Wells and Carey win Breck Epic

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The start line of final day of the six-day Breck Epic was full of nervous excitement once again. Competitors just had one last 28-mile day between them and the coveted finishers' belt buckle.

As the seconds were counted down, final rankings were on the line throughout every category. A beer feed waited at the top of Boreas Pass road after a killer descent down locally revered trails. It was a day of glory for most.

Todd Wells had a solid lead on second place and stayed in the pack for most of the stage. Cresting the top of Boreas Pass road for the first time, he sat in with Kyosuke Takei and Alex Grant. Ben Sonntag didn’t have it in his legs for the day, and was a minute or so back, pulling by himself.

The second time over Boreas Pass road, the three again came through together, working to beat the massive headwind as a group. Wells was relaxed enough to reach for the PBR feed and took a long swig before giving it up. Grant was gunning for another stage win, but overshot one of the last corners, giving Kyosuke the opportunity for the win. Kyosuke came across the line just seconds ahead of Grant and Wells, with Sonntag a couple of minutes back on the stage.

In the women's race, Alice Pirard had another third place finish, with Amanda Carey in second, and Kate Aardal taking the stage win.

In the Coed duo category, the teams decided to have a relaxed day and the top three teams crossed the finish line together.

Leslie Handy took it as a costume day and donned a full pink skinsuit, complete with face paint. Some racers stopped completely to take in the incredible views at the top of Boreas Pass road, enjoy a PBR and chat with the volunteers. Some continued to race fiercely. The finish line saw Mike McCormack handing out Breck Epic stickers and high fives. Jimmy Jimenez continued to feed racers after the stage with custom Nutella, marshmallow fluff, and banana sandwiches, complete with racer’s names to identify their favorite combination.

The enduro segment came down to the last stage, with Nick Truitt and Macky Franklin duking it out for the win, and Grant and Sonntag dueling for third overall. The times were close for the final couple of segments and Sonntag found himself in third, with Franklin in second, and Truitt in first. The podium stayed the same for the overall.

The women's enduro podium for stage 6 saw Sue Haywood with the win, and Aardal in second, and Pirard in third. The overall switched up a bit, with Aardal in the lead and Haywood in second.

The stage six and overall awards were held at a local restaurant, where racers from every category mingled and told stories from the week, sometimes with a disco ball atop their head.

Stage 6 Full Results

Final general classification