After nearly a month hiatus, Race Breck’s Summit Mountain Challenge mountain bike race series resumed action on Wednesday, July 17, for the fourth race in the six-race series — Basin Burnout.

Although Race Breck has not hosted a Summit Mountain Challenge race since the Tour de French Gulch race on June 19, mountain bikers still had an opportunity to stay fit for the second half of the race series by participating in the Firecracker 50 mountain bike race on the Fourth of July. 

Itching to race again, athletes lined their tires up behind the starting line at the base of Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and prepared to take on the challenging course.

As is common in the Summit Mountain Challenge race series, the kids-course races kicked off the evening of racing. Beginning from the base area, the junior boys and girls 10 and under races climbed a total of 328 feet up the Argentine North Fork Trail before cruising back down to the finish line near Mountain Goat Plaza. 

Breckenridge’s Nellie Greenwood led the junior girls 9-10 race. Greenwood, 10, completed the course in 17 minutes, 52 seconds in order to win the race while Breckenridge’s Iris Ryan, 9, followed in second (18:16) and Breckenridge’s Fiammetta Niemkiewicz, 9, took third (18:33).

Kremmling’s Irie Boettcher took fourth in the junior girls 9-10 race, clocking a time of 32:47.

Tucker Gallup was the victor of the junior boys 9-10 race. Gallup, 10, dominated the race from start to finish, crossing the finish line in 16:38 to handily beat Brodie Cirks in second (18:51).Team Summit’s Hudson Pratt of Dillon rounded out the podium in third (19:06) while Weston Merideth took fourth (19:09) and Dax Chavez finished in fifth (23:31).

Reagan Flickinger was the lone finisher in the junior girls 8 and under race, crossing the finish line in first place with a time of 21:26.

The short-course races consisted of mainly junior-level races, but also featured beginner men and women 16-plus races. Similar to the kids-course races, athletes racing the short-course races also began on the Argentine North Fork Trail, but climbed further up the mountain before drifting back down to the finish line.

After taking third and fifth at the Colorado State Mountain Bike Championships almost two weekends ago, Summit’s Tessa Jacobs continued to display her mountain biking skills, taking first overall in the 3.5-mile short-course race in a time of 30:44.

Lakewood’s Annika Krum followed Jacobs in second (34:14) and Breckernirdge’s Iris Ryan finished third (45:50). 

A couple weeks after winning the Tour de French Gulch mountain bike race, Frisco’s Max Swenson claimed another title in the junior boys 11-12 race. Swenson finished the race in 27:09 with Breckenridge’s Miles Drumwright following in second (28:13) and Gabe Loomis finishing in third (28:59). 

Galen Teller won the junior girls 13-15 race, crossing the finish line in 24:29. Six seconds after Teller finished the race, Lakewood’s Siri Krum crossed the finish line in 24:37. Leadville’s Finley Stanek took third (28:03), Summit’s Sophie Dinse finished in fourth (28:45), Breckenridge’s Maeve Niemkiewicz took fifth (35:54) and Breckenridge’s Lucy Greenwood finished in sixth (1:19:11).

Finishing in a time of 24:49, Louie Devito won the junior boys 13-15 race with Leadville’s Owen Harris taking second (25:22) and Breckenridge’s Julian Crum finishing in third (25:36). Rhys Teller took fourth (25:45), Leadville’s Wilson Anderson finished in fifth (26:01), Summit’s Cooper Osborn placed sixth (26:08) and Ben Woodcock of Leadville placed seventh (27:18).

Rounding out the top 10 in the junior boys 13-15 race were several Summit County-based riders. Silverthorne’s Ryan Levi finished in eighth (29:50), Team Summit’s Cooper Wood took ninth (29:54) and Silverthorne’s Cooper Levi placed 10th (32:03). 

Two women were featured in the beginner women 16-plus race. Destiny Duarte won the race in 31:05 with Frisco’s June Baniewicz finishing in a close second (38:51). Frisco’s Abe Baniewicz, 16, took first in the beginner men 16-plus race in 30:14 with Judson Chase of Breckenridge taking second (39:50) and Leadville’s Steve Woodcock placing third (46:44). 

The final competitors of the evening all raced the long-course race which was 8.8-miles in length with 1,800 feet of climbing. The pro open men’s race was the first to take off from the start line before settling into a steady uphill climbing rhythm. 

By the end of the race, it was Golden’s Nate Vacura who emerged from the trails first. Vacura crossed the finish line in 53:10 with Breckenridge’s Jeffrey Kepler taking second (53:25) and Summit’s Taylor Shelden finishing in third (53:40).

Maddie Miller of Golden was the only athlete featured in the pro open women’s race, finishing the race in 1:04:50. 

The expert and singlespeed women 16-plus race featured a heated battle to the finish line between Breckenridge’s Fiona Florio and Summit’s Aila Harmala. The two cyclists rode near each other for the majority of the race, but in the end it was Florio who got the narrow win, crossing the finish line in 1:06:41.22.

Harmala finished 0.06 seconds later in second place in 1:06:41.28 with Maria Leech of Breckenridge finishing in third in 1:08:32.79.

Taylor Lester won the sport men 16-34 race in 1:05:10 with Silverthorne’s James Sowers finishing in second (1:11:41) and Breckenridge’s Sebastian Renooy taking third (1:12:15).

Julie Granshaw spearheaded the open women 45-plus race. Granshaw, 49, of Breckenridge took first in 1:16:11 with Susan Bertelsen of Denver, 60, taking second (1:30:20). Russell Asleson, 69, of Colorado Springs took first in the open men 60-plus race (1:08:26), Jay Sowers of Silverthorne finished second (1:27:29) and Sedona, Arizona’s Doug Sullivan took third (1:30:25).

The next Summit Mountain Challenge race — Peaks Trail Time Trial — will take place on July 31. The race will begin on the Peaks Trailhead in Breckenridge and conclude on Miners Creek Road in Frisco. 

All kids 12 and under will race the kids’ race at Miners Creek Trailhead in Frisco. Races are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. To sign up for the race, visit RaceBreck.com.