Ever wondered how a simple bar bet could give rise to an iconic race that captures the spirit of a mountain town? Join Nick Tusa and me as we uncover the fascinating history of the Kendall Mountain Run in Silverton, Colorado. You'll hear about legendary athletes who've conquered its grueling 12-mile course, including names like Jim Wamsley and David Sinclair, and get an insider look at this year's top contenders. We'll share our own experiences and challenges on the rugged terrain, offering tips and insights for those eager to tackle the race themselves.
But the excitement doesn’t end there. We also venture into the world of vertical racing in Europe, dissecting what sets these competitions apart and profiling formidable runners like Tyler Vierman and Cam Smith. Our passion for trail running shines through as we dream up future adventures and discuss plans for more niche, technical races that push the boundaries of what’s possible. With thrilling personal anecdotes, expert analysis, and a sneak peek into upcoming events, this episode is a treasure trove for trail running enthusiasts. Tune in and get ready to be inspired!
Ever wondered how a simple bar bet could give rise to an iconic race that captures the spirit of a mountain town? Join Nick Tusa and me as we uncover the fascinating history of the Kendall Mountain Run in Silverton, Colorado. You'll hear about legendary athletes who've conquered its grueling 12-mile course, including names like Jim Wamsley and David Sinclair, and get an insider look at this year's top contenders. We'll share our own experiences and challenges on the rugged terrain, offering tips and insights for those eager to tackle the race themselves.
But the excitement doesn’t end there. We also venture into the world of vertical racing in Europe, dissecting what sets these competitions apart and profiling formidable runners like Tyler Vierman and Cam Smith. Our passion for trail running shines through as we dream up future adventures and discuss plans for more niche, technical races that push the boundaries of what’s possible. With thrilling personal anecdotes, expert analysis, and a sneak peek into upcoming events, this episode is a treasure trove for trail running enthusiasts. Tune in and get ready to be inspired!
Speaker 1:
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the steep stuff podcast. I'm your host, james Lauriello, and today we have a race preview. We didn't tell you guys what we're going to do. Uh, we are previewing the Kendall mountain run, a hometown race, uh, taking place in Silverton, colorado. Um, I am joined today by my cohost, mr Nick Tusa. Super excited to be here. Super excited to talk about a hometown race, colorado, let's go, baby. Silverton, colorado, taking place july 7th, so this upcoming sunday.
Speaker 1:
I'm super excited to follow along this race. I'm an alumni of this race, so big fan of it. Um, some stats here, some interesting stats I'm gonna, I'm gonna lay down here. This race is 12 miles with just south of 4 000 feet of climbing. You run up the mythical kendall mountain up to 13,066 feet. Um, there's other ways to get up this mountain. I actually I'm gonna send you the route, but I sniped a really good route. Shout out to jackson cole, snap it, snipe a good route off of him up the avi, shoot and down pretty fucking dope. I'm gonna be doing that next week when I'm out there. Yeah, I followed him on strava recently and he does good follow dude. Yeah, he does some very like obscure ways up peaks. It's not always just like the traditional route, like he's doing, albert, it's not the traditional route. No, no, he picks like some of the more like aesthetic hard lines like, yeah, he's, he's a wild boy. Um, okay, so some interesting things about this kind of mountain race started with a bar bet who could run up to the top the fastest, um, at some saloon in silverton. It's kind of like, yeah, so when you finish the race, they give you a t-shirt and it's like says it on the back, and this race is like story. This is like since the early 1900s they've been putting this on and it's had like different iterations over the years. There used to be like a double kendall, like a marathon of kendall. Um, they've done like all kinds of iterations but like now they've just broken it down to where it's just the 12 miler and the 11k and this is put on by arab arab, yeah, so they took over the race. Yeah, they've taken. They actually have had the race for a while.
