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November 21, 2020

Thweatt and Monroe run to Colorado 5 km titles

Shertzer and Monda lead masters finishers

Results

On perfect morning for racing, with the temperatures in the low 40s and no wind, the 2020 USATF Colorado 5 km Championships were held as part of the Pumpkin Pie 5K in City Park in Denver.  The race was held in compliance with state and USATF COVID mitigation regulations.  

Winning open titles were Laura Thweatt, 31 of Superior and Alex Monroe, 27, of Longmont.

Thweatt, who finished 5th at the Olympic marathon trials earlier this year, took on a stellar women's field.  She took the lead just past the 1 mile mark and was never headed as she stopped the clock at 16:39.  She picked up $400 for the win.  
 
IN THEIR WORDS - LAURA THWEATT

Today was so much fun. It was my first chance at being back out on the roads since the Marathon Trials in February and boy have I missed it! I’m only about four weeks back into training as I took a two week break from running about 6 weeks ago, just to reset myself a little bit. So today was just about running hard, getting a good effort in, practicing race day routine since it’s been a while, and having fun. As always Colorado races always pack a great field of women and so that made it even more fun having so many other strong women to push off of. We were a pretty tight group through the first mile and then right after that is when I threw in a little surge to take the lead. My goal was to run mile 2 hard and then finish mile 3 with whatever I had left so I felt like I was able to do that today. The event was so well run, the safety protocols were excellent and this is definitely one I will be doing again.



Madeline Alm, 27, of Louisville finished 12 seconds later in 16:51 to earn the silver medal and $200.  She was just six seconds ahead of Bria Wetsch, 32, of Broomfield who won $150.  Rounding out the top five were Grace Kahura, who earlier this year claimed the Colorado 1 mile title, in fourth place and Katie Follett in fifth place.  Their times were 17:31 and 17:34, respectively.

In the men's race Monroe entered as the race favorite and he held his line as he ran 14:49 to pickup $400 and the title of Colorado champion.  
 
IN THEIR WORDS - ALEX MONROE

I was really impressed with the event put on today, and after the new restrictions put in place this week I was just happy to have an opportunity to race locally. This was the perfect tune up for my next race in LA in a couple of weeks. Big thanks to the race director and all of the volunteers who allowed us to compete and feel safe.



Kurt Roeser, 33 of Boulder ran 15:03 to finish second with Vitaly Stepanov, 38, of Colorado Springs running 16:21 to finish third in the open men's division.  

The masters age division champions were:  
W40    Amy Shertzer (Monument, 19:06)
W50    Roxane Geisler (Highliands Ranch, 23:20)
W55    Heidy Lozano (Boulder, 22:08)
W60    Laura Bruess (Boulder, 22:13)

M40    Eric Monda (Highlands Ranch, 16:17)
M45    Michael Kraus (Erie, 17:00)
M55    James Gilbert (Boulder, 21:24)
M60    Roger Sayre (Golden, 18:55)
M65    Jack Pottle (Denver, 20:13)
M70    John Perez (Centennial, 27:47)
M75    Jeff Martin (Boulder, 34:07)

Based on the age grading tables the times turned in by Laura Bruess (women and) Roger Sayre (men) and  were the top masters performances.  Bruess' 22:31 scored 84.82% and Sayre's 18:55 scored 85.81%.   
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