Fire Sale at Shop to the Top
August 27, 2009 by Bryon Powell · 46 Comments
With ski season not far away, the slopes of Ketchum, Idaho heated up one last time this weekend for Shop to the Top – the finale of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup. The eventual of winners of both the men’s and women’s Mountain Cup graced the slopes and got the job done. Congratulations to Megan Kimmel and Matt Byrne for a good summer’s work on the trails. Read on for some info on the race, the Mountain Cup final standings, and iRunFar.com La Sportiva giveaway winner. There’s still one final pair of La Sportiva Crosslites available and the grand prize giveaway.
The Race
Megan Kimmel (1:07:22) came back for her fifth series race to take her fourth win. This one wasn’t even close as the second place woman, series regular Rachel Cieslewicz (1:12:43) was a full five minutes back. Top master runner, Susan Nuzum (1:16:39) made the podium on this hill climb. Two locals, Claudia Hattrup (1:17:33) and India Wysong (1:22:06), rounded out the top five.
Three men broke an hour on the 6 mile, 3,300′ climb and they’re names will be familiar to Mountain Running fans – Simon Gutierrez, Matt Byrne, and Bernie Boettcher. Gutierrez (53:19) put a minute on Byrne on the climb to win the race… and be the top master. Simon was also the only runner to average under 9 minutes per mile on the day. Byrne (54:29) beat out Bernie (59:57) by almost a minute a mile to put the pair in second and third. Local La Sportiva runner Brad Mitchell (1:00:54) stepped up and edged out Wray Landon (1:01:00), who came up from the Tetons. We’ve also got to give a shout out to Luke Nelson (1:01:33) for his sixth place finish.
The Elephants Perch has posted the full results (pdf).
La Sportiva Mountain Cup Final Standings
Shop to the Top made it a race to the end for La Sportiva Mountain Cup. For Real. The race changed the leader in both the women and men’s overall fields. The women’s open and masters fields saw other changes, as well, so we’ll start there.
Open Women
Megan Kimmel earned plenty of points (24 pts – 20 pts for the win and 2 pts each for beating Cieslewicz and Nuzum) in her fifth series race to bring home the cup. Cieslewicz (19 pts – 17 pts for 2nd and 2 pts for beating Nuzum) jumped into third overall with her second place finish. Here’s how the open women ended up:
- Megan Kimmel – 115 pts – $5,000
- Caitlin Smith – 98 pts – $2,500
- Rachel Cielewicz – 62 pts – $1,500
Master’s Women
Susan Nuzum (15 pts for 3rd) made a good show at Shop to the Top, but it wasn’t enough to catch Lisa Goldsmith. Still it moved Nuzum into second for the series. Well done, women’s masters top three:
- Lisa Goldsmith – 43 pts – $2,000
- Susan Nuzum – 30 pts – $1,000
- Laura Haefeli – 21 pts – $500
Open Men
Shiloh Mielke and Jason Bryant could run races until they were blue in the face, but it wouldn’t be enough to beat Matt Byrne this year. Pulling in a final 21 points at S2tT with his second place was enough to move him past Mielke and into the Mountain Cup lead. Here’s how open men’s field played out over the 10 race series:
- Matt Byrne – 98 pts – $5,000
- Shiloh Mielke – 88 pts – $2,500
- Jason Bryant – 68 pts – $1,000
Masters Men
The most competitive field at Shop to the Top was the men’s masters. That said, a win wasn’t enough to move Simon Gutierrez up in the standings. Bernie Boettcher ran well to take onto the top master’s spot by just 4 points. Matt Carpenter didn’t race, but held onto third place.
- Bernie Boettcher – 64 pts – $2,000
- Simon Gutierrez – 60 pts – $1,000
- Matt Carpenter – 24 pts – $500
Official Series Standings
If you’re looking for full standings, check out official La Sportiva Mountain Cup standings.
iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup Contest [Contest closed]
Pete Rodrigues of Yonkers, New York can go climb the Catskills in a pair of La Sportiva Wildcats. Go get ‘em tiger!
We think that the final pair of La Sportiva’s we give away should be the Crosslites – a great running shoe for scrambling to the top of a mountain whether on trail… or not. Be quick if you want to win the Crosslites. To be eligible, just leave your name and town (in the US or Canada) in a comment before we pull the iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup giveaway grand prize winner on Monday.
The Shop to the Top Crosslite giveaway is your last chance to enter the drawing for iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup grand prize. As a reminder, the grand prize winner of the contest will take home the following:
- 1 pair of La Sportiva Wildcats
- 1 pair of La Sportiva Crosslites (iRF Crosslite review)
- 1 pair of La Sportiva Fireblades (iRF Fireblade review)
- A free entry into his or her choice of a 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup event
- A La Sportiva schwag pack likely to include a technical t-shirt, a visor, and whatever else the good folks at La Sportiva feel like throwing in
We’ll pull the winner on August 31. We know you’ll want to get your name in before then!