Speaker 1:
Okay, um, the course record holder, none other than mr jim wamsley, no, yeah, ran it the year he set the course record for Speed Goat. I think it was 2017, 2018. Sounds right. Ran it in 131.05. Still holds it, though, dude, there's like a. I think he's got like one segment that's called Smoke this Ass, smoke this Ass, smoke that Ass. Oh, dude, look it up, it's great. It's a Strava segment called Smoke that Ass. I think he ran it like low fours oh, he's so fast. It was nasty, but yeah, just a power move. Like totally served up a world-class performance at this race when he ran it. Guess who got second that year? David Sinclair, no shit, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So there was like early starts of a lot of these like well-known dudes that we have in our sports today you know guys and gals some of the most and like Dakota got his start running, running this race. Like you know, in the early days I wonder if it's just a lot of people being around silver turn during hard rock, and then you're like, hey, this short race is going perfect. Yeah, see what you could do. I love this race, like it's one of my favorite. I haven't been back since 2021, but, like this year, we'll be on course, we'll be spectating, cheering everybody on. I was really hoping you were going to race this year, cause it was on one of your early schedules and I was like, yes, the dude, the hardest part is like the hardest part is not the climb nor the descent. It's when you get off the descent and you have to run like you're just getting back into town. Your legs feel like concrete, oh yeah, oh, dude, the lactate just like piles up for so, because you have to like there's a slight uphill going back into town, oh my god, it's so hard. I love it, one of my favorite but that entire downhill is extremely fast. Oh yeah, if you're not running mid to low fives, yeah, you're not even in the race. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, yeah, it's wild. Um, yeah, and like I, like I said, up to 13,000 feet. Interesting fact here We've got some.
Speaker 1:
So the women's race is not a stack. This year I'm just going to be completely pretty, pretty straightforward with that. We don't have as many big names returning, but some strong athletes as well. We do, on the men's side, however, have a lot of returning champions. We've got Cam Smith, noah Williams Shout out to my teammate Noah Williams Las Portiba and Seth James Damore will be returning, which is really exciting that we have three former champions in the race and we also have Adrian McDonald, the Leadville 100 champion, returning, two-time Leadville 100, chasing the course, record this year. I think he's pretty Three-time, that's history. Yeah, we'll see if he gets it, yeah. So on the women's side we've got some, um, some familiar names from Colorado Springs Pretty exciting, uh uh.
Speaker 1:
Jenny Yeaman Um, she is the reigning up and over 10 K champion. Um, the up and over 10 K race race I've wanted to do for a while. I want to do that. One too Down in New Mexico wanted to do for a while. I want to do that one too, down in new mexico. It's like a mini, it's like kind of like a circ series race where it's like five or six miles and like almost 3k overt you're, you're running almost over a 13er. Um, a lot of ski roads. It's fast, um, yeah. So I, I, you know, I like jenny yeeman for this race, and the reason I said she's the reigning. So that race last year was the new mexico mountain running championship, um, for the state of new mexico. So she's the reigning new mexican, even though she's a coloradan mountain running champ. So shout out to her. Um, I think she could do very good at a race like this. She just had a great result the quad rock, quad rock 50 mile as well, um, so she kind of bounces back between that that hunt. You know that like ultra distance as well as the sub ultra, um, so, yeah, so there's a couple other names, uh, amber Tuki, uh, jane Moss, corrine Shallow Boy, mallory Kennel.
Speaker 1:
We'll get into kind of these a little bit later, um, and we'll kind of talk about both sides. I'll let you get into who your kind of picks are and then we'll we'll kind of dive into it. Yeah, the two, the two people that I'm most excited about are the two past winners. Um, I feel like this is a type of race where it definitely helps, um, you know, having been on course before and having won it before, um, those two are Seth James Damore and Noah Williams, and honestly, I think Seth Seth is going to make it to the top before anyone. He's one of the best uphillers in Colorado. But it's on the down where we'll see. He's not willing to take as many risks a lot of the time where I think Noah is absolutely ruthless and he's going to fucking send it. He is absolutely going to send it down. So it might be his race to Noah's race to win on the downhill, um, but yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1:
And then cam Smith, like you mentioned. I actually missed that one. I didn't see him on there, but it was a late entry. He just signed up this week. Oh, he did, yeah, awesome, yeah, awesome yeah. Not too far from him, since he's based out of right around Chris. He's a Crested Butte boy, yeah. So, yeah, I expect him definitely to be up there.
Speaker 1:
And one name that I'm actually looking at ultra eyes. I was surprised to see someone from Chamonix on the start list. What? Yeah, this is sorry if I'm pronouncing this naming correctly 33 years old, from Chamonix, gregory Chamonix. Uh, coomer, coomer. So my guess is with him, he's probably pacing or out there to support, like Ludwig Pomeroy or or Francois, and this guy it like he's no joke.
