Coronado grad stuns Carpenter in Barr Trail race

Ryan Hafer removed his sweaty T-shirt, grabbed a cup of water, posed for some pictures, then stood impatiently near the finish line, waiting for his closest competitor to cross.

“What did you do to him?” a woman asked Hafer, a Coronado High School graduate.

Of course, by him, she meant Matt Carpenter, the area’s running king whose footsteps of dominance are a staple on Pikes Peak. Hafer didn’t answer. He just smiled and shrugged.

A fast start, coupled with a steady uphill and a blazing downhill, gave Hafer a convincing win Sunday in the Barr Trail Mountain Race, as Carpenter relinquished his course record, had his six-year winning streak snapped and suffered a rare loss on America’s mountain.

Hafer, 24, completed the 12.575-mile race in 1 hour, 29 minutes, 5 seconds, breaking the record Carpenter set in 2007 by 28 seconds. Rickey Gates, 29, of Boulder, was 6:24 back, and Carpenter, 45, of Manitou Springs, was 6:41 off the pace – the margin of victory for Hafer the largest since Carpenter triumphed in the inaugural event, in 2000, by 6:28.

Bailey resident Brandy Erholtz, 32, repeated as women’s champion in 1:47:57 and broke the women’s record she marked in 2009 by 1:11. The runner-up was Laura Haefeli, 42, of Del Notre, finishing 2:35 back, and Megan Kimmel, 30, of Silverton, was 8:16 behind.

Less than 10 minutes into the race, stretching from the Pikes Peak Cog Railway depot in Manitou, 6.3 miles up to 10,200-foot Barr Camp and back into Manitou, Hafer enjoyed a sizeable lead on Gates and Carpenter. He extended it during the “Ws,” where 13 daunting switchbacks provided Carpenter the best opportunity to gain ground in previous years.

“The few times I looked back, we got a little farther apart,” said Hafer, with three runner-up finishes to Carpenter on Barr Trail, in 2004, 2006 and 2007, and a Pikes Peak Ascent title, in 2005. Hafer said he thought, “This time could be different. I’m not falling apart. He’s not catching up. … Keep running. Keep focused on my own pace.”

Carpenter admitted Hafer was so strong, he didn’t stand a chance of tracking him down.

“He came in and just cleaned it open,” said Carpenter, who had won the past 12 races he entered on America’s mountain, including five straight in the Pikes Peak Marathon, a run that dated to 2003. “I was concerned about the heat, and he wasn’t. He just kept going. … I think had I gone harder earlier, I would have probably blown up.”

Erholtz overtook Haefeli, the 2008 Barr Trail champion, around Hydro Street, about 1.25 miles into the race. Her lead grew on the 3,630-foot climb, and she found enough energy to withstand a burst by Kimmel, the Ascent winner and Barr Trail runner-up last year.

“I was breathing like a horse and just pushing it,” said Erholtz, who received a $400 first-place check, the same prize as Hafer in a $3,200 purse. “But I liked the steep uphill, and I just hung on for the downhill. … I felt strong the whole way. I really did feel good.”