Valley sports digest: Dobson sets another course record

Labor Day wasn’t a day of rest for Kim Dobson. The Eagle runner set another course record — her third of the summer — in winning the 57th annual Mt. Baldy Run-to-the-Top on Monday. She covered the approximately 7-mile course, which climbs from 6,000 feet to the summit of Mt. Baldy (10,064 feet), in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 53.61 seconds, breaking Carrie Garritson’s 34-year-old record of 1:15:32.

She was the first woman and finished ninth overall. Joseph Gray was the top male in 1:00:28.88, also a course record.

“The Mt. Baldy Run-to-the-Top is truly a unique, awesome mountain race,” Dobson wrote in an email. “Although it’s an “uphill” race, it has quite the variety with the first quarter mile screamer downhill followed by four miles of uphill service road.”

Dobson opened with a 7:26 first mile before settling into 8:20-8:50-per-mile pace for the first gradual climb.

The final three-mile section required runners to use the ‘granny gear,’ Dobson’s favorite, as the course climbed steeply along a scenic ridge. The final half-mile delivered a 20% grade gut punch to the finish line. During that stretch, Dobson split 11:05, 13:32 and 12:37 to finish with an overall average of 9:27 per-mile pace. Janelle Lincks of Thornton was second for the women in 1:15:43.91.

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“The atmosphere is lively and supportive with lots of people cheering you on throughout the course,” Dobson said of the “bucket-list race.” She went into the event hoping for a sub-1:15. Her course-record performance garnered her a $3,000 prize, which is — like most of her race-earnings — absorbed into the family travel fund.

“We stayed in a nice hotel that had a pool which my kids loved,” Dobson replied when asked about where the winner’s purse would go, also adding that she’ll probably splurge on a few massages with her local therapist when she returns to the valley.

“I enjoyed four days of eating out — no cooking! And fun family time. I also like to put my race earnings towards future trips and outdoor experiences, bringing the family along whenever I can.”

Dobson won’t have to travel too far for her next big race. The Pikes Peak Ascent, the world famous climb up the iconic Colorado 14er, is Sept. 17. There, she already has an almost untouchable record, 2:24:58 — eight minutes faster than the previously held mark — but given how her 2022 season is going, who knows what is possible.

In June, Dobson set the Mount Washington Road Race short course record in winning the event for a record-tying seventh time. Last month she destroyed the Rendezvous Hill Climb record in Jackson Hole by almost 10 minutes.

“This was a great prep race as it was a relatively large field (over 500 runners) with some speedy competition,” Dobson stated in an email.

Hermes competes in the Pandemic invitational

Davis Hermes is back at it. The winner of the inaugural freestyle Highline World Championships this August, Hermes is spinning and flipping on his slackline in the Pandemic Invitational, an online freestyle competition that takes place in three parts during the month of September.

“One part is a game of slack in which each competitor submits a trick and other competitors try to land as many tricks as possible that were submitted by their opponents,” Hermes explained via social media earlier this week.

“The other two parts of the competition consists of a short combo submission and a long combo submission.”

Hermes has spent a large portion of his spring and summer traveling, but said that now that he’s home, he’s focused on the Pandemic Invitational.

“I’m stoked to try some big ole tricks that have been submitted by other athletes!” his Instagram post read.

Middaugh becomes head of performance science for Go Sleeves

Go Sleeves athlete Josiah Middaugh will be applying his knowledge and expertise to the producers of the only kinesiology sleeve with a new title, head of performance science, as of this August. The brand, which produces sleeves with built-in kinesiology strips, announced Middaugh’s position on Aug. 17, as reported by the American Trail Running Association.

“With my background in understanding the way people move, I really appreciate how GO Sleeves combines compression and kinesiology strips in an easy-to-use product,” Middaugh told Richard Bolt. 

“It’s amazing to see endurance athletes that I coach being able to virtually eliminate pain while recovering from injury or perhaps a higher-intensity training session. You just put the sleeves on and off you go. When you’re done training, put them back on for more effective recovery results.”

Middaugh has a Master’s degree in kinesiology and over 20 years of competitive and coaching experience. According to Bolt, Middaugh’s preferred usage of Go Sleeves is to “mitigate calf muscle and Achilles tendon tightness — to accelerate recovery.”

Bolt explained that the product uses “built-in silicone strips to trigger the body’s natural pain reduction capabilities while increasing recuperating blood flow and lymphatic drainage.”

Middaugh, the 2015 XTERRA World Champion and 2022 XTERRA USA runner-up, is training for the Oct. 1 XTERRA World Championships in Trentino, Italy.