37:50. Van Rensburg finished third in 1:39:50.

“I was looking down when I heard clapping coming from the near-by aid station — they were clapping for Matt, I think,” he said. “I looked up for just a second, and that’s when I fell.”

The run was Van Rensburg’s first trail run, but it won’t be his last. He said he knew what he was getting into before hitting the trail.

“After looking at (Carpenter’s) website I saw the slogan ‘Oxygen is overrated,’” he said. “When you see that you know you’re up for a challenge.”

For Sarah Gray, the run was a way of conquering the altitude. Gray, a cross country runner for the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, won her first trail race at 1:54:04.

“On the way up I was running with this guy and he kept asking ‘Where’s the top?’” she said. “I told him, ‘I don’t know, but it’ll get here.’ I know on the way down I was wondering where the finish line was.”

Kelli Lusk, a qualifier for the 2000 Olympic Marathon Trials, came within minutes of Gray, finishing second in 1:56:42. Bev Zimmerman of Monument came in third, at 1:57:02 and took first in race donations.

Race director Larry Miller said the race raised $3,500 for the running programs for five high schools — Manitou Springs, Doherty, Coronado, Sand Creek and Wasson.

About $2,000 went to Friends of the Peak and the $3,000 raised for the Barr Camp Foundation was matched by a local company.

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