Speaker 1:
He took seventh at UTMB in 2021. He took. He took second at Snowdonia ultra trail, snowdonia another utmb race um. He took second there in 2023. Uh, tds last year, mont blanc, 13th um, scrolling back, seeing history 100 or 100 miler in 2019 he took second. I mean this is definitely. He's definitely there to pace people at hard rock for sure. This is definitely a more of an ultra focus guy. But man, this guy has. What a good find.
Speaker 1:
I did not see him on there. Yeah, I mean, I scrolling down, it's like you see, chamonix, mont blanc, france. It's like what are you doing here? That's so wild. Yeah, it's like, yeah, you know that he's coming, ready to go and he knows how to play on the steep stuff. So you never know, dude, I bet he's got wheels too. I mean dude, so this is the same thing.
Speaker 1:
Like from, we were talking about like broken arrow and like, listen, I told, like I always said, I said to everybody. I said, listen, simone gosselin might not win the damn race, but you can always count him in for doing something. Right, jessica brayu as well, something with like that, like I, I said it. I was like dude, she's definitely gonna get the top five. Um, these people, when you're racing these vertical, I think it's just so much more competitive over there. I think it is, I think just being in it over there, yep, it raised the level. Yep, you know, which is wild to think is like when you race at a high level here, you're like whoa, that's a really high level. Like I can only imagine what europe is like dude, but yeah, I'm expecting him to take it out extremely hard, like all those euros, do they're? Absolutely? Oh, I hope they do, hope they do. Oh so, the oh so. I don't know if you know. All right, so let me give you a little inside baseball here.
Speaker 1:
So the way this race starts is you run, so you basically come out, you start in town like you're at downtown. Now they've changed it a few years. The year I ran it we started like literally like right in the middle of downtown, like right where the saloons are and everything. You come out, you make a beeline so you make like basically a right-hand turn and then you make like another right-hand turn, you kind of like. Then you start going up and kendall's, it's basically a road, yep, um, and it's. It's like a hard, hard packed, kind of like rocky, old mining, old mining fire road. It's not like, it's not soft. If you fall you're gonna get hurt, um, and how do I say this?
Speaker 1:
So it's, it's like the initial ascent, I think you, you, you don't gain that much. So, like the first mile, couple hundred, yeah, like you're running like five to low, six minute grade adjusted pace If you're, if you're in the front, like you're running pretty, and then, like the second mile, gains, I think it gains like seven or 800 feet. Third mile is actually kind of flat and then then it starts picking up. You start making some, yeah, it starts getting really steep after that, um, so yeah, it's like, oh, dude it's. And now that last stretch up the top, hitting the peak, it's a scramble, that's scrambly, right, yeah, it's a straight up scramble. And then you turn around and and drop off. See some moves made there.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, yeah, so no, I think that no is a little more notorious. Like the year him and ace raced. Um, I'm surprised ace didn't win that race and I think he had stomach problems, which is why he didn't get the die. He didn't pull away. That was the year. Yeah, I think he was third. Actually there was some 2020. I think paul knight got second um, and first place was no, noah got away. Um, that was his first up. So 2021, 2021. Yeah, yeah, so, so he's a two-time winner. No, it was a two-time winner. Yeah, so it's exciting to have him back. See what he's he's got going on Um, another.
Speaker 1:
Let me just mention a couple other names Uh, tyler Vierman, uh, raced with him at at the 10 K at the GoPro games, 10 K, and I believe, uh, he was at the 23 K, broken arrow, 23 K and I don't think he quite had the day that he wanted, but he's good dude. But stout Colorado runner. What did you think him to be up there? What? What did I think? Yeah, what'd you think he's? He's really good. Oh, no, he's really good Like he. If he has a good day, he's.
Speaker 1:
His name is up there 100%, yeah, 100%, he's like, cause I know he's like very popular on like the OCR side as well. He kind of does both. He's big dude. He's Jack. Yeah, he's a strong dude. He reminds me of like one of those Ryan Atkins dudes. Yeah, they're like. Yeah, yeah, this is strong, steep uphill. Uh.
Speaker 1:
Another name Adrian McDonald, like I mentioned, two-time Leadville champion. See, what he can do with the short stuff. I know he likes to throw his hat in a one short race prior to Leadville. So, and this is the one he picked this year, so it'll be, it'll be fun to see. Hell, yeah, uh. Another name that I know of, just because I was chasing his course record um, couple, a couple of weekends, couple weekends about. It was about a month ago now. Yeah, at, uh, at the great divide.
