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  Home Page » Sports » Mullikin Slaughter Win Kennebec Run

Mullikin, Slaughter win Kennebec run

Mines alumnus sets Challenge record; Durangoan gets No. 5

by Dale Strode
Herald Sports Writer Ian Mullikin of Mancos is on the fast track.

He's also pretty fast on the trails.

Mullikin, a recent honors graduate of the Colorado School of Mines, won the annual Kennebec Challenge Mountain Run in record time Saturday morning.

Like his fast-track goal of medical school, Mullikin set and achieved another goal in Saturday's 15-mile mountain trail run.

"I wanted the record," Mullikin said in the finish venue, located in the La Plata City Campground up La Plata Canyon.

"I've been doing a lot of hill runs. I ... had it in my mind that I was going for it," said the 22-year-old, who finished in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 27 seconds - some 6 minutes less than the unofficial course record.

Mullikin, a former Mancos High School standout, ran cross country and track for the Orediggers in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

"The plan was to start fairly easy," Mullikin said. "Then, just a steady grind to the top. I ended up walking in two places."

He had broken away from second-place finisher Logan Ott, also of Mancos, before the steep climb halfway into the race.

"I got lost just a little bit on the trail section," Mullikin said, adding that he didn't lose any time as he quickly regained the route. He said he had hiked most of the course before the race, but he had never run the course before.

"From the Kennebec Pass parking area up to the notch, I had a good surge," he said.

Then, he blasted through the first part of the downhill, trying to pick up valuable time.

"I knew the bottom (part) would hurt," he said.

It did, he confirmed.

But the sub 2-hour finish (and record) eased his pain.

Mullikin was at the finish line to cheer his friend and running pal Ott, who finished second in the Kennebec run for the second consecutive year.

The Fort Lewis College runner crossed in 2:06.35 in a sunny and dry second place in stark contrast to his wet and muddy second-place finish last year.

Ott, 20, won the Steamworks Animas Valley Half-Marathon earlier this summer.

"The weather was beautiful. It was warm and dry ... perfect," said Mullikin, who's headed to medical school in Albany, N.Y., next month.

Third-place finisher Lucas Tyler was most appreciative of Saturday's picturesque weather conditions.

"We came up last year. We came back and made it a vacation," said the 28-year-old from Tucson, Ariz.

"I'm very pleased," he said of the "cool" weather and his fast finish of 2:16.07.

Tyler, a former NCAA Division III runner at Albion College in Michigan, works - what a coincidence - at The Running Shop in Tucson.

The ageless queen of Kennebec - Durango's Sarah Slaughter - returned to put her historic mark on the 2009 race.

The 37-year-old mother of two won the women's division Saturday - her fifth Kennebec Challenge victory (unofficially).

"That ... felt slow. But it was fun," said Slaughter, who finished in 2:44.40, despite limited training.

The only time Slaughter has not won the Kennebec run was last year; she was second.

Fort Lewis College runner Jourdan Baldwin, 20, finished second among the women after deciding to enter the race late Friday night (2:56.23).

"That was the craziest run I've ever done," said Baldwin, who ran at Littleton's Heritage High School before coming to FLC.

"I've been training, so I've been doing a lot of running," she said.

She was encouraged to enter the Kennebec Challenge by some customers at Ken and Sue's restaurant, where she's a waitress.

"So I decided to enter," Baldwin said.

Amanda Faver of Aztec finished third (3:01.21), completing an arduous mountain-running double. Last weekend, Faver completed the Kendall Mountain Run, where she was seventh.

Tia Accetta of Tucson was fourth among the women, with Durango's Amy Milofsky fifth. Milofsky also completed the double with a finish at Kendall Mountain last weekend.

"I definitely felt it," said 20-year-old Kenneth Rennick of Cortez, who finished sixth Saturday after finishing seventh in the Kendall Mountain Run.

"Up at the highest point, I could really feel (Kendall)," said Rennick, who will run for Colorado School of Mines in Golden this fall. "It's definitely tough (to double)."

When Mullikin won Saturday's race in record time, he was the first of four in his immediate family to compete the course. Sister Elisa Mullikin, mother Annette Mullikin and father Kevin Mullikin also completed Saturday's 15-mile trail race.

dstrode@durangoherald.com