Leadman 2023: A muddy-good time
Leadman 2023 racers got to go for a complimentary swim as they made their way down the biking portion of the triathlon. With the heavy volume of late-season snow, spring rain, and then just a little warmer weather, the Leadman course was a messy, but fun time.
Courtesy photo
Kellogg man Scott Albrethsen (center pointing) won the Men's 28-34 age division at Leadman 2023.
KELLOGG — Some unique seasonal weather made the 2023 Leadman Triathlon a memorable one.
Late April is usually the throes of springtime, but 2023 has been anything but usual — last week different parts of the Silver Valley received multiple inches of snow, including Silver Mountain which announced that they’d be extending their skiing season because of the heavy late snowfall.
Mix that with some rainfall, and a dash of warm weather, and you get one of the most diverse and challenging courses a racer may ever see — snow, mud, water… Leadman 2023 had it all.
With a record 285 registered participants, racers from six different states and Canada descended upon