Steamboat Springs — Some flew down the final slope of Saturday’s Steamboat Springs Running Series Spring Creek Memorial race on the edge of control. Some jogged down with wide smiles, and others hobbled through with blood-drenched knees.

More than 180 racers registered for the 20th annual event, which featured 9-mile and 5-kilometer races, and plenty found something to be happy with in the race’s aftermath.

The longer of the two races pushed runners up a steep trail hacked from the forest each year in anticipation of the annual race.

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It ground even the day’s fastest athletes nearly to a halt, but it did little to stymie what became a brutal back-and-forth among the race’s elite athletes.

Former Running Series champ Todd Trapp ran his best race on the course, topping his time from a year ago by 90 seconds. But Denver’s Greg Reindl and Steamboat’s Nick Sunseri were even better, slugging it out for first.

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Sunseri led the way through the woods and to the Dry Lake parking lot on Buffalo Pass, trying repeatedly to crack his main opponent. He couldn’t stretch a gap to more than a few seconds; however, and in time, Reindl took advantage.

“He made a sweet move right after the creek,” said Sunseri, who was defeated in a Running Series race for the first time this season. “I thought, ‘Maybe he’s just screwing with me,’ that he was thinking he’d take off and I’d give up. Which I did, for a second. I still had 3/4 of a mile to work, but I didn’t have it.”

Reindl’s surge carried him to victory, and he finished with a course-record time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 10 seconds. Sunseri was just three seconds back at 1:01:13. Trapp was third at 1:05:08.

“I was just trying to hang on,” Reindl said. “He led most of the way. Once we got to the top, he was really pushing the downhill. When we hit technical sections, he was flying down them.

“I was waiting until I got back on the road we came up on. Then I figured I’d know how far we had left.”

Regular mountain runners thrived on the course, the grueling forest trail of the 9-mile and the more tame but often rocky stretch of Spring Creek Trail that both races utilized. Flatlanders weren’t intimidated, however, and accounted for many of the top results.

Trish McCarthy, of Boulder, won the women’s 9-mile in 1:18:43, and Anna Bergman, of Des Moines, Iowa, flew to second at 1:20:18.

Beth Olds was third in 1:20:44.

“It was really fun,” said Bergman, who has begun to make a Running Series vacation a family tradition.

The Bergmans — Anna, her husband, Brad, and his Fort Collins-based brother, Eric Bergman — all made the podium at last year’s Howelsen Hill 8-Miler and did so the year before at the Mountain Madness half-marathon, as well.

“It was really hard today,” Anna Bergman said. “We’ve run up and down (Spring Creek Trail) but hadn’t been on the private path. You had to jump over logs, and it was tough, but it was fun.

“It’s fun when it is ridiculous.”

Sonny Buczek won the men’s 5K race in 25:53. Jake Tarr was second at 26:55, and Rob Mosher was third in 27:01. Lynise Mason was the top woman in the event at 27:24. Brigid Scannell was second in 29:10, and Tiffany Gebhardt was third at 29:52.

