by David Prokop

Libby James, a remarkable 77-year-old Masters runner from Fort Collins, Colo., won the Double Victory Cup for best age-graded performance at the Denver Double Road Race July 21.

She ran the opening 10K leg of the Double in 49:43 – which may be a world 10K record for a woman 77 or older! – and then came back to run 25:49 for the concluding 5K leg, giving her a combined time of 1:15:32. This translated to a 103.95 percent age-graded performance (100 percent equates to a world record performance!). Despite the quality of this score, she owned up to the fact that being inexperienced at running the Double (this was her first Double ever), she might have overdid it a little in terms of effort in the 10K.

What could this amazing lady do in a Double at sea level with a more even distribution of energy?

The veteran Colleen De Reuck, 49, a five-time US Olympic trials qualifier in the marathon, won the women’s overall race with an aggregate time of 54:26. Originally from South Africa, the 5’5”, 104-pound Boulder, Colo., runner was clocked in 36:31 for the 10K and 17:56 for the 5K. It was the third fastest aggregate time ever by a woman in the Double, no small feat considering this was the first Double ever run at altitude.

Colleen donned the race leader’s yellow jersey after the 10K with a 29-second lead over her teammate on the Colorado Running Club, Joanna Ziegler, 43, who’s also from Boulder.  Joanna ran 37:00 for the 10K and 18:14 for the 5K, giving her a combined time of 55:13, sixth fastest women’s time ever.

Their teammate on the Colorado Running Club, Natalie Davey, 40, of Boulder, took third place in the women’s race, posting an aggregate time of 55:47 (eighth best time ever) by running the 10K in 37:09 and the 5K in 18:38.

The women’s world record in the Double is 53:13:04 (35:24:27/17:48:77), set by Molly Pritz three weeks ago in the Overland Park Double. Pritz lives in nearby Boulder, Colo., too, and was planning to compete in the Denver Double, but she was sidelined by a leg injury.

Photo: Libby James running trhe 10k leg of the Dener Double Race. 

The men’s overall winner was Brandon Johnson, 25, of Denver who prevailed by a mere two seconds on aggregate time over Sean Brown, also 25, of Colorado Springs.  Brandon finished first in the 10K with a time of  32:12, giving him a six-second lead over Sean. In the concluding 5K they ran together in a lead pack of three, accompanied by transplanted African Abu Kebele, 22, from Aurora, Colo., until Sean Brown broke away with a mile to go. Brandon Johnson took up the chase, however, and by the finish Sean had only managed to gain a four-second advantage. The race went to Brandon Johnson, wearing the yellow jersey, by two seconds on aggregate time – 48:00 (32:12/15:48) to Sean Brown’s 48:02 (32:18/15:44). Abu Kebede finished third with an aggregate time of 48:33 (32:24/16:09)

The men’s world record in the Double is 45:15:05 (30:16:50/14:58:55), set by Tyler McCandless of Boulder, Colo., in the Overland Park Double. Tyler was the race director of the Denver Double and did not compete today.

One of the more amazing stories in Denver was the repeat age-group world record performance by nine-year-old Regan Dunn of Smithville, Mo., who ran 44:12 for the 10K (after a 6:10 first mile!) and 21:15 for the 5K to give him a combined time of 1:05:08.  Note: This is a nine-year-old boy doing this! He improved on his previous record set at Overland Park by more than two minutes.

From the youngest to the oldest at the Denver Double, it was an amazing day of running. Libby James’ remarkable 103.95 age-graded performance, which is literally off the charts, bested the scores of Colleen De Reuck, who had an age-graded performance of 94.98 percent, and Christine Kennedy, the 58-year-old Masters marvel from Los Gatos, Calif., who was third with an age-graded score of 94.78 percent. Christine, who had posted the best age-graded performance at the first two Doubles – in Pleasanton and Overland Park – was really affected by the mile-high altitude at Denver, running 40:44 for the 10K and 20:33 for the 5K, giving her an aggregate time of 1:01:17. Her aggregate times at Pleasanton and Overland Park had been 58:34 and 59:58:12 respectively.

The race was held in Denver City Park on a very beautiful course looping through the park around lakes and under shade trees. The weather was almost ideal – 72 degrees at the start of the 10K and 80 degrees at the start of the 5K. Runners from all over the country and beyond competed in the race, including a group of eight from New York state and another group of eight from Belgium.

As usual, all the runners seemed to enjoy the race, with the two most repeated comments overhead being “I absolutely loved it!” and “When is the next one?”

The next Double Road Race on the schedule is in Indianapolis, Ind., on August 11.