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Steamboat Springs — At times it was almost perfectly still, only the rustle of a soft breeze in aspens and the occasional tweet of a bird interrupting silence.

Through that serenity, they came. Footfalls echoed across Mount Werner and the heavy breathing of a race well-run cut through the air, as one by one of another record field checked off what, this time, was the most difficult race in the summer-long Steamboat Springs Running Series.

Nearly 100 competitors made their way first up, then down the grueling trail, flying 16 miles and making its 11th version the most successful in the Continental Divide trail run's history.

"It was beautiful. Really beautiful," said Steve Gantert, a Wisconsin runner who traveled to Steamboat for the race while in Fort Collins on vacation. "I took it easy so I could stay lucid enough to enjoy the views."

The swarm of runners came from across the United States, but the women's champion, Jenna Gruben, represented locals among the top finishers.

She won the women's race in 2 hours, 29 minutes and 29 seconds, three minutes off her pace from a year ago, but good for her second consecutive victory in the event.

Gretchen Reeves was second at 2:36:54 and Nancy Citriglia third in 2:38:03.

"This is by far my favorite course," Gruben said. "There was a lot of great competition out there today - a lot of runners from out of town."

Erik Kean won the men's race in 2:01:06, ahead of Jim Rebenack, second in 2:06:40 and David Stewart, who was third in 2:07:30.

Kean was representative of the kind of competition that helped make Sunday's race so large and so competitive. A veteran of the Princeton University cross country and track teams, Kean is an accomplished runner. He finished 29th in the 2004 Olympic Trials marathon.

"It's awesome," Running Series co-director Cara Marrs said. "We had a great field of runners. It was really great."

Wherever they came from, the racers found a humbling challenge. The course started at the parking lot at the Fisk Creek Falls trailhead. It cut up with the trail, steeply rising past the first falls and then the second falls before leveling off near Long Lake.

The long stream of runners then turned back toward Steamboat Ski Area, coming up through Morningside Park, over the top of Storm Peak and down toward Thunderhead Peak and the top of the gondola.

"It was beautiful," Gruben said. "It was so beautiful, it took your mind off the pain."

Others agreed - the course was an aesthetic success. It wasn't enough to make everyone forget about the painful three-mile uphill section that started the race, however.

The race was Steamboat resident Dave Niedermeier's first since moving to town a year ago. He was coaxed into competing by his friend and former neighbor, Salt Lake City resident Steve Teynor, and the pair ran together the whole way.

"It was tough," Niedermeier said. "I would have crashed if I'd been by myself."

"It was worth it," Teynor added. "It was just a happy time - a gorgeous day all around."