Howard Grotts was unable to win the Leadville 100 mountain bike race for a fourth consecutive time on Saturday. The Durango cyclist rode the 100-mile course in 6 hours, 21 minutes and 47 seconds, finishing 10 minutes behind the winner and placing third out of race’s the 1,418 entries.
Keegan Swenson, of Heber City, Utah, usurped Grotts this year, winning the race in 6:11:26. Boulder’s Lachlan Morton finished second in 6:19:22.
Durangoan Payson McElveen, meanwhile, grabbed the fourth spot in the race with a time of 6:24:08, one second ahead of the fifth-place finisher from California.
Rose Grant, of Columbia Falls, Montana, won the women’s division in 7:23:57. Sarah Sturm of Durango was the third woman to finish in 7:30:56. Sturm placed 39th overall out of the 1,086 competitors who completed the race.
Other cyclists from Durango and the surrounding area who competed the 100-mile race included Andre Breton (69th, 8:01:10), Craig Konz (241st, 9:07:13), Michael Martin (519th, 10:25:17), Kristin Carpenter (575th, 10:35:27), Bayfield’s Matthew Garrison (626th, 10:44:46), Steve Colford (800th, 11:21:42), Ingrid Alt (1,017th, 12:04:15) and Bayfield’s Mike Garrison (1,070th, 12:33:58).
