Following hundreds of miles raced over the last six days, the 2024 Breck Epic came to a conclusion on Friday, Aug. 16, under the bluebird skies and the bright sun that often frequents Breckenridge in the late summer season.

Prior to the start of the sixth and final stage, athletes began the second half of the grueling Breck Epic mountain bike race on Wednesday, Aug. 14, by taking on Stage 4 of the race — Aqueduct.

The 42.3-mile course featured 6,473 feet of climbing and finished at the B&B Trailhead off of French Gulch Road in Breckenridge. After winning the first three stages of the race, Durango’s Riley Amos of Trek Factory Racing came into Stage 4 vying to extend upon his current lead.

Amos strung together another strong race, but fellow Durango resident Howard Grotts got the best of him in the stage, completing the race in 3 hours, 13 minutes, and 17 seconds. Amos followed in second in 3:17:54 while Longmont’s Matt Pike took third in 3:20:09.

Ogden, Utah’s Zach Calton of Yeti Cycles took fourth in 3:20:32 with Lance Haidet of San Luis Obispo, California finishing in fifth overall in 3:20:35.

Similar to the men’s pro race, Knoxville, Tennessee’s Kaysee Armstrong began the latter half of the Breck Epic in hopes of extending upon her nearly 17-minute lead over the rest of the field, but she was thwarted by Durango’s Ellen Campbell over the “Aqueduct” portion of the race.

Campbell completed the race in 4:06:46 with Armstrong soon trailing across the finish line in 4:07:11. Longmont’s Andrea Dvorak took third (4:10:34), Whitefish, Montana’s Stella Hobbs took fourth (4:14:21) and Erica Clevenger of Lakewood finished in fifth (4:16:45).

The penultimate stage on Thursday began from the Beaver Run parking lot near the base of Breckenridge Ski Resort before climbing up the Spruce Creek and Aqueduct Road to the Wheeler Trail. From there, competitors climbed over Wheeler Pass, down the Colorado Trail and to the finish line located at the Peak 7 Base Area.

Grotts continued to attempt to shake up the results in the men’s pro elite race, crossing the finish line as the victor of his second-straight stage in a time of 2:48:30. Haidet finished in the silver-medal position with a total time of 2:49:45 and Evergreen’s Robbie Day of the Bear National Team took third in 2:50:28.

Calton and Jasper, Alberta, Canada’s Cory Wallace rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth place, respectively. 

After winning Stage 1 of the race on Monday, Hobbs put a fantastic race together on the fifth day of the Breck Epic, winning her second stage of the race in a time of 4:06:46.

Ellen Campbell of Specialized Rapha Tailwind Domestique Coffee took second in 3:43:53, and Dvorak of Cutaway took the final spot on the podium in 3:49:00.n Haley Dumke of Minturn finished in fourth (3:51:26), and Armstrong fought to a valiant fifth-place finish after getting a flat tire at some point during the stage (3:51:50).

The final stage of the race — The Gold Dust Trail — is the flattest and fastest race course, giving way to an exciting, flashy finish.

While Stage 1 of the Breck Epic on Sunday, Aug. 11, featured a fair amount of rain and clouds, participants were gifted with superior race conditions on Friday. Both the men’s and women’s elite pro fields took advantage of the pristine summer conditions, racing out of the Stephen C. West Ice Arena parking lot and onto the nearby trails. 

A spirited battle to the final finish line of the race was underway for the majority of the final stage until the athletes competing in men’s pro field neared the finish line and Grotts was involved in a bike crash.

Due to the crash — that reportedly took place on the last mile of the course — many of the competitors in both the men’s and women’s pro field stopped their races in order to assess and help a severely injured Grotts.

Grotts was cared for by his fellow competitors before first responders arrived to the scene to administer further care.

Since so many riders were involved in helping Grotts, an unanimous decision was reached among the men’s and women’s pro riders to give the athletes who stopped to give Grotts care the same exact Stage-6 finish time.

“We involved all of the athletes in those decisions,” Breck Epic founder Mike McCormack said. “They are stakeholders in that process, and there was not a moments hesitation. Everything kind of paled in comparison to what took place on course.”

After six days of racing, Calton was named the men’s champion of the 2024 Breck Epic with Armstrong being crowned the women’s champion. Calton completed the total race in 16:02:10, and Armstrong finished in 20:19:12.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this race because my hand was just broken, so as soon as I got into a leader’s jersey I was like, ‘OK, maybe I am going to do pretty good at this,'” Armstrong said. “Then I got a pretty big gap, and even after I got my flat yesterday I was still able to have an eight-minute gap. This is my last race, so it feels perfect that it ended this way.”

Calton was followed by Day in second (16:15:52) and Wallace in third (16:26:14). The women’s pro elite podium was flanked by Campbell (20:27:01) and Hobbs (20:40:08).

Additionally, 2023 Peak School graduate Nina Schamberger completed the stage race in 21:56:36 to place 12th overall in the women’s pro field.

Competing in just Stages 4 through 6, Breckenridge local and Bear National Team member Lasse Konecny won the men’s open race by close to four hours, crossing the finish line in a total time of 8:22:56.

“I dropped in for the last three days,” Konecny said. “I took two weeks off the bike, so I took this as an opportunity to get back into training. It was a good time. … It was a fun day out on the bike as always. Obviously the circumstances of the day kind of changed it, but it is always nice to be here at Breck Epic.”

Beyond the thrill of winning the race, the Breck Epic allowed Konecny to connect and reconnect with those who are also are a part of the mountain-biking community. 

“It is super cool to have a family of guys that you kind of depend on to race with,” Konecny said. “When something arises you can always depend on the person to help you. We are all a community of guys who like to race each other and we always wish the best for everyone.”

Paula Rodas won the women’s open Stages 4 through 6 race in a time of 13:52:29.

For a full list of results, visit BreckEpic.com.