Sunday Mountain Games Minute

Hemmings take Adidas Terrex 20K crowns

Paying the bills just got a lot easier in the Hemming household.

Eli Hemming and his wife Tabor took the men’s and women’s Adidas Terrex 20K crowns on Sunday morning, each claiming a $3,000 payout for their podium-topping performances.

“It was great. I didn’t really know what to expect,” Eli, who finished in a time of 1 hour, 28 minutes and 49.4 seconds. The recently retired professional triathlete just started dabbling in the trail world this year, but he’s jumped in with both feet, racing a 50K already and scheduling Broken Arrow and Speedgoat Mountain races this summer.

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Broken Arrow is a race with national team implications, and the Kremmling athlete said he’d be down for finding out where he stacks up with some of the best.

“I’d love to do it, if I could qualify — kind of see where I am with those top guys, because I have no idea,” he said of trying for a U.S. team.

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Though he’s raced the Vail Uphill and Berry Picker events, he admitted “feeling blind” going into Sunday’s 20K. His solution was to go with Joseph Gray and Joseph Demoor, the eventual 1-2 finishers in the 10K. Demoor made the finishing turn just 27 seconds before Hemming came through to start his second lap.

“Alright, well I’ve got a full lap, so I should probably ease up a bit,” he said of his pacing realization.

Nike trail athlete Andy Wacker was 1:07 back after the first lap and would finish just about three minutes behind in 1:31:32.2. Gypsum’s Jeff Cuno (1:39.43), Vail’s Joshua Smith (1:40:59.1) and Denver’s Michael Mitchell (1:47:22.0) rounded out the podium.

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It was Eli’s first time racing at the Mountain Games. He came last year to watch his wife, Tabor. On Sunday, she finished in 1:49:33.8 to win the women’s title by 11 minutes over Grace Morgan. Locals Megan Boord (2:01:28.9) of Edwards and Meredith Cook (2:02:04.3) of Minturn came in third and fourth, respectively, with Aspen’s Kristin Layne (2:03:55.1) finishing in fifth.

“It’s amazing,” Eli said of the trails. As for the money?

“That goes to bills,” he laughed.

Vermeulen and Andrew win GoPro road bike time trial

Alexey Vermeulen and Sidney Andrew, both of Boulder, won the men’s and women’s GoPro road bike time trial titles, respectively on Sunday morning. Vermeulen finished the 9.7-mile course in 27 minutes, 14.88 seconds. The 28-year-old also claimed the second of two KOM segment titles, which highlighted two of the climbing sections of the course, which gained roughly 1,700 feet from start to finish.

Four Boulder-based athletes finished in the top 10 for the men, with Vail’s True Bennett taking the top local spot in ninth (30:01.07) one day after contesting the pro/open mountain bike race. Ethan Moyer (28:03.02) and Richard Arnopol (28:31.54) rounded out the men’s podium.

Andrew, 26, blitzed the course in 32:41.51, taking both QOM titles in the process. Coming back from a fifth-place finish in the Oakley XC mountain bike race was Vail’s Bayli McSpadden, who finished second (35:38:12). Rounding out the $7,000 prize purse podium was Fruita’s Sparky Moir (36:02.71).

Jacksons win GMC Down River Kayak Sprint

The Jackson name was all over Saturday’s kayaking finals, with Emily Jackson starting the day with a win in the GMC Down River Kayak sprint and returning to win the freestyle finals. Jackson’s husband, Nick, took the sprint title in addition to a third-place finish in the freestyle, which was won by Dane Jackson.