De La Cerda, Ortiz Win USA Mountain Running Championships
VAIL, Colo.- (July 6, 2003) - Peter De La Cerda of Alamosa, Colo. and Anita Ortiz of Eagle, Colo., won the inaugural USA Mountain Running Championships on Sunday morning.

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Posted Monday, 7 July, 2003

The race, sanctioned by USA Track & Field, was held in conjunction with the 25th annual Vail HillClimb, a 7.5-mile race up the dirt roads to the top of Vail Mountain.

De La Cerda, 31, the 2002 USA Half-Marathon champion, ran away from training partner Simon Gutierrez, 38, to win the race in 47:42. With the victory, De La Cerda earned an automatic berth on the Teva US Mountain Running Team that will compete in the World Mountain Running Trophy race in Alaska in September.

De La Cerda, a Team USA California member, is training to make the 2004 U.S. Olympic marathon team. He and Gutierrez set a fast early pace, clocking a 4:45 on the flat and fast first mile for the course.

"I just wanted to get out hard and try to maintain a good rhythm going up the hill," De La Cerda said. "There were a few guys with us for a while, but pretty soon it was me and Simon 1-2 the whole way up the mountain. The last mile was tough. I was just trying to get up the hill."

The women's race was not an automatic qualifier, but Ortiz, 11th at the WMRT race in Austria last year, showed she's still one of the top mountain runners in the U.S. Ortiz ran away from Kelly Ryan, 34, of Littleton, Colo., with about a mile to go to seal the victory in 1:01:19.

Ortiz, a native of Arvada, was the 2002 U.S. Snowshoeing champion.

The race also served as a USATF Masters Mountain Running National Championship. Scott Creel, 41, of Bozeman, Mont., (10th place) and Cindy O'Neill, 41, of Manitou Springs, Colo., (3rd place) were the top Masters runners.

USA Mountain Running Championships
Vail, CO, Sunday, July 6, 2003

MEN
1. Pete De La Cerda, 31, Alamosa, Colo., 47:42, $425; 2. Simon Gutierrez,
38, Alamosa, Colo., 48:47, $200; 3. Joshua Eberly, 22, Gunnison, Colo.,
50:00, $100; 4. Paul Low, 29, Amherst, Mass., 50:10; 5. Eric Blake, 24,
Alamosa, Colo., 50:31; 6. Mark Werner, 29, Boulder, Colo., 50:48; 7. Bill
Raitter, UNK, Colo., 51:46; 8. Nelson Laux, 25, Gunnison, Colo., 51:52; 9.
Greg Winter, 24, Colorado Springs, Colo., 52:18; 10. Scott Creel, 41,
Bozeman, Mont., 53:04

WOMEN
1. Anitz Ortiz, 38, Eagle, Colo., 1:01:19, $425; 2. Kelly Ryan, 34,
Littleton, Colo., 1:01:55, $200; 3. Cindy O'Neill, 41, Manitou Springs,
Colo., 1:03:11, $100; 4. Kari Distefano, 43, Telluride, Colo., 1:03:55; 5.
Melody Fairchild, 29, Boulder, Colo., 1:05:28; 6. Kelli Lusk, 33, Manitou
Springs, Colo., 1:06:36; 7. Renee Frazee, 36, Salida, 1:07:10; 8. Jeanette
Heimbaugh, 37, Boulder, 1:08:19; 9. Laurie Edwards, 33, Boulder, 1:08:30;
10. Anne Riddle, 37, Ashville, N.C., 1:08:49.

Full results at:
http://www.vailrec.com/pdfs/HILLCLIMB%20RUNNING%20RESULTS%20AND%20AWARDSL.pdf

Contacts:
Nancy Hobbs, USATF Mountain/Ultra/Trail Running Council
(719) 573-4405, trlrunner@aol.com

Mike Ortiz, Race Director, USA Mountain Championship/Vail HillClimb
(970) 479-2280, mortiz@vailrec.com

# # #

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services
USATF Road Running Information Center
385 Oak View Ln
Santa Barbara, CA 93111
(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 696-6252
http://www.runningusa.org
http://www.usatf.org

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