The 29th year of the Chris Severy race

Aspen+Girls+Varsity+cross+country+team+with+a+strong+lead+at+the+beginning+of+the+race

Aspen Girls Varsity cross country team with a strong lead at the beginning of the race

Runners kick up dust while they sprint past the crowd, a cheer erupts from the viewers. The Chris Severy Race has kicked off with speed, and everyone is waiting in anticipation to see who will win.

Runners from all over Colorado come to participate in the Chris Severy Race, which was created in honor of Chris Severy, an aspen high student who died in a tragic bike accident in 1988. The year after the accident, the local cross-country meet that was always held by AHS, was named in his honor to keep his memory alive. The race is held every year in the first weekend of October at the upper and lower Moore fields right by the Aspen High School. The event allows runners from 5th grade all the way up through 12th to participate. Locals participate in the race as well usually starting at eight in the morning. Any age can participate in this race and any gender.

This year the event encountered chilling cold as well as a fog that blocked out the sun making any attempt at staying warm quite difficult. However, the weather couldn’t have been better for the runners, as explained by Chris Keleher, Aspen High School cross country coach.

“I think with a good warm-up. They’ll be fine and it’s actually really nice weather for running in, not so great for spectating.”

Aspen often trains on this course which gives them an advantage against competitors who don’t know the course quite as well. Since Aspen is also located at a higher elevation, this can cause some breathing difficulties for the schools that come from lower elevations. Schools from all over the state came to the event including Ouray High School, Basalt High School, Coal Ridge High School, and many others.

This year sophomore Ruby McBride managed to achieve the fastest time for the girls JV team with a time of 26:09.3 and was soon followed by junior Olivia Burkley who came in third with a time of 26:28.4. For girls varsity, Kylie Kenny acquired fourth place with a time of 23:10.2 and Kendall Clark came in right behind here with a time of 23:30.3.

For boys varsity, senior Everett Olson placed second right behind Ouray High School with a time of 19:37.9 and was then followed by Nicholas Galambos who placed fourth at 20:23.9.

The Chris Severy race is meant to remember an extraordinary person and athlete. The course itself does just that by being challenging, therefore making it memorable to the runners just as Severy was memorable to those around him.

“I just want them to have fun and I designed the course to be hard so it’d be memorable rather than oh you’re running a crazy fast time but I don’t remember the course because it was just flat and a road,” explained Keleher.