The last stage of the 2009 GORE-TEX TransRockies Run covered a gruelling 21.4 mile route from Vail to Beaver Creek Resort including over 4600 feet of climbing. The toll began to tell on the runners and both the leadin Open Men’s and Open Women’s teams had to fight tooth and nail to defend their leads.
In the men’s category, the Two Joes Adam Campbell and Aaron Heidt blazed away from the line in a death or glory attempt to take the final stage. They dropped their last remaining competitors at checkpoint 1 and kept the throttle pinned to cross the finish line in 2:53:32, almost six minutes ahead of the second-placed Team Nike Rogue Valley Running and over 7 minutes ahead of Team RunFlagstaff who fought through potential race-ending cramps and falls on Stage 6 to hold onto their overall win.
In the women’s division Team Salomon/La Sportiva (Caitlin Smith/Devon Crosby-Helms) held onto their overall lead despite the surging performance of the North Face Girls (Kami Semick/Nikki Kimball) who took seven minutes out of their nine minute lead in winning stage 6. Smith and Crosby-Helms needed confirmation from the officials that they had maintained their lead before they allowed themselves to celebrate at the finish line.
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