Severy scorches field at Buddy 5

ASPEN — Jon Severy joked Friday that he wouldn’t have a bed to sleep in if he didn’t run to another win at the Boogie’s Diner Buddy 5 Mile Race.

Severy said his bride-to-be, former University of Colorado All-American runner Natalie Florence, issued the threat.

“She said, ‘Don’t come home unless you win,’” Severy said. “You’re sleeping on the floor if you don’t win.”

Just to make sure, Severy ran his fastest Buddy 5 yet — a searing 26 minutes, 3 seconds — to cruise to his fourth victory in the annual Independence Day Classic.

Severy, 26, didn’t just best his previous course record from 2005, when he was fresh off his final season as an All-American at CU, he also dusted his former Aspen High cross-country teammate Rickey Gates.

Gates, 27, had issued a threat of his own before the race, saying on Tuesday that he was “looking forward to kicking Jon’s ass.”

Gates certainly got a good look at Severy’s backside Friday, finishing a distant second in 26:38.

“Things just fell apart,” said Gates, who Severy picked to be his best man in his upcoming wedding. “All my ploys, not a single one of them came true. I was the one who went out drinking last night, and Jon was the one who stayed in and got a good night’s sleep. The chicken wire that I put across the course at Mile 3 wasn’t there. And there were shoelaces that came untied, but they weren’t Jon’s.”

Severy was a bit surprised by his result, considering he ran a 26:07 in 2005 that
Severy said came when “I was training harder than I ever had and ever will again.”

By comparison, Severy won last year’s race in 27 minutes, 32 seconds, which would have been good for fourth on Friday.

Severy, who just completed his first year of medical school at the University of Vermont, said he hasn’t had the time to train as rigorously as he once did. Maybe
that’s a good thing, he added.

“I haven’t really run anywhere close to my college times until just recently,” he said.
“It’s weird that it coincides with going to medical school. If I can run that well without training that hard, I’m pretty happy.”

Gates had his own opinion on Severy’s fitness level.

“The thing about runners, everyone of them will tell you they’re not training hard, and they’re all training hard,” he said. “More miles doesn’t necessarily mean training harder.”

Dart Schwaderer of Wheat Ridge took third overall (27:01) in the men’s field, followed by Daniel Pinter of Colorado Springs (28:05), well-known Silt endurance specialist Bernie Boettcher (28:20) and former Aspen High and CU cross-country runner Zeke Tiernan (28:37).

“Not bad, having three Aspen High grads in the top six,” Gates said.

In the women’s field, Basalt local Mary Cote claimed the win in 33:48, good for 23rd overall. Ashley Connolly of Aspen was second (33:59), followed by Janice Penrose of San Diego, Calif. (34:11).

After the race, Severy and Gates took part in what has become an annual tradition, running up the Ute Trail. Gates said he won that contest.

“I don’t know if he gave me that win,” Gates said. “That’s more of my forte, running up hills. I can do that.”

npeterson@aspentimes.com