Speaker 1:
Um, local here in the springs, dean abel, yeah, um, so, yeah, super excited to see him there fast guy. I know he has some crazy like round trip time on quandary. Like this guy can run up and down. So dean's pretty pretty spry, heck, yeah, um, yeah. And then another springs guy, um, that I know that you've heard of, um, I don't know if he just moved here or how long he's been here, but Daniel Metzer, he just raced the San Juan Solstice 50.
Speaker 1:
He took third, very stout, very stout. He's legit. I've never met him. I know, like I said, he's listed in the Springs. I've never, never came across him. But yeah, he definitely runs. He definitely runs. He kind of mixes it up, dude, some long stuff, some short stuff. You know he just took a fourth at quad rock. Yeah, he's pretty damn good, yeah. So my take is, yeah, his long distance fitness to the short stuff and might suppress some people. We'll see. Yeah, but yeah, that'll. Yeah, that's my, my men's.
Speaker 1:
I swear I'm going to jump into the ladies. Yeah, I'm just going to kind of list them out. I'm going to start with first place and go all the way down. So, and first I'm going to go with Jenny Yeaman. Jenny is a local Colorado Springs runner. We're actually going to have her on the podcast soon.
Speaker 1:
Like I said, she is the up and over 10 K champion from 2023. She also they had like this cool, like Vert's vertical race, which is like straight up the scale, so it's kind of like a rendition of like the Pepe's face off but like really not up and down, just straight up. I got to look into this one, yeah, and she's, she's also won that, so she's she's really got some talent. Never run with her, so not really sure there, but, like I said, she's pretty strong. Raining New Mexico 10 or raining New Mexico USATF 10 K mountain running champ. Um. Second place, I have Amber Tukey Um. Amber took fourth at the race in 2023, um from Boise, idaho. We'll see how she adapts that high altitude Um. But yeah, she, like I said, fourth in 2023 is pretty solid. I think you can come back and do that Um in fourth or in third.
Speaker 1:
I'm sorry I have Malloryory kenner. She was second in 2022 and fifth in 2020, um. So no, um, definitely knows this course. Um. And fourth, I have jane moss. She was seventh place at the broken air 46k in 2022, oh, wow, um. Yeah, nothing too crazy like that. I can kind of compare against since then. So it's been a couple years, but we'll see. And fifth, I have kareen chalvoi, local castle rock, um, member of the era viper racing team. Okay, she's like popular on like the free trail kind of stuff as well. Um, and, like I said, I've got her. She was fifth in 2022, so I think she could sneak into the top five absolutely in this field.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, um, let's move over to the men's um, it's just like a lot to talk about here. Like I said, very rarely do we get years where we get three-time champions showing up. You know, it's kind of wild. We got seth, noah and like cam coming back. Um, in first place, I do have seth. I think seth, um, I don't know, I have to verify.
Speaker 1:
I don't know if he's on the ascent or the marathon for pikes this year. I would imagine that's what he's building towards. That's what this seems like. I just watched a YouTube video of his a couple of days ago. Is he getting rid of his descent? Yep, yep, yeah. And he could very well. I mean, from what guys have told me, like, when I talked to Brian Whitfield and Kieran, both of them said like dude, he was like way back there and then fucking smoked everybody. He is untouchable above tree line. Yeah, no, above 12 000 feet, like that's where he's making his moves. He's buttering his bread. Dude, where did he come up with that, I don't know? Uh, yeah, but, like I said, just took the dub of the leadville half this past weekend. The guy is locked and loaded. Um, yeah, I would imagine he, like I said I think, the only. So here's the deal. I would normally have noah in first place and the reason.
Speaker 1:
I think this is Noah's first running race of the season, so we're going to, we're going to kind of see, like you know, where the schema legs are at and stuff like that. You know, this is late. I mean, we are kind of like we're in season now, we are, we're in July. Yeah, I haven't checked Estrava, so so this is his first race, I believe it. I think it is rust off. We'll see, we'll see. Yeah, so I guess I still think, I still think he's got, I think, no, has come a long way. Um, I think he's definitely got the chops to, I mean, to beat cam. We'll see how tired cam is from running a lot of miles last, like two weekends ago, broken arrow. So we'll see how. Yeah, we'll see how recovered he is. Um, yeah, in second place I'm gonna go with noah williams. Um. Shout out to las portiva teammate noah. Um.
