Race Across the Sky: Mikey Mitch dominates the M20-29 field

• Mitch wins by 1:48:53 — his 17:36:38 finish at 10:34/mi is the clear headline in a 62-finisher M20-29 field.
• 2nd-fastest early split, 3rd in the men's field — Mitch posted the 2nd-fastest men's split on the 8.6M→20.5M segment, and spent most of the race running 3rd among all men before settling 4th by the finish.
• Suflita vs. Sanderson — Paul Suflita (19:25:31) held 2nd in M20-29 by 11:38 over Isaac Sanderson (19:37:09), but both ran very different races to get there.
• Wyatt Bricker's charge — starting 91st among men, Bricker climbed all the way to 18th in the men's field by the finish, logging the 10th-fastest men's split on the 64.2M→72.8M segment en route to 5th in M20-29 in 20:36:42.

Mikey Mitch, 27, of Steamboat Springs, owned the M20-29 race from start to finish. Running at 10:34/mi across 100 miles at elevations that routinely top 11,000 feet — and twice crest Hope Pass at 12,500 — he crossed in 17:36:38, nearly two hours clear of anyone else in his age group. His 2nd-fastest men's split on the 8.6M→20.5M stretch showed he wasn't just surviving the early miles; he was racing them. He held 3rd among all men for much of the middle of the race before finishing 4th, a remarkable position in a field far beyond M20-29.

Behind him, Paul Suflita (19:25:31, 11:39/mi) told a dramatically different story. Suflita rocketed to 1st in the men's field at the first major checkpoint, carrying the 3rd-fastest men's split on that same 8.6M→20.5M segment — but the back half of the race was another matter, as he faded from 1st all the way to 9th among men by the finish. He still claimed 2nd in M20-29 comfortably. Isaac Sanderson (19:37:09, 11:46/mi) ran the opposite arc — steady through the mid-race miles and finishing with the 9th-fastest men's split on the 84.2M→89.2M segment — to land 3rd in M20-29, 11:38 behind Suflita.

Trevor Hiltz (20:08:32) rounded out the podium chase in 4th, climbing from 22nd in the men's field at the opening checkpoint to 13th by the finish and posting the 7th-fastest men's split on the 78.7M→84.2M leg. Then came the day's most eye-catching mover: Wyatt Bricker of Springfield, MO, 22 years old, who entered the men's timing data at 91st place early on and carved his way to 18th among men — and 5th in M20-29 — finishing in 20:36:42. His 10th-fastest men's split on the 64.2M→72.8M stretch was the engine of that climb. Alexander Nemeth (6th, 20:33:28) and Paul Loper (7th, 21:24:46) rounded out the top seven, while all 62 finishers in the group earned the Leadville belt buckle — every one of them under the 30-hour cutoff.