Results: Suss, Paschke take Aspen Valley Marathon victories in its summer return
The Aspen Valley Marathon returned to regular summer programming on Saturday, races won by Jake Suss and Jessica Paschke.
A Boston Marathon qualifier, the 2020 race wasn’t held because of the pandemic and the 2021 version was postponed until the fall, meaning this year’s race was the first in its normal time slot since Kory Cool won it in 2019. Cool still holds the course record (2:38:17) he set in his 2017 win.
Suss, 29 of Woodland Park, threatened that course record by winning Saturday’s marathon in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 55 seconds. Adam Hammons, 32 of Manor, Texas, was second in 2:53:12, and Denver’s Andrew Weldon, 29, was third in 2:59:56.
Complete results can be found here.
Paschke, 37 of Forest Lake, Minnesota, took the women’s crown in 3:11:27, good for ninth overall. Aspen’s Ansley Queen, 24, was a spot back in 10th (3:12:37) and Lafayette’s Pamela Borealis, 39, rounded out the women’s podium by finishing 18th overall in 3:30:17.
The full marathon began at 6 a.m. Saturday in downtown Aspen and finished 26.2 miles later in downtown Basalt, mostly via the Rio Grande Trail.
In the half marathon, which began near Woody Creek, Connecticut’s Michael Morton, 28, won in 1:28:41. Fraser’s Matt Miner, 24, was second in 1:28:51 and New Mexico’s Herbert Beyale III, 28, was third in 1:30:48. Basalt’s Jason Anderson, 41, just missed the podium, finishing fourth in 1:32:13.
Taking the women’s half marathon title was New Hampshire’s Stephanie Burnham, 41, in 1:35:37, good for seventh overall. Eighth overall was Janice Penrose, 55 of Snowmass Village, in 1:36:44, and ninth overall to round out the women’s podium was Denver’s Erin Menges, 26, in 1:39:51.
Carbondale’s Dayton Knutson, 29, won the 5k race in 22:56, while Aspen’s Kaya Williams, 24, took the women’s title, finishing fourth overall in 27:55.