Wrap up of the Mountain Chile Cha Cha

In its 8th year the Mountain Chile Cha Cha proved to be bigger and better than ever before. The day started with a super-cute and super-successful Kid's Fun Run and then the main event took place, which was 30% up on starters from last year.

We want to take a moment and THANK each and every runner for choosing GECKO's Mountain Chile Cha Cha as part of your 2013 Racing Season and we hope that you feel as pumped up about the day (and your achievement) as we do. Many of you were first timers (first race, first trail run) and many of you have run with us so many times, you should all be very proud! We'd love to hear how your race went - post your thoughts to our Facebook page! We love that the Chile Cha Cha brings so many great people together (Pagosan locals and from far and wide!) and we hope that you made as many new friends and connections as we did.

We are so honored to think that while you're achieving your race goal you're also contributing to a GECKO scholarship, and that you helped give kids the opportunity to attend a life-changing trip to NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School).  We want to thank you, and remind you of the role you play by pushing yourself and by participating in GECKO events. When you race with GECKO you Pay it Forward!

Photos

We are proud to share that we had a professional photographer at the Cha Cha, snapping happy action shots of you all day!

Thanks to Trent Bona Photography, we've posted 1650 photos of the Kid's Fun Race, your Race, the Awards Ceremony and the Cha Cha Festival on our Facebook page. LIKE the page, check out the Albums, Tag yourself and your friends and share the love!

Trent has kindly allowed YOU to use YOUR photos for Facebook for FREE (You Rock Trent) but if you did want a high resolution version or print (without logos etc) Trent has a very user friendly gallery webpage here and very reasonable prices. You can also get the photos on mugs, magnets, mouse mats - virtually anything in fact...Take a look at TrentBona.com 

Results

A full list of RESULTS can be found on our website here.

Here are the highlights: The 5km was won by Pagosan Connie Chubbuck in 28m50 and fourteen year old Lucas Curry 23m22 from New Mexico; the 10km by Nicole DeMarco 45m48 and JD Kurz 43m53 , and the Half Marathon was won by husband and wife Steven 1h39m19 and Catherine Fenster 1h39m53 from Durango who crossed the line second apart. Medals and Trophies made by local artists Tessie Garcia and Scott Slind were awarded to finishers and winners

Videos

Thanks to Blake Irons for Editing this Upbeat Edit of the Mountain Chile Cha Cha Trail Run - can you spot yourself? Contributors Muriel Eason and Jude Lindburg.

Thanks to Joanne Irons for this Kid's Fun Run Video Montage! This is Super-Cute! We love that so many kids GOT OUTSIDE!

This wonderful photo & video blog was created by Allen Lucas who was in Pagosa with his whole clan. "The Mountain Chile Cha Cha was a blast! Thanks so much for putting it on and getting so many amazing volunteers! I think it managed to get a number of our family members hooked on trail racing and hopefully they will be able to make it to Devil Mountain (thanks for adding shorter distances there)." 

Here is another article & video created by Bill Hudson of the Pagosa Daily Post.  

Media - Pagosa Sun

Thanks to the Pagosa Springs Sun for their coverage of the event, read their stories and see their photo gallery here:

http://www.pagosasun.com/patty-aragon-green-chile-classic-winners-announced/
http://www.pagosasun.com/hot-competition-at-mountain-chile-cha-cha-races/
http://www.pagosasun.com/gab_gallery/mountain-chile-cha-cha/
http://www.pagosasun.com/three-bands-entertain-at-saturdays-mountain-chile-cha-cha/
http://www.pagosasun.com/think-your-green-is-the-greatest-enter-the-classic-cookoff/
http://www.pagosasun.com/mountain-chile-cha-cha-races-fun-and-food/

A sincere & heartfelt Thank You to our incredible volunteers and our Cha Cha SPONSORS - we couldn't function as we do without you!
 
Yours in the Outdoors, 
Team GECKO