Speaker 1:
I did get a pretty sweet quote from Noah for the race, so excited to kind of talk about this In Noah's words, I'm super excited to be back racing this classic in Silverton this weekend. This race goes deep with mining history and stout performances over the years. It seems like this year is shaping up to be quite the race, so I can't wait to mix it up with some fellow Colorado crushers. It's been a slower start to the summer racing season than normal, but that's the intention, with my main focus being just the golden trail series races in August and September. Kendall will be great fitness gauge as I build towards series and all things are going well, especially with my climbing strengths from these winter schema racing. I'm really just stoked to be in the San Juans and being a part of the hard rock week. Afterwards stoked to be in the san juans and being a part of the hard rock week. Afterwards I'll be pacing my good friend paul tarrant over this year.
Speaker 1:
So shout out to noah williams, bro. Yeah, so he was racing this winter. He was doing a lot of schema. Yeah, yeah. So he's definitely burned some matches. He, yeah, yeah, we might be surprised, we'll see. Yeah, I think it's gonna be fun to follow along.
Speaker 1:
I mean, either way, it's gonna be tight. I mean it's hard for me to say who's gonna be one, two and three. I do think seth might be more of a clear one, um, like it's, because he's just so hard. He just gets away from you above tree line, but I think no one's in cam. It's gonna be a tough fight and I think I've got adrian for fourth. Okay, yeah, I don't know, I think I think that, um, it's kind of crazy like thinking that like a Leadville 100 champion would be that far back. But I think in the shorter stuff, I think it's it's more you're, you're not going to be camp Smith. I don't know, I just don't see that happening. Um, kim's so good dude, you know he's got, he's got a top 10 time on the incline. I think he's like six. Noah is nasty too. In that mix as well, I do have Dan Metzger, I just don't know where, somewhere in the top 10. I think he's got the chops to definitely be really good and kind of mix it up there. Tyler Vierman as well.
Speaker 1:
Dean Abel Shout out to Dean A little sneak peek. I'm going to be actually working with Dean to do some stuff for the Bartrail Mountain Race. A little commentary yeah, coming up this year Exciting, exciting. Yeah, so that's all I got. It's Kettle Mountain Run everybody, look for me on the course. I'm going to be there with my dogs and my she won't be my wife yet, pretty close, she's still a fiancé for a week. Yeah, we're going to be on course with with the dogs, cheering everybody on. So pretty fun. We'll bring out the cowbells and, yeah, looking forward to it. Yeah, one.
Speaker 1:
The one thing I noticed, um, was everyone that we mentioned is from Colorado. So it's super fun just seeing mostly locals. Like local does it say, you know, it's funny, dude. When I first started this podcast, like one of the things I know, you and I kind of talked for a while about, like what races we would have wanted to do previews on, yeah, but I always wanted to do Kendall, I don't know Cause it's just like no one's covering this race and it's just so fun. You know, in 20, I think it was 2021. It was the year before of this race, really, yeah, it was so cool, yeah. So I wonder if, like Jamil or someone. Yeah, man, it was like right after COVID. Okay, yeah, is Jamil typically there? Is he? Yeah, yeah, I do. I've met him quite a few times. Okay, okay, super nice guy.
Speaker 1:
By the way, more races like this, like this is like a very niche race. It is, you know, that kind of just like fits the bill for what you're looking for. So, yeah, yeah, I just I wish we had more. I'm surprised like no one tried to do like a competing race or anything. I know one like a little bit closer to to here, to the springs or denver. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:
I know, um, you know britney, who works in in arab. I know I've said it a couple times. I'm like yo, can we, yo can we get like a short steep, like really hard technical race or something? So that's not very runnable, right, not nothing. Someday, yeah, one of these, maybe we'll make it happen, who knows? Oh, yeah, sneak, peek, yeah, drop for the future. Um, I think that's all I got for these races with me. I appreciate it Absolutely. It's fun. You're going to be in the San Juan's too. I'm going to be in the San Juan's too, ripping around. Yeah, can't wait Sleeping at 10,000 feet. You know Brad's going to be in the San Juan's this weekend too. Really, I saw I heard you guys met each other, but we'll talk about it out there. Yeah, um, bye, thank you.