Results

Saturday

9 mile

Male

Greg Reindl 1:01:10

Nick Sunseri 1:01:13

Todd Trapp 1:05:08

Trent Joseph 1:06:45

Brad Bergman 1:09:14

Eric Bergman 1:10:11

Glenn Light 1:11:40

Charles Rhode 1:13:12

Gregg Joyce 1:17:03

Randall Purintun 1:17:24

Dean Small 1:19:00

Chris Heberer 1:19:20

Dale Walker 1:19:24

Walt Magill 1:20:22

Billy Dalzell 1:20:34

Ryan Spaustat 1:22:19

Sean Doran 1:25:24

Steve Tarr 1:25:25

Avrom Feinberg 1:25:37

Rick Shuette 1:25:52

Erik Graab 1:27:46

Dave Snyder 1:28:00

Mark Jones 1:28:14

Derek Mc Clung 1:28:14

James Morton 1:30:23

Tom Nelson 1:30:40

Greg Burger 1:31:24

Brain Elliot 1:33:29

Mark Freirich 1:34:00

Robert Magill 1:36:37

Pete Tapping 1:37:24

Ian Tralles 1:44:29

David Mulligan 1:44:32

Bronwyn Rittner 1:44:51

Don Platt 1:45:46

Phillippe Werey 1:50:26

Terel Merkley 1:50:39

Michael Roessler 1:51:43

Richard Williams 1:54:41

Cheryl Rondeau 2:09:54

Tim Scannell 2:12:33

Stephen Wood 2:33:10

Joseph Larsen 1:33:56

Female

Trish McCarthy 1:18:43

Anna Bergman 1:20:18

Beth Olds 1:20:44

Jenny Fox 1:22:30

Amy Ackerman 1:23:10

Brie VanDam 1:23:33

Candy Granger-Underhill 1:24:30

Mary Rose 1:24:46

Sarah Kostin 1:27:16

Danica Novgorodof 1:28:10

Mary Shuette 1:28:57

Amanda Grimes 1:29:37

Christine Boose 1:31:09

Ranie Lynds 1:31:41

Kathy Vanblarcum 1:36:48

Molly Cuffe 1:36:48

Stacey Mulligan 1:37:14

Monica Ramstad 1:37:34

Lisa Adams 1:38:02

Robin Schroeder 1:38:28

Chrissy Plotner 1:40:12

Deb Freeman 1:40:33

Kathy Wichelhaus 1:40:57

Gail Leedy 1:42:46

Kathy Huettl 1:48:08

Debbie Lovci 1:48:42

Nancy Scannell 1:52:22

Joan Allsbury 1:53:41

Lori Goldsmith 1:54:01

Terry Michel 1:54:04

Raven Rajani 2:00:42

Jennifer Bell 2:00:50

Elissa Heimberger 2:00:52

Ann Tralles 2:10:17

Kathy Ellison 2:13:24

Kaitlyn Patzer 2:15:38

Laura Cass 2:19:00

Melissa Uchitelle-Rogers 2:20:18

5 kilometer

Male

Sonny Buczek 0:25:53

Jake Tarr 0:26:55

Rob Mosher 0:27:01

Ben Kelley 0:27:11

Mark Mason 0:28:29

Ryan Mulligan 0:28:42

Zach McCarthy 0:29:08

Matt Oyloe 0:31:57

Brevan Benard 0:32:28

Matthew Downey 0:33:14

Brecken Benard 0:33:19

Bobby Hendrix 0:33:22

Joel Reichenberger 0:33:39

Kolbe Mason 0:33:50

Phil Mayer 0:34:08

Mike Kenney 0:35:50

Tyler Jacobs 0:37:00

Wyatt Villa 0:38:40

Bridger Carlton 0:39:20

Will Carlton 0:39:21

Greg Sarin 0:43:47

Andrew Mason 0:46:26

Robert Rutherford 0:48:02

Female

Lynise Mason 0:27:24

Brigid Scannell 0:29:10

Tiffany Gebhardt 0:29:52

Mary Langston 0:30:49

Suzanne Akin 0:30:56

Lindy Barrett 0:31:11

Linda Casner 0:33:05

Georganne Weber 0:34:18

Kelly Tarr 0:34:39

Laura William 0:34:49

Candice Wilson 0:34:57

Trina Oyloe 0:35:44

Melissa Fielding 0:36:24

Barbara Akinuma 0:39:11

Heather Johnson 0:39:18

Briana Shuman 0:39:58

Cheryl O’Leary 0:40:43

Sheryl Kelley 0:41:01

Melony Gordon 0:41:02

Monique Benard 0:41:03

Holly Lampe 0:41:13

Becky Gerze 0:41:40

Tracy Hanson 0:42:41

Lauren Turner 0:43:40

Katie Schiwart 0:43:41

Patty Dole 0:43:55

Tracey Rutherford 0:43:58

Taylor Rutherford 0:44:25

Stacey Moeder 0:45:34

Jessica Rutherford 0:48:01

Brilynn Benard 0:49:41

Breonca Benard 0:49:43

Emily Tarr 0:58:05

Karen Kennedy 0:58:06

Kimberley Johnson 1:06:54

Molly Moore 1:06:54

— To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com