The town of Breckenridge has a lot of traditions throughout the year. From Ullr Fest in the winter, Oktoberfest in the fall and the Summit High School senior parade in the spring, Main Street in Breckenridge seems to always be bustling with some type of activity no matter the weather or time of year.

Although these events draw their fair share of crowds, it is hard to compete with the amount of people who show up for Breckenridge’s Fourth of July celebration every summer.

With lawn chairs lining each side of Main Street and people dressed in patriotic attire, cheers rang out as the town’s annual Independence Day parade was led off by athletes in the Firecracker 50 mountain bike race.

As usual, the 2024 race on Thursday began with a fury of pumping legs as the massive race field quickly climbed up Main Street to converge upon the nearby trails that make up the majority of the two lap, 50-mile race course. 

Leading off the race and near the front of the pro open men’s field were a pair of Breckenridge-raised brothers, Nico and Lasse Konecny. Representing their professional cycling team — Bear National Team — Nico and Lasse let the outpour of hometown cheers fuel them to the trails before settling into a steady pace.

With several other accomplished pro riders featured in the pro open men’s field like 2023 Breck Epic Champion Lachlan Morton and two-time Firecracker 50 champion Eric Brunner, of Boulder, Nico says that he and his brother used their knowledge of the course to their advantage.

“These are our local trails, so we know them extremely well. We were thinking if we get to the front of the group and ride the descents really well that we could make time on the rest of the group,” Nico Konecny said. “We just decided that we will make this (push) and that gives us more time to recover as they bridge it back to us — trying to pull that yo-yo as much as we can to make them spend more energy than we were.”

Through lap one of the course, Lasse Konecny led the race in a lap time of 1:54:01 while Nico followed a second back in 1:54:02. With about a 15 second lead on Bear National Team teammate Toby Hassett, of Golden, the Konecny brothers briefly slowed their pace down, allowing the main pack of riders at the front to put in an effort to catch up to them.

“Once we passed through Carter Park, we turned it off, letting the chase pack of Eric, Lachlan and Toby to catch us back,” Nico said.

According to Nico, the group of riders then continued to ride together on the final lap until the first aid station at Baker’s Tank where Brunner threw in a surge and took over the lead.

“I hopped right on his wheel, and once we got on the single track after the climb on the road at Baker’s Tank we had about five seconds on Lachlan, Lasse and Toby,” Nico said. “At that point, Eric and I decided that was the point to go and start racing really hard.”

Feeling the energy of the crowd gathered at the finish line, Nico eventually broke free of Brunner, charging hard over the final stretches of the race and ultimately crossing the finish line as the 2024 Firecracker 50 champion in a total time of 3:45:59. 

After spending the last month recovering from a bike crash he suffered back in May, winning the race was beyond special for the 18-year-old rider. 

“The Firecracker is such a special race because it is on the Fourth of July and there are always so many people there,” Nico said. “It was really cool when Lasse and I were going into lap two as brothers at the front and the crowds are just yelling. … Coming home with the win was definitely shocking and surprising for sure.”

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Brunner took second in 3:46:33, Morton took third in 3:52:45 and Hassett took fourth (3:54:52). Jack Ordon, of Durango, rounded out the top five in the men’s pro open race, placing fifth (3:56:45) while Lasse Konecny placed eighth (4:02:13). 

Lifetime Grand Prix competitor Deanna Mayles, of Colorado Springs, won the women’s pro open race, finishing in 4:28:30 to beat out 2023 Firecracker 50 champion Erin Huck in second (4:36:53). 

Chelsea Bolton, of Park City, Utah, finished third (4:44:18), Lauren Stephens, of Dallas, finished in fourth (4:55:58) and Tess Amer, of Boulder, took fifth (4:59:53).

In the expert age divisions, Golden’s John Weiler won the men’s 16-29 race (4:27:45) while Arvada’s Madeline Harvey was crowned the champion of the expert women’s 16-39 race (5:50:48).

Boulder’s Wills Brassil won the expert men 30-34 race in 4:27:54, Carbondale’s Douglas Stenclik placed first in the 35-39 race in 4:42:00 and George Green of Boulder placed first in the 40-49 race in 4:36:58. 

Jason Michalak of Crested Butte rounded out the under-50 expert men races, taking first overall in the expert men 45-49 contest in a time of 4:39:43. 

Another Summit County cyclist was crowned the champion of a race, as Dillon’s Jill Sorensen handily won the expert women 40-49 race. Clocking a time of 5:41:31, Sorensen beat Arizona’s Melissa Newbrey in second by over an hour (6:57:52).

Tracy Paradise, of Excelsior, Minnesota, won the expert women 50-plus race, finishing in 5:57:06. Avon’s Ron Gruber won the expert men 60-plus race in 5:09:52 with Littleton’s Mitch Westall winning the expert men 50- 59 race.

Spearheading the sport races were Evergreen’s Micheal Brown and Vail’s Anna Bidstrup. Brown won the men’s sport 16-29 race (5:23:38) with Bidstrup claiming the title in the women’s sport 16-39 race in 6:34:08.

Other champions in the men’s sport races include Elliott Saslow, of Boulder (5:28:25), Louisville’s Jan Maarse (5:28:24), Denver’s Brian Payer (5:38:25) Denver’s Clyde Wright (5:38:59) and Boulder’s Craig Baartman (5:28:35). 

Jimi Klopson of Lyons won the women’s sport 40-plus race in 7:16:06.

As is the tradition of the Firecracker 50, many competitors choose to team up with another cyclist, allowing each teammate to complete one, 25-mile lap. Put into divisions based on their combined age, several more champions were crowned in the duo relay portion of the race.

Jacob Webber and Zim Reichart (Slo-Mo Cycles) won the relay team 35 race in 4:28:32 while Tim Faia and Matt Davies (AES Racing) won the relay team 101 race in 4:50:41.

Relay teams in the 110 and 120 combined-age class races rounded out this year’s Firecracker 50. Jeff Rhodes and Andrew Berget (Bikeparks.com_Vitamin Cottage) won the 110 race in 5:06:34 with Eric Snowberg and Bob Campbell (RacerXDuo120) winning a close 120 race in 5:06:09.

Mike Hogan and Mike Hagen (Hagan Ski Mountaineering) followed RacerXDuo120 in a nearby second in a time of 5:09:52.