TransRockies final results FlagStaffers take title in Beaver Creek

Jason Wolfe and Mike Smith (Team Run Flagstaff) won the 2011 GORE-TEX® TransRockies title in Beaver Creek. After six ultra-competitive stages, the men from Arizona, clocked 14h57m23s over 125 miles of grueling mountain racing. They also increased their lead to 21m50s over runners-up Max King and Ryan Bak (Team Bend) over a tough 24 mile finale from Vail today.

"It was like the final rounds of a boxing match, where the fighters are punch drunk and swinging with everything they've got", said an exhausted Mike Smith after clinching the title today. "We planned to push hard all day, but it was a tough stage, and we managed to pull close to 6 minutes on Max and Ryan today, after cranking up the ascents. It feels really good to be done with this six day battle."

King and Bak were happy to make it home after some struggles with injuries. "We are happy to be here", said King. I towed Ryan up all the ascents today, as his broken toe made it really hard to run uphill. It's painful to finish second after winning last year, but it was good day considering the circumstances!"  British duo, Ricky Lightfoot and Tom Owens (Team Salomon)crossed the line third and cemented their position on the bottom rung of the podium with a total race time of 15h31m19s.

The sisters Ashley and Cynthia Arnold ( Team Trail Runner Magazine) made it six out of six with yet another stage victory in the Women's Open Division. Their total race time was 18h46m20s.

Other division winners in the Gore-Tex TransRockies were:

Mixed 80+ : Jeff and Katie Caba in 18h32m42s
80+ Women: Tracy Garneau and Nikki Kimball: 19h20m06s
80+ Men: Christian Vachon and Joel St-Louis: 19h09m02s
Open Mixed: Rickey Gates and Anna Frost: 17h07m37s

Team EverymanTri athlete Lori Lyons finishes her first GoreTex TransRockies Run in Beaver Creek today with her stand-in partner.

Location:Beaver Creek, CO

Photojournalist Paul Shippey is a former elite triathlete and endurance sports competitor. He is also the gear editor for EverymanTri. Shippey’s racing accomplishments are varied and include; Ironman SA, Comrades Ultra Marathon, Boston Marathon, ITU Worlds, Bar One Adventure Racing Series and the Nissan Xterra Series.

The South African native is the owner of Automotive Media Solutions – an automotive marketing and PR firm in Denver. He is also a former professional driver and racing instructor.

Lori Lyons has over twenty marathons to her name, including Boston, and with the addition of trails to her training repertoire, has recently entered the smaller community of ultrarunning. She is an occasional triathlete with the half Ironman as a favorite distance. Lori is an LA-based, independent consultant in the automotive industry, and dedicated mother to her three year old son and four year old bulldog (neither of which want to run with her).Click HERE to visit Lori and Paul's race blog.

Follow on twitter @everymantri or view latest videos on YouTube.