Home

The Walter family had a strong showing at Saturday's 21st annual Spirit Challenge at Steamboat Springs Middle School -- a race dedicated in part to the late Pamela Walter, an avid runner and teacher at Strawberry Park Elementary.

Fourth-grader Casey Walter notched 20 laps in the kids walkathon around the track while his father, Abe, and sister, Alyssa, ran in the 5K race. Alyssa ran the fastest female time at 26 minutes, 34 seconds.

Also dedicated to the memories of Margaret "Poogie" Dawes and Peg Bortone, the Spirit Challenge, which included a 10K race and a 5K run/walk in addition to the walkathon, kicked off the 2006 Steamboat Springs Running Series.

Boulder's Campbell Ilfrey won the 10K with an impressive time of 37:53, followed by Steamboat's Andy Picking at 39:43, and Lori Huggard with the fastest female time at 49:13.

"It's a great way to start the series. It's fun. There are a couple little hills, and it's short. And you can run it no matter what the weather is, because it's all paved. It's pretty social too, everybody turns out that runs the races that you haven't seen all winter," Picking said. Picking ran his fourth Boston Marathon in April.

Despite the fact that he was pushing a stroller, ultra-marathoner Allen Belshaw's 40:01 10K time was fast enough to land him a third place finish.

With the sun shining Saturday morning, there was no shortage of eager baby-pushers running the course along Routt County Road 36.

"The hills are tough with the stroller, but it's really the only series race you can take one on because it's shorter and it's all pavement you're running on. Plus my wife's out of town so I had to take the kids," 10K runner Scott Kempers said after finishing at 43:32.

The 5K run/walk had a much broader range of racers of all ages and abilities. Steamboat Springs High School freshman Charlie Stoddard used the race to prepare for next week's regional track meet in Grand Junction, winning with a time of 19:55. Lesa Scoppa won the walk division at 49:28.

"Two years ago at the starting line, Thomas Rauch's grandfather asked me to keep an eye on his kid and then asked me how far a 5K was," physical therapist Marti Irish said of her 8-year-old racing partner in the 5K. "I asked Thomas if he was up for it, and he was, so we ran the race together and he said he wanted to race with me again this year so we did."

As a fundraising effort, Spirit Challenge race winners and all walkathon participants were awarded an array of prizes donated from local businesses and event sponsors Smartwool and Alpine Bank.

With around 50 racers in the 10K and 5K, the majority of the funds raised to benefit the Legacy Education Foundation came from the 130 kids participating in the walkathon. Each had to find sponsors to pledge money per lap completed or to give directly to the foundation, which seeks to raise money for Routt County education grants that would support otherwise non-funded place-based education programs.

"The programs are very much a fun way of empowering students to do real work and make real contributions to the community," foundation vice-president and event organizer Marcia Martin said.

"The race is great because it's a way for kids to participate and raise money to make a direct impact on their own lives. I bet every kid walking around this track has participated in some activity, maybe a field trip, a visiting author or a trip to the climbing walls, made possible by the Legacy Education Foundation."