{"id":34013,"date":"2023-05-14T00:58:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T06:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-results-from-12-hours-of-mesa-verde\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:15:36","slug":"update-results-from-12-hours-of-mesa-verde","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-results-from-12-hours-of-mesa-verde\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: results from 12 Hours of Mesa Verde"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Started
Started in 2003, the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde mountain bike race once again drew a huge turnout. Competing on a 16-mile loop through the Phil's World trail system in Cortez, the event has become an annual tradition for cycling enthusiasts from across the country. This year's theme \u2013 the 60s \u2013 inspired many of the entrants to dress for the occasion. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

When 12 Hours of Mesa Verde \u2013 then known as Ride the Lightning \u2013 started in spring 2003, few could have predicted the annual mega-event the endurance cycling race would become.<\/p>\n

With another year of nearly 1,000 cyclists treading over the single track of the Phil\u2019s World mountain bike trail system, the 2023 edition carried on the tradition of pushing both professional athletes and weekend warriors to their limits over the 16-mile loop.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde mission has remained steady since the early days of the race \u2013 to raise money for local youth organizations. After topping $87,000 a year ago, race director Nic McDonald and the all-volunteer race board hopes to continue to see another banner year for the various organizations benefiting from the race.<\/p>\n

\"Started
Started in 2003, the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde mountain bike race once again drew a huge turnout. Competing on a 16-mile loop through the Phil's World trail system in Cortez, the event has become an annual tradition for cycling enthusiasts from across the country. This year's theme \u2013 the 60s \u2013 inspired many of the entrants to dress for the occasion. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Started
Started in 2003, the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde mountain bike race once again drew a huge turnout. Competing on a 16-mile loop through the Phil's World trail system in Cortez, the event has become an annual tradition for cycling enthusiasts from across the country. This year's theme \u2013 the 60s \u2013 inspired many of the entrants to dress for the occasion. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Dozens of sponsors threw their support into an event that has generated tremendous windfall for the community, making Montezuma County the epicenter of the cycling world each year in mid-May.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great event for the county,\u201d said McDonald. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the 1,000 athletes, but also their families and support teams \u2013 eating in the restaurants, staying in the hotels \u2013 it\u2019s a humongous benefit for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Divided into 10 competitive categories, the race includes teams of two, three, or four in various age and gender divisions, vying to complete as many loops as they can in a relay format. Solo riders look to push themselves to tackle as many loops as they can on their own, with many individual competitors often eclipsing 100 miles in a day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

A late afternoon storm tested the perseverance of the athletes out on the course, but could do little to dampen the mood of another festive year, headlined by Cap\u2019s Kids Race \u2013 named for longtime 12 Hours board member Cap Allen, for whom the youth races are his passion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cCortez BMX took the kid\u2019s races over for us this year,\u201d added McDonald, \u201cand they\u2019ve really put their heart and soul into making it into a special event.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a full team effort to compile an event of this magnitude, according to McDonald, and the contribution of over 200 volunteers helped make all the components of the event come together.<\/p>\n

McDonald recognized how Montezuma County has embraced the full-day event that draws athletes from all across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t do this without all the people involved,\u201d he said, \u201cand we couldn\u2019t have a better setup than having the fairgrounds right next to one of the best trail systems anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone from the volunteers, the board, the BLM, and CDOT all working together have helped us put on one of the best races in the country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Results from 12 Hours of Mesa Verde<\/div>\n

Although weather limited the last couple of hours out on the course, the competition yielded plenty of impressive solo and team performances.<\/p>\n

Ezekiel Hersh of Breckenridge posted the top solo performance in the men\u2019s field, completing six laps in 8:49:13, 15 minutes in front of runner-up Wesley Sandoval of Leadville.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s solo division, Amy Lawton of Steamboat Springs produced the only five-lap effort in her division, posting a time of 9:16:55.<\/p>\n

Durango\u2019s David Howard won the solo geezer race by nearly half an hour, completing five laps in 9:19:03, in front of Sedona\u2019s Jon Maule (9:48:06).<\/p>\n

Howard Redd from Las Vegas took the single speed solo division, as the only competitor to complete six laps (9:43:39).<\/p>\n

The team divisions yielded plenty of tight competition, including a 1 minute, 11 second separation between the top two teams in the male grommet (U19) division, with a team of Hudson Seeman, Jackson Haftel, Jonathan Azbell and Benjamin Garmany winning the division over Sam Free, Grayson Taylor, and Tate Larrabee by the narrow margin.<\/p>\n

In the duo geezer division, only 32 seconds separated winners Todd Varra and Brian Hollister (6 laps, 8:53:04) from Paul Solomon and Ryan Clayton (6 laps, 8:53:37).<\/p>\n

The male duo division went to Oliver and Gabe Gibbons, who edged Ethan Shirey and Brennon Pena by 2:28, after both teams had completed seven laps.<\/p>\n

In the duo female race, Joey Lythgoe and Nicole Tittensor completed six laps in 9:46:15 to win the division by 15 minutes over Kelli McCall and Christy Lindh.<\/p>\n

The coed duo race went to Samuel and Deidre Morrison, who raced seven laps in 9:32:28, while Chris and KC Holley finished a close runner-up, 3:29 behind.<\/p>\n

With the weather-shortened conditions, only a couple of teams managed to complete eight laps, with the fastest overall performance coming from the 3-4 male team of Nathaniel Vacura, Mason Lawrence, and Logan Connell, who required 9:56:11 to race the eight circuits \u2013 good enough to win their division by a lap.<\/p>\n

The only other team to accomplish the eight-lap barrier was the 3-4 coed champion team, which included Cortez\u2019 own Max Johnson, along with Durango\u2019s Kai Lokey, Chase Connors, and Riley Huston. The quartet won their division by a lap.<\/p>\n

In the 3-4 family division, Dan, Bri, and Caleb Hoopes, along with Calvin Smith raced through six laps in 8:49:47, winning by 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

Four Durango women collected top honors in the 3-4 female classification, with Rachel Ross, Kathy Waage, Blair Matlock, and Brittany Cowan taking 8:58:23 to race six laps.<\/p>\n

Dolores\u2019 Ross Delaplane and Shawn Gregory contributed to the 3-4 geezer division winning group, joining Durango\u2019s Bettina Mills and Ryan Hentz in the winner\u2019s circle, racing seven laps in 9:40:55.<\/p>\n

The coed grommet division went to Alex Fisher, Madeline Niesen, Bowdie Parker, and Pierson Vagts, running six laps in 8:59:37 to take the division by 21 minutes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Durango\u2019s quartet of Ellie Shaw, Rowan Lott, Tilia Clausen, and Betty Holcomb won the 3-4 female grommet group, requiring 9:13:57 to complete six loops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2023 edition pushes professional athletes and weekend warriors to their limits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-34013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82442,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34013\/revisions\/82442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34013"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=34013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}