Wholistic Fitness

Dewachen Ilg, #178, an incoming senior for Durango High School surges 400 meters into the start
the first climb of the National High School Trail Championships to maintain contact with the lead group
of 25 led by returning National Champion, Ella Hagen of Summit High School. screen capture/Steve Ilg YouTube

7/27/24
Salida, Colorado –

The course for NHSTC (National High School Trail Championships) was inundated by a monsoon deluge the day before the race. As Dewa, her mom, and myself made quick work out of the chronic beautiful 200-mile car jaunt from Durango to Salida through the sacred rains, I was not concerned.  I knew from the past 3 years of racing with Dewa at this venue that the residual precambrian granite composed course shucks water like a GoreTex® raincoat.  The technical sections of the 5.4 mile, 600’+ vert race course would be more than okay, in fact, the course would be in what Race Director Kenny Wilcox called, “hero dirt” the morning of the race.   After all the sacred sweat from the kids and us older racers was spilled?  Don’t know if the conditions made for Hero/ine’s cuz all racers times were slower – perhaps due to the attenuation of the softer earth?!? – yet the raced proved once again to be what Dewa called on her Strava title, “A Dooozy.”

Bea’s Knees (Citizens Race):
I’ll report chronologically;  us citizens racers (not in High School) would get to first race the now-famed course in its 8th year at 7:20a.  Though I am the returning 60+ Champion, Kenny has done such an amazing job at marketing this National Event that this years race was at least twice as competitive as last year, so I knew the 36-seconds I won by last year (16th OA) was in deep jeopardy.  Gun goes off.  I start running within myself knowing that this race is basically two bitch slaps of climbing separated by a .4 mile descent connecting the two climbs (Burn Pile and Rusty Lung).  After summiting the Rusty Lung climb at 7,558′ its a techy singletrack downhill which leads to an energy sapping dry, sandy creek bed before a dog leg turn in the rail yard on compressed double track and a crowd-infested finish over the Arkansas River in the city park.

Maybe I started too conservatively. I saw one old guy in front of me in a neon yellow shirt. “I can catch him,” I repeated to myself as we grinned out the first gravel road climb toward Burn Pile single track.  A big chase pack was 30 meters behind me up Burn Pile.  “Keep them off, make them work to catch me,” more self affirmations.  Was feeling good. Gaining confidence that the training prescription I had designed for Dewa and myself was paying off. “If I feel this good, Dewa might have a great race!”... it’s no longer about ilg, it’s about Dewa and rightly so.  Just before topping out on Burn Pile, I saw that Neon Old Guy was, well..fly.  Was not gonna catch him unless he bonks or falls or something, yet, held out panting hope that perhaps, with Kendall Mountain podium in my legs, my descending was faster than his and I could bridge to him on the long finishing descent. (Spoiler Alert;  that uh, did NOT happen.) 

Summary;  There was another Old Guy between ilg and Neon Old Guy.  Oooops. Oversight.  Ilg managed to finish 3rd AG Podium in 51:10 nearly 7 minutes behind Neon Old Guy (who turned out to be Ella Hagen’s dad and total stud).  My climbing was strong (even faster than Dewa’s by a handful of seconds, where I lost the time is a mystery cuz I was flying on the descent; really TAF it lies in my start capacities at age 62…might be a subconscious block of fear of blowing up cuz, I know if I go redline at start, unlike when I was younger?  I can’t burn those early matches and come back.  Work to do.

L-R; Jack Purcell and Dewachen Ilg representing Durango High School after noble efforts at the 2024 National High School Trail

Championships.  Dewa would finish 24th out of 55 and Jack 68th out of 122.

Boys National High School Trail Championships Race:
Start Time: 8:20am
Durango High School was represented by only one brave running warrior and Dewa’s teammate on the Junior National Qualifier Nordic Ski Circuit as well as DHS Cross Country, and Track;  15 year-old Jack Purcell who raced this race at Dewa’s encouragement last year and actually won the Fastest Youngest Male Award last year.  Jack told me after the race that he went out conservatively  and like myself and Dewa, thought he was flowing faster than what reality smacked us all with!  Jack’s time was super fast at 39:27 making his pre-race goal of breaking 40-minutes.  The winner of the Boys Race was 18 year-old Jacob Schwarting of Centarus High School (think, Denver) in 32:18.

Girls National High School Trail Championships Race:
Start Time: 8:45am
Like Jack,  Durango High School was represented by only one brave running warrioress; Dewachen Ilg.  Dewa knows well this Race, having toed the Start Line 2x previously.  Her Course Record was her first attempt at this venue in 2022 with a 44:29.  Dewa came into this race in top form with an Overall Ladies Podium at age 16 in the Silverton Alpine Marathons which featured a back to back weekend of an 8-mile high altitude trail race into the 13,000’+ Kendall Mountain  12-mile peak race.  As featured on my YouTube Channel, you can see Dewa leading the chase group all the way up Burn Pile only to be swamped later in the race yet still racing gritty as all hell to hold onto a top 25 at Nationals in 24th place with a 48:21.

L-R; Dewachen and Steve Ilg on top of 14,199' Mt. Yale the day after National HS Trail Championships setting several Strava FKT's along their merry way in 30+mph winds...

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