Fourth-grader causes buzz at Summer Roundup

Kevin Hughes finished 436th in a field of more than 700 runners. Still, the crowd gave him a big ovation as he completed Sunday's race.

Hughes, a fourth-grader at St. Therese Catholic School in Pueblo, finished in 1 hour, 22 minutes, 20 seconds in the 10th running of the Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K at Bear Creek Regional Park. The race is the second leg of the Triple Crown of Running Series, which also includes last month's Garden of the Gods 10-Mile Run and next month's Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon.

Although Hughes, 9, won his age group, he crossed the finish line with his hands at his hips and an upset look.

"I'm disappointed," said Hughes, who finished in 1:15:10 last year. "I slipped and fell when I was going up so that added some time."

Hughes started racing when he was 5 and has competed in about 20 races. He had the crowd buzzing and saying things such as "I saw that kid running on the way up - he was amazing" and "I was running next to him for a while, but he just took off."

While Hughes was a big topic, Gerald Romero was the big winner for the second straight year.

The 37-year-old from Colorado Springs finished first in 49:38 - the only runner to break 50 minutes.

"I wanted to defend my title from last year," said Romero, who has run the Summer Roundup every year. "I was looking to win and my endurance pushed me over the top. Plus, I had no idea who else was going to be out here so you just come in with the mindset to only worry about yourself."

Romero didn't fare as well at Garden of the Gods, where sudden illness attributed to his 23rd-place finish.

But Romero was "100 percent" Sunday as he beat runner-up Dave Philipps, also from Colorado Springs, by 86 seconds.

Silverton resident Megan Kimmel won the women's title in 52:50, only 7 seconds off the course record.

Only four of the top 40 finishers were from outside Colorado.

This was no accident.

"While the Garden of the Gods run draws a lot of people from out of Colorado, this is more of a locals race," said Ron Ilgen, the president of the Pikes Peak Marathon Triple Crown of Running, who also ran and placed 313th. "The people here are used to the high altitude, the rocky trail and the adverse weather even though today is a picture-perfect day. They're better built for this run."