Anita Ortiz

March 10, 2014February 22, 2015 / tramsdell

Anita Ortiz started racing at age 36, building her career in Mountain Running, Ultra Running and

Photo via ultrachixunite.com

snowshoe racing, competing in over 200 races and breaking 55 records in just nine years. She has competed on the U.S. Mountain Running team five times, placing highest U.S. finisher four times. She was the Mountain Running National Champion in 2002 and 2003 as well as the Masters Mountain Running World Champion in 2004. She’s won the Pikes Peak Ascent three times, setting and holding the record time for five years in 2002 in 2:44:33. Ortiz was also the National Snowshoe Champion in 2002 and runner-up in 2004. She was named the USATF Female Mountain Runner of the Year in both 2002 and 2003 and the USATF Female Masters Mountain Runner of the Year in 2004. A kindergarten teacher and mother of four, Anita is still active in the racing community, serving as Board member for the All American Trail Running Association, the United States Snowshoe Association, and coaching elementary students on the Eagle Valley Elementary Running Team.

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Rick Trujillo

March 10, 2014February 22, 2015 / tramsdell

Rick Trujillo is considered a pioneer in the sport of mountain running, earning his reputation as an

Rick Trujillo 1977– Pikes Peak Marathon, on the Golden Stairs

elite and unconventional runner over his long career. Trujillo enjoyed an early cross-country running career in high school and college, but later preferred mountain running. He is a five-time champion of the Pikes Peak Marathon, holding the course record from 1973-1982. He founded the Imogene Pass Run, winning the race several times and holding the course record from 1974-1985. In 1995, at age 47, Trujillo ascended Colorado’s 54 14,000-foot peaks in record time of 15 days, nine hours, and 55 minutes. He also won the Hardrock 100 Mile Run (66,000 feet of ascent and descent with average elevation of 11,000 feet) in 1996. Trujillo has never yielded to traditional training conventions, making his achievements that much more impactful.

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Marshall Ulrich

March 9, 2013February 21, 2015 / runningincolorado / 1 Comment

Marshall Ulrich is an elite extreme endurance athlete, as well as an accomplished speaker, author, trainer, and guide. Ulrich has finished over 125 ultra marathons, climbed the Seven Summits, including Everest, all on first attempts, and has completed 12 expedition-length adventure races. At the age of 57, Ulrich broke two transcontinental speed records when he ran 3,063.2 miles in 52.5 days from San Francisco to New York, about which he wrote his book, “Running on Empty.” A record four-time winner of the Badwater Ultramarathon and still the record holder to the summit of Mount Whitney, Marshall has crossed Death Valley on foot, in July, a record 25 times, including the first-ever self-supported circumnavigation of Death Valley National Park. Ulrich has also raised more than $850,000 for various charities.

2013 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Danelle Ballengee

January 31, 2013January 31, 2013 / runningincolorado / 1 Comment

(outdoornewswire.com)

• Four-time Pikes Peak Marathon winner

• Six-time, four-sport U.S. Athlete of the Year

• Unbeaten in snowshoeing 1997 to 2001

• Multisport Athlete of the Year (‘95)

• U.S. Pro Duathlete of the Year (’97)

• U.S. Mountain Runner of the Year (’99)

Danelle Ballengee, “Coach Nellie”, is known as one of the world’s premier adventure sports athletes, boasting four Pikes Peak Marathon wins, three Primal Quest adventure race victories, and six “U.S. Athlete of the Year” wins in four sports. She is the top-winning endurance athlete in the world, having won several hundred events in various endurance sports including skyrunning, adventure racing, mountain running, rogaining, snowshoeing, triathlon, and duathlon. In 2006, she survived an incredible accident where she was stranded for 56 hours with a shattered pelvis when she fell about 60 feet after slipping on an icy rock while trail running near Moab, Utah. Today, Danelle is married with two young sons and splits her time between Dillon, CO and Moab, UT.

Danelle at Pikes Peak Summit in 2005. (Photo: multisports.com)