Kirkland takes second overall at TEVA Mountain Games in Vail

Big prize money brings big talent

The TEVA Mountain Games held in Vail, Colo. offers up a sizeable cash purse in all events and therefore attracts professional athletes to compete in a variety of disciplines.
There’s everything from climbing to steep-creek kayaking to trail running, mountain biking and even fly fishing competitions during the four-day outdoor sports festival, held June 3-6.
Two Team Alpine Orthopaedics athletes from the Gunnison Valley threw themselves into the mix in Vail, with Jari Kirkland competing in the Ultimate Mountain Challenge and Travis Scheefer racing in the cross-country mountain bike race and the road bike uphill time trail.
The Ultimate Mountain Challenge is a series of four events over two days, starting with a kayak race on Saturday morning, June 5.
Competitors in the Ultimate Mountain Challenge woke up Saturday morning to extremely high water in the Gore Creek venue, with water running at approximately 1,400 cubic feet per second.
Kirkland admits kayaking is her biggest weakness of the four races. She was not looking forward to the first event, especially with the water rising.
“That was the thing I was most concerned about,” says Kirkland.
Nevertheless, she jumped in but ended up swimming within the first mile of the three-mile course. Upon reaching the riverbank she questioned whether she should continue downriver or call it a day.
“I was worried if I didn’t finish that I would be disqualified from the whole competition,” says Kirkland.
Ultimately, Kirkland decided to call it and pulled out of the kayak event.
“I decided that it was not the day to push my luck in the water,” says Kirkland.
Fortunately, the decision did not remove her from the rest of the Ultimate Mountain Challenge, it just set her back 30 minutes in the overall time from the leader.
Two hours later she lined up for a cross-country mountain bike race alongside some of the top riders vying for the big cash purse for that event alone.
While first place overall was out of reach, Kirkland rode hard to take 18th place and build a 20-minute gap on the woman closest to her in the overall standings.
Meanwhile, Scheefer matched wits with some of the top professional mountain bikers in the nation, finishing in tenth place on the day.
Sunday morning, Kirkland lined up alongside 156 other runners for a brutal 10-kilometer trail run.
“I ran a relaxed race because I had a big enough buffer on third place,” says Kirkland. “You literally hike straight up and then run straight down, then hike straight up and run straight down.”
Kirkland finished in 25th place and after a short break, jumped on her road bike for the final race of the Ultimate Mountain Challenge, a 13-mile uphill time trail.
By this time athletes’ legs are fried but Kirkland recovered enough to charge in the time trial to an 11th-place finish, sealing her second-place finish in the overall standings.
“You feel like your legs can’t move but something clicks and you just kick in,” says Kirkland. “You’re just hammering.”
Scheefer battled his way through a stacked field to finish the time trail in 14th place.
With little to no knowledge of the courses in each of her events, Kirkland’s expectations were wide open gong in, and she’s happy with the way it all ended up.
“The journey was just as important as the finish,” says Kirkland. “I had a fantastic time just showing up and racing.”