Some December days the weather is bleak in central Colorado. At other times, sunny skies prevail and the day evolves into a celebration of blues and golds. Regardless, it's always darn chilly in the early morning so we pushed the start of the race this year back to 10:00 a.m. and hoped for the best. With good fortune smiling, race day dawned clear and cold and warmed into the 30's by the time Joe Baird yelled "Go" to start the runners. Even as the crowd of more than 90 cross country runners dashed off from a traditional spread start in the yard of Coal Creek Rodeo Arena and its fresh coat of snow, many faster runners bore only a t-shirt and shorts and perhaps a hat and gloves.

After 100 meters, the course funneled through two gates in succession and onto on a loop course newly devised for this year's race. As with former versions, this loop challenged runners with a mix of sandy single track, two track and grass lawns. The winding trails, turned over by constant horse traffic, were soft and loose in sunny stretches and frozen into ankle busting unevenness elsewhere. Don't imagine the lawns served as much of a break. Grown long since their last mowing and heavy with 6 inches of fresh snow, the open stretches of grass dragged on the fleetest of feet until a path was worn through the snow and the green stuff flattened. Even as the lawns became easier to negotiate, the several creek crossings on the loop grew treacherous as the day warmed. Initially well frozen, the cover of ice began to melt, opening cracks and holes that soaked a few unlucky feet.

However, all was not pure torment. By general consensus, the passages through the willows were favored sections of this obstacle course, especially where the older stands have grown tall, forming a tunnel over the trail and whipping only those runners who were inattentive. After leaving the last of the willows and creek crossings, the final 200 yards of the loop crossed an uneven field of prairie grass, yucca and thistles, under the watch of a burly pair of hawks that roost in an overhanging cottonwood tree.

Boulder-based elite runner and defending overall champion Robert Mandje had some company while leading through the first lap, but stretched ahead on the second and finished the 12K distance with a winning margin of 45 seconds over Denver-Lincoln High School coach Oscar Ponce. Robert's time was more than 4 minutes slower than his winning time last year, an indication of a higher level of difficulty to this year's loop. Esmeralda Martinez took the women's overall title, just 24 seconds ahead of Maggie Conley.

Congratulations, Champions! The 12K (3 lap) distance of the race served as the 2009 Road Runners Club of America state championship for cross country. The following runners took advantage of the beautiful weather and wrested the championship for their division.

Perhaps the most impressive finish was logged by Ken Randall, age 71, who completed the full, brutal 12K distance in 76:01. Of the runners who chose to run the 4K (1 lap) event, the quickest time of the day (19:16) went to Carrie Zografos, age 30. 15-year old Matt Thompson was the fastest at the 8K (2 lap) distance, with a time of 37:52. Thanks to all the runners who showed up and helped to make this race a success.

It took a tremendous effort by a large number of people to put this event together. Along with race co-director Rob Fisher, I'd like to thank all the volunteers who made this event possible, including: Joe Sanchez (equipment, water and soda); Connie Ahrnsbrak, Tom Alison and Rosalia Murch (registration and finish line); Tom Chambers (CMRA awards coordinator); Vici DeHaan (prize coordinator); Joe Baird, Mike Vanoni and Ken Simon (timing and scoring); Chris Vanoni (RRCA awards and banners); course marshals Ed Ewing, Larry Ashton, Jacob Fisher, and Dave Wise; and special thanks to my lovely wife Lu for helping set up and sweep the course, among other duties. Also, thanks to Justin Clark with Aurora Open Space for his assistance throughout the year and without whose early morning emergency intervention the port-o-let conveniently stationed in the start/finish area would have been situated 1/4 mile up the trail!