Boulder Road Runners and the local community come together for a unique event on home soil
Boulder, CO, July 29, 2023 – With electric energy from a roaring crowd, The Mile High Mile delivered plenty of excitement Saturday evening at the Fairview High School track. The unique event, produced by the Boulder Road Runners, features over ten separate heats of the mile for runners of all ages and abilities – from youths to masters to elites, as well as the Teri Leiker Memorial Mile. A record number of athletes took to the track to run or walk four laps in their specific race.
In The Legend of Bagger Vance style, the evening’s final three races were contested under automobile headlights and mobile phone flashlights held by screaming fans when the stadium lights didn’t come on.
The Men’s Elite Mile, sponsored by Colorado Sports Chiropractic, featured the event’s strongest field yet, with six sub-four-minute mile personal best runners, including top U.S. miler and local resident Drew Hunter, who paced the race through 1,000 meters for his Tinman Elite Teammates. Ultimately, 1,500-meter specialist Austen Dalquist powered away from a tight pack over the last 100 meters to win in 4:02. A member of the local Roots Running team, Dalquist’s win comes a week after posting a personal best of 3:37 last week at Sound Running’s Sunset Tour step in Los Angeles.
“It (running in the dark) was very disorienting, hard to gauge your pace, yet electric. But come on, this was great, so fun (racing) on home soil,” said Brian Barraza (4:05), a top 3000 meter steeplechase athlete mixing it up with the milers. “Everybody standing in lane four cheering really brought the energy.”
The Elite Women’s Mile, sponsored by High Plains Bank, featured Kaela Edwards, another Boulder County resident and 800-meter ace, who last month earned a spot on the USA Track and Field Team and will be racing at the World Championships in Budapest beginning August 19th. Local standout and 800-meter high school national champion, Madison Shults paced Edwards perfectly through the halfway mark in 2:15, and on target for Emma Coburn’s 4:32.7 Colorado Soil record. Edwards stopped the clock at 4:34, narrowly missing the record by 1.5 seconds. Raucous fans didn’t care, regaling Edwards’s heroic effort, and those of local Marathon pro Maggie Montoya, who ran to a remarkable 4:38 while in the middle of a training block for the Chicago Marathon in October.
“Stepping up to the mile is hard (and at altitude),” commented Edwards. “I’m used to hurting for 200 meters. In the mile, you hurt for 600 meters. This is great for building the toughness it takes to get through the qualifying rounds of an event like the World Championships to make an event final.”
Race Director and Mile High Mile founder Todd Straka was thrilled with the support from athletes and sponsors. “We have worked hard the past five years to build the Mile High Mile into a ‘home meet’ opportunity for the many local elites that train in Boulder but rarely have an opportunity to race here,” said Straka.
“Local sponsors and Boulder Road Runners members have really stepped up providing the financial resources to make this possible with a total prize purse of $4,000, including a unique time bonus structure for runners finishing faster than a set standard. Local elite teams and athletes understand we need their partnership to produce a national-class event in our community. They did their part tonight and then some,” he continued.
Racing in front of her parents on Dad’s birthday weekend, Edwards added, “Racing at home, in an environment like this, is so nice. It takes away the anxiety and training disruption that travel creates. I gave my Dad my winner prizes. This was special for our family.”
Many of the athletes in the elite field are also working with Boulder Road Runners on developing Aspire OTQ, a program to support under-sponsored athletes seeking to achieve the Olympic Trials Qualifying Standard. Many of the athletes will be on the starting line of the Marathon Trials, or at the Track and Field Trials, competing for a spot on Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the Elite Masters Mile, Boulder Road Runner’s own Anthony Bruns posted a men’s 40+ Colorado Soil record of 4:26 in a tightly contested duel with Neil McDonagh. Kate Davis, T.E.A.M. Boulder, ran 5:32 to win a well-contested women’s masters race over Rose Wetzel, Club Northwest, and Kelly Joy, Boulder Underground.
The more than ten heats comprising the Mile High Mile began under sunlight with the youth, middle, and high school races, sponsored by Puma Running:
Rainer Young (6:37) and Rebecca Ward (7:19) won the Youth races. REAL Training’s Noah Barrios (5:12) and Ephie Hagen (6:05) won very fast Middle School heats. Erie High School’s Cody Simonson (4:52) and Tung Ling Tse (6:04) visiting from Hong Kong won the High School races.
With 27 racers, the Open Mile, sponsored by Stryd, was arguably the most hotly contested on the schedule. Geo Tam (4:32) edged both Grant Smith and Alex Herman for the Men’s title. On the women’s side, Amanda Eisman (5:07) took the Women’s Open title in front of great efforts by Ashley Litoff and Yumi Yoshikawa, who’s with the Uniqlo team visiting from Japan.
In the heat focused on breaking five minutes, sponsored by For the Long Run Podcast, Flannery Davis Love delivered one of the evening’s highlights, diving to the finishing tape to stop the clock in 4:59.0.
Also, a new tradition started two years ago, is the Teri Leiker Memorial Mile, which featured over 25 enthusiastic athletes who walked and ran in memory of Teri Leiker and the other 9 victims of the 2021 shooting that occurred at the nearby King Soopers store.
“The huge turnout for this whole event, and for the Memorial Mile says so much about our community,” said City Council Member Nicole Speer. “We all miss Teri’s smiling face at the store, but events like this lift everyone’s spirits and bring us together.”
Before the Memorial Mile, Ken and Ruth Wright presented a significant donation to Boulder Road Runners in support of the Club’s mission and the Memorial Mile itself.
The Boulder Road Runners has had a busy few months. The Mile High Mile caps off the Club’s summer track schedule which included the community-favorite All-Comer Track Series, begun in 1979.
“We’re really proud that the Mile High Mile has grown into a well-known, signature event just like our All-Comer meets,” said Straka. “We love creating unique running experiences for the community, and with such a great turnout, we can see that the local running movement has lots of momentum.”
Photos above courtesy of Dave Albo and Austin Hutchings
Results and more photos are available online.
Boulder Road Runners
Marcey Cote, Media Contact
marcey@mjcomm.net