Call for Comments
If you ran the Shop to the Top, please leave a comment letting everyone know how you did and what you think about the race. Past racers are invited to comment, too!
The La Sportiva Mountain Cup
Related articles:
- La Sportiva Mountain Cup Grand Prize Less than three months ago, the 2009 La Sportiva Mountain Cup kicked off while anticipation of summer trail running adventures hung in the aid. Now, as the aspens begin to...
- A Race to the Wire at Taos Up and Over 10k iRunFar covers the Taos Up and Over, the final race in the 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup....
- La Sportiva Mountain Cup Giveaway Grand Prize Two final winners in iRunFar's 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup giveaways....
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
I've tentatively signed up for my first ultra trail race (a 50k fat ass in MD)! Those shoes would sure be mighty handy!
-Kevin S
Greenbelt, MD
Collen Goddfrey
Ortonville, MI
John McAlister
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Perhaps just in time for the Run Rabbit Run 50 in Steamboat?
Patrick Garcia
Denver, CO
Great reporting/coverage of the cup series. And who doesn't like free stuff? ;)
Michael Valliant
Easton, MD
I may live smack in the middle of IL, but there are still some decent hills at Forest Glenn Preserve where I can train with those awesome shoes.
Juan A. Saenz
Champaign, IL
Keith Iskiw
Kingston, on
Chris Freet
Honesdale, PA
Who wouldn't want another pair of Sportivas? Or even 3?
Jay McNallie
Colorado Springs, CO
Love all the race coverage! Could definitely use some La Sportivas for my first ultra in October.
Josh Greenwell
Salt Lake City, UT
Joey Cohen
Charlottesville, VA
Thanks for the coverage on the entire series. Nice run in Leadville as well!
Nick Pedatella
Boulder
I always look forward to these updates; great one, Bryon.
Rodrigo P
St. Augustine, FL
Marc Griffin
Verona, Virginia
Shaun Hansen
Mission, BC, Canada
Alan Abbs
Red Bluff, CA
Randy Snyder
Bismarck, ND
One more shot, huh?
Donald, Carmel Valley CA
Great coverage, great site. Thank you!
Reid Swan
Flagstaff, AZ
As always, appreciate the great race coverage!
Holly McCosker
San Ramon, CA
Carson Coates
Grand Junction, CO
Last chance…
Lori
Portland, Oregon
I have my fingers crossed! Want to do the Vail Half in 2010. Did it last year and LOVED China Bowl! Awesome view.
-Deb R.
Denver, CO
Thanks for the race coverage and the contest!
Tony Mollica
Athens, Ohio
Pam Walker
Westland, MI
Andy Holland
NY, NY
Kind of bummed I didn't make it out for the race. :(
Alex Jones
Pocatello, ID
Missy Berkel
SLC, UT
Great report. Many thanks.
Bob Lovelace
Sand Springs, Oklahoma
Trail half marathon – check. Now I'm going to try to tackle a marathon before an ultra – but either way free schwag rules! Thanks!
Kelsey Evans
Philadelphia, PA
Just curious if trekking poles are allowed in the La Sportiva Mountain Cup? You see those mountain (sky) runners over in Europe use them. They seem to be catching on in the US. Anybody see trekking poles out there?
Enjoying my Wildcats!
Will Thomas
Fall City, WA
Nice website Bryon. I've been following you on Twitter. I noticed Keith K. is featured in the photo at the top of one of the pages.
Larry Ryan
Danville, PA
One last try.
Peter Boers
Ft. Myers, Florida
Thanks, Larry!
Will,
I doubt many of the courses would warrant trekking poles… though races like Squaw Valley and Shop to the Top might. I didn't see any at the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase.
Thanks again for keeping us all updated on the latest trail news! Shop to the top was great! Highly recommend the race and Ketchum in general.
Rachel Cieslewicz
Salt Lake City
Jon Allen, Logan UT
cathi cannon
chattanooga, tn
Had to miss Shop this year but had the chance to be schooled by Brad Mitchell on some training runs on the course.
Really great site, Bryon.
Hank Dart
Hailey, ID
Thanks for the great coverage! I was really looking forward to these updates.
For reasons I won't get into, I was running trails with my road shoes. It worked just fine… at least until I tried out the Wildcats! I'm sure the Crosslites would be just as good (or better?) and would love to try them out!
Thanks again for a great site and big congrats on Leadville (and breaking 20 hours)!!!
-Brad Koenig
Cherry Hill, NJ
i need shoes!!!
gotta outrun those bears! no point even trying to outrun the cougars ;)
Charles Mann
Hamilton, NJ
Thanks for the contest, even if I haven't won (yet).
Steve Bohrer
Idaho Falls, ID
Those are some sexeh shoes. Size 11 please!
Bruce Grant
Delta BC Canada
Bruce, you just missed it. I pulled the winners about 20 minutes ago. I'm sure I'll have many more shoe giveaways in the near future.