Governor's Cup

The extravaganza known as the Governor's Cup took place this morning. New this year is that the events only included the 5K and 10K's. The 1/2 marathon, marathon and marathon relay will be held in conjunction with the Montana Marathon this September.

On the men's side, the race of the day was in the 10K. Thomas Jodoin continues his stellar season with a sub-33:00 10K. With his 32:53 he took a 9 second win over MSU Alum Kurt Michels. Just another 14 seconds back of Michels was Steve Hickman of Bozeman in 33:16 . 3 guys within 23 seconds of each other in a 10K in Montana - pretty exciting racing.

Then, there was a solid second-group race that was led by Greg Wirth of Helena in 36:07 followed by Brian Wieck in 36:29, and the Neil twins (Jake at 37:28 and Doug at 37:40).

9th overall was a Buzzard favorite and Montana Cup stud rick Judge in 37:54.

The men's masters race was tight with Chad Elkin (41) of Great Falls taking a 10 second win over 52-year old Kyle Kliker (P-burg) - 41:44 to 41:54.

The women's race was won by Genny Hanson of Helena in 40:38, getting the 20 second win over Kritina Trystad-Saari of Bozeman in 40:58.

Master's women winner was Debbie Gibson of Helena in 44:02.

In the 5K, Nicole Hunt of Deer Lodge continues her return to top level racing after the birth of son Eon Journey. Her 19:00 gave her a 37 second win over Heidi Johnson Fry of Bozeman. To top off their performances, they finished 8th and 9th overall, taking the measure of most of the men in the field. The overall master's winner (and 4th overall women and 17th overall total) was the ageless Butte wonder woman - Suzie Kaluza (21:01).

On the men's side, Michael Fisher of Ronan just missed a sub-16:00 time. But, his 16:04 gave him a 56 second win over Forrest Lewton of Cardwell (Whitehall metopolitan area). Trail ace Dewey Peacock of Bozeman was a close 3rd (17:10) and then came master's ace Peter Dan Sullivan. In one of his few forays into racing this year, PDS came home in 17:24. Rounding out the top 5 was teenager Michael Barker of East Helena in 17:46.

Full results can be found at http://www.racecenter.com/


The Muddy Buzzard