Krar and Kimmel Cruise Past Competition to Win Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, La Sportiva Mountain Cup

The 2012 La Sportiva Mountain Cup took a twist when the ninth race in the 10-race series, the Barr Trail Mountain Race, was canceled due to the wildfires that ravaged the area. That meant top Mountain Cup competitors looking to score points there were out of luck and that even more pressure was on at the series finale, the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, run in the Wasatch Mountains above Park City, Utah. The Steeplechase, which has wrapped up the cup the past few years, challenges runners with a 3,000-foot climb followed by an equal descent over the course of 16 or so miles. A gorgeous route and equally splendid weather sure helped ease the runners’ pain.

The start of the 2012 Jupiter Peak Steeplechase.

As we have all season, we’ll begin our LSMC race coverage by filling you in on how the race played out. Next, we’ll give you an update on the Mountain Cup standings. We’ll then move on to our La Sportiva giveaway contest before calling for your comments and finishing up with the full La Sportiva Mountain Cup schedule.

The Race
Men’s Race

Dominate. That’s just what Rob Krar did to the rest of the Jupiter Peak field. How else can you describe a 10+ minute win in a sub-2-hour race? Returning from an injury, Ryan Woods did what he needed to do to finish second and that’s all. The story might have been different if Jared Scott had shown up to challenge Woods for second in the overall series, but a structural fire in a building connected to Scott’s home kept him from attending. Local Michael “Mickey” Wilson (who lives two houses from iRF’s world headquarters) was nipping at Woods’ heels to take third while Tom Deigel finished fourth a few minutes back. Ultrarunner Dave Mackey rounded out the top five, while his Hoka One One teammate Karl Meltzer took 10th in 2:02:52.

1. Rob Krar – 1:44:51
2. Ryan Woods (Sportiva) – 1:55:05
3. Michael Wilson – 1:55:30
4. Tom Diegel – 1:57:03
5. Dave Mackey (Hoka One One) – 1:59:20

Full men’s results.

Women’s Race
Megan Kimmel had planned her 2012 Mountain Cup around a last-minute assault by running the series’ final five races… but the cancellation of the Barr Trail race, the ninth race of the 10-race series, meant that she could only gain points from four races, when up to five races count in a runner’s series point total. Winning Jupiter Peak (which she did) alone wouldn’t earn Kimmel another Mountain Cup title… she would need a little luck and she got it as local runner Susan Minneci placed second and former Mountain Cup challenger Ashley Arnold took third, giving enough separation between Kimmel and Alison Bryant (fourth on the day) for Kimmel to win the Cup. Had neither runner shown, Bryant would have taken the series!

1. Megan Kimmel (Asics) – 2:07:43
2. Susan Minneci – 2:08:39
3. Ashley Arnold (The North Face) – 2:10:41
4. Alison Bryant (La Sportiva) – 2:13:00
5. Emily Sullivan – 2:24:27

Full women’s results.

La Sportiva Mountain Cup Standings

The top two men and women in the 2012 La Sportiva Mountain Cup (l-r): Rob Krar (1st), Ryan Woods (2nd), Megan Kimmel (1st), Alison Bryant (2nd)

Men

• 1 – Robert Krar – 117 pts
• 2 – Ryan Woods (La Sportiva) – 106 pts
• 3 – Jared Scott (Inov-8) – 82 pts
• 4 – Matt Byrne (La Sportiva) – 62 pts
• 5 – Jason Bryant (La Sportiva) – 60 pts

Women

1. Megan Kimmel (Asics) – 94 points
2. Alison Bryant (La Sportiva) – 91 pts
3. Christina Bauer – 75 pts
4. Gina Lucrezi – 67 pts
5. Shari Marshall – 28 pts

Full 2012 La Sportiva Mountain Cup standings.

iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup Contest
Jason Sagen of Fort Collins, Colorado wins a pair of La Sportiva Quantums from our Rothrock Trail Challenge contest.

As the previous LSMC race was cancelled, we’ll giveaway two pairs of the La Sportiva Wildcat in our final contest of the season. Want to try a pair? Well, just leave your name and town (in the US or Canada) in a comment before we write a series wrap-up article in two weeks or so. As a reminder, if you enter to win the Wildcats, you’ll also automatically be eligible to win the grand prize – any three pairs of La Sportiva trail shoes and some sweet Sportiva schwag at the end of August.

Call for Comments
If you ran the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase this weekend, 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

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Filed under Races · Tagged with Alison Bryant, Ashley Arnold, Christina Bauer, Dave Mackey, Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, Karl Meltzer, La Sportiva Mountain Cup, Megan Kimmel, Michael Wilson, Rachel Cieslewicz, Rob Krar, Ryan Woods, Susan Minneci

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