The 2009 La Sportiva Mountain Cup is done. It was a great season, both in terms of an exciting 3-month-long competition, and in terms of the great people and places they went to. The pace really picked up this 2nd season, as many runners really went for the $25,000 in prize money! 3 of the 4 First Places were decided at the last event in Idaho, and many runners got to experience some of the best trail races in the country as they traveled to great events they never would have done otherwise.

HIGHLIGHTS

Megan Kimmel came out of the high San Juan Mountains of Colorado, and scored more Mountain Cup points than anyone ever; she approached the maximum potential score. The Shop to the Top was her 5th event and her 4th win (the other was a 2nd); she next heads to Italy for the World Mountain Running Championships in a scant 2 weeks.

Caitlin Smith also had an amazing break-out year; not only did she win her very first Ultra race this spring, she won her next 3 as well, capped with a close third at the prestigious Miwok 100km, then shifted gears and was successfully leading the Mountain Cup up until the final event this Saturday.

Rachel Cieslewicz in third place is an equally great success story. With her Triathlon background, no one had ever heard of Rachel, until her name kept popping up in the Mountain Cup Results. Never winning, and yet never doing poorly either, Rachel just kept showing up and doing her best, capping it with her best, a 2nd place at “Shop”, for an easy Third Place Overall.

Susan Nuzum’s trip to Idaho easily paid for itself, as she moved out of a 5 way tie for 10th place into Second Master.

The top 3 Women all did 5 events. Their commitment paid off. They all are also virtually the same age; it will be interesting to track their running careers.

Shiloh Mielke handily won the Cup last year, and appeared to be unbeatable this season as well, as he started aggressively and competed in 6 events (the best 5 score).

However, Matt Byrne came on strong at the end by finishing 2nd at the last two Cup events, overtaking Shiloh at the very last event. Since he beat Shiloh head-head in 2 of their 3 encounters, his Overall Win was fairly played. The top two Mountain Cup winners – Megan as well as Matt – suitably enough will be US teammates in Italy for the Worlds.

Jason Bryant was also a good sport, enjoying the heck out of his 6 events, and holding onto 3rd place Overall even as he was competing at the National 100K Trail Championships on the same weekend as “Shop” (he finished an excellent 3rd, under the previous CR).

The Mens Masters competition was interesting, as both Simon Gutierrez and Bernie Boettcher made the trip to Idaho. Simon not only won, but won overall, AND set the Overall Course Record. However Bernie also ran great, finishing third Overall, thus winning the Masters a scant 4 points ahead of Simon – a 5th place on Saturday instead of 3rd would have cost him $1,000.

Tom Borschel was positioned to capture 3rd place Masters, a fine achievement for a 50+ age group runner, but he didn’t have his average day on Saturday, finishing 12th in his slowest time ever on that course, to come up a harsh one point short of 3rd place, which was taken by Matt Carpenter, due to his dominating win at the Barr Trail Mountain Race.

Brad Mitchell, Luke Nelson, and Kevin Tuck all made their way onto the Top 15 Leaderboard with good runs at “Shop”.

Thankfully, there were no ties!

FINAL STANDINGS HERE (soon).

WINNERS:

Men Open

Matt Byrne – 98 pts – $5,000

Shiloh Mielke – 88 pts – $2,500

Jason Bryant – 68 pts – $1,500

Women Open

Megan Kimmel – 115 – $5,000

Caitlin Smith – 98 – $2,500

Rachel Cieslewicz – 62 – $1,500

Men Master

Bernie Boettcher – 64 – $2,000

Simon Gutierrez – 60 – $1,000

Matt Carpenter – 24 – $500

Women Master

Lisa Goldsmith – 43 – $2,000

Susan Nuzum – 30 – $1,000

Laura Haefeli – 21 – $500

MOUNTAIN CUP SUMMARY (courtesy Rachel Cieslewicz):

Thanks so much! Last fall I got really sick and almost died in late August. I am not strong enough to race triathlons right now and decided to give mountain running a go. Wow. Super humbling, but fun. And you are right on: the sport is filled with beautiful, strong, kind people. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to run amongst such talented athletes and look forward to the day (hopefully soon) when my body is back on board and I can race as I know I can.

Until then, it is a test of patience and remembering that racing can not only be about winning. It is about seeing what I am capable of on any given day, surrounded by the nature with other incredible souls whom share a common interest, and helping each other to aspire to their greatest good. I feel so lucky.

Love and light,

Rachel