Team Hyder Completes the Cougar Ridge Trail Run
On Saturday, September 27th, team Hyder — Christian Granquist, Dana Williams, Jaime Clark, Kevin Clary, Michael Brown, Alexis Brown, Michael Sternfeld, Robbie Miller, Katie Miller, Ron Pilcher, Scott Miller, and Tyler Gibbs — took on the Cougar Ridge Classic 26K (16.1 miles) trail run in Vail.
The race began at 7:00 a.m. with an uphill start and a 2,363-foot climb to nearly 11,000 feet. From there, the course rolled across alpine singletrack and service roads to the Eagle’s Nest checkpoint at mile 8.1, which had to be cleared before the 9:45 a.m. cutoff. The second half tested us in a different way, with over 3,000 feet of descent on the steep and rocky Cougar Ridge trail before dropping into Minturn at 7,830 feet. By the finish, we had climbed a total of 3,439 feet and descended 3,795 feet.
Although we all finished at different times, every single teammate made it through the 8.1-mile cutoff at Eagle’s Nest and didn’t have to ride the gondola back down to Vail — a ride many dubbed the “Gondola of Shame.” Special shoutout to Kevin Clary for placing second in his age group at 2:35:49 and 11th overall!
