Snowmass History: Golden Leaf Half Marathon, 1980

Aspen Historical Society/courtesy photo
“Hamilton, Brown take Golden Leaf,” read a headline of The Aspen Times in September 1980.
A challenging course that traverses through the golden-leafed aspen trees in the height of fall colors, “the Golden Leaf was won by Skip Hamilton with a time of 1:24:40, exactly tying the course record set by Kim Hartman in the last year’s first running of the race. Hartman was third in the half marathon. …The fastest time by a woman was posted by Ruth Brown at 1:36:56, 57 seconds slower than the course record established by Francie Larrieu in 1979.”
Unfortunately canceled this year, the 2020 competition would have marked the 42nd year connecting Snowmass Village and Aspen in one of the “most beautiful foot races in the Rockies.”
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