Flores Captures National Cycling Title

by Gary Franchi | Oct 01, 2004

October, 2004 Fit to be Tied Column

From the Pueblo Chieftain
by Gary Franchi

Flores Captures National Cycling Title

Carla Flores will be wearing her own version of the yellow jersey next year.

The Pueblo cyclist recently won the honor of best all-around national rider in the 45-49 age division at the Park City Cycling Festival held in Park City, Utah. Flores earned that distinction by finishing first in the road race category and second in both the time trial and criterium races in her bracket.

For her No. 1 ranking, Flores got to stand on the winner’s podium where she was presented with a national jersey that she will wear throughout the 2005 racing season.

“I think this year was one my most memorabl years in cycling,” Flores said in a classic understatement.

So how did she do it? Flores said she didn’t overtrain this year, limiting her speedwork to her weekend races while doing some distance and hill work during the week.

She noted that wearing the national champion jersey will put some pressure on her next year since other cyclists will be aiming to dethrone her.

But Carla will have a new sponsor (Vecchios) and will join the La Forza racing team from Boulder, which will enable her to ride with a group of women that she has enjoyed racing with and against the past few years. Training some with them in the spring and racing together as a team in 2005 should help on the tactical end, which is so important at her level of competition.

For now, Flores is enjoying her accomplishments while delving into her nursing studies at Colorado State University-Pueblo and working as an intern at Parkview Medical Center and as an athletic trainer for School District 60. This is the time of year when she can add running and weight training to her routine, too, and the variety helps.

Come spring time, she’ll be back on the roads training hard again big time. After all, she’ll have a national title to defend.

Marathons

Rich Hadley never ceases to amaze. Not only does the 48-year-old Florence runner seldom miss an area race, but he seldom fails to win his age divison or finish among the overall leaders. But he outdid himself at the American Discovery Trail (ADT) Marathon & Half-Marathon last month.

Hadley was registered to run the half-marathon but, confused about the starting time, showed up more than an hour early, when the marathon was about to start. Not wanting to wait around, he ran the marathon instead and finished in a superb time of 3:19:16, which qualified him for the Boston Marathon.

Meanwhile, Emily Borrego, currently Pueblo’s top female triathlete, fared quite well in the ADT Marathon herself. Borrego, 35, was the seventh overall female and won her age division with a sterling time of 3:48:47. Other local finishers were Humberto Paredes, 36, 3:49:05; Cathy Osban, 35, 4:21:25; and Gary Hermes, 40, 4:27:04.

Marv Bradley is back at it again. The 65-year-old Cañon City running machine ran two marathons recently, winning his age division at the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan, Utah with a time of 3:49 following a 4:05:05 in Tupelo, Miss., where he was third in his bracket. Joining him in Logan were Sam McClure, 51, of Cañon City who ran a 3:51, and Cheryl Cook-McCoy, 59, of Salida who clocked 5:22. Bradley, who has completed 11 marathons this year, will run 26.2-milers in Portland, Maine and Hartford, Conn. the next two weekends.

Triple Crown of Running

Three runners with local ties earned medals for placing in the top three of their age divisions in the Triple Crown of Running in the Colorado Springs area this past summer. The series included the Garden of the Gods 10-Mile Run, the Summer Roundup 12K and the Pikes Peak Ascent (or the ascent half of the full marathon). Former Puebloan Paul Koch, 36, of Colorado Springs won his age division by a whopping 38 minutes while Brian Ropp, 40, of Pueblo West and Jessie Quintana, 60, took third in their brackets. Others completing the Triple Crown were Jay Goodman, Diane Lopez, Rebecca Medina, Diane Reno and Louise Samora.

Local running races

October offers a relatively big month of local racing for runners. First, there is this Saturday’s Soaring Eagles 5K Run/Walk on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus, which is a challenging course. On Oct. 23, runners can enjoy the Harvest Poker Run, which is a predicted time race based at Lovell Park in Pueblo West. Then on Oct. 30, the Senior Resource Development Agency has scheduled the inaugural SRDA Turkey Trot 5K Run/Walk as a fund raiser for the Meals on Wheels program.

Triathlon

Puebloans went to Salida and brought home awards from the Tenderfoot Triathlon that was conducted in cold, windy and rainy conditions. The event included a 1,000-meter pool swim, a 25-mile bike and a 10k run. Taking firsts in their age divisions were Stacey Diaz (3:13, 40-44), Carrie Slover (3:13, 50-54) and Gerald Puls (5:37, 75-79). Jan Dudley snared a second (3:17, 45-49) and Dave Diaz a third (2:49, 55-59). Puls, now 78 years young, got a loud round of applause at the awards ceremony.

Upcoming Area Races

  • Oct. 9 – Soaring Eagles 5K Run/Walk, 8 a.m., CSU-Pueblo (250-7487).
  • Oct. 23 – Harvest Poker Run (Prediction Series race), 5M, 5 p.m., Lovell Park in Pueblo West (564-9303).
  • Oct. 30 – SRDA Turkey Trot Fun Run/Walk, 5K, 8 a.m., 230 N. Union Ave. (545-8900).
  • Nov. 20 – Atalanta Women’s Run, 5K Run/Walk, 9 a.m., Pueblo City Park (564-9303).
  • Nov. 27 – Temple Canyon Run (Prediction Series race), 4M, 9 a.m., Cañon City (784-6514).
  • Dec. 4 – Rock Canyon Half-Marathon, 13.1M, 9 a.m., City Park (564-9303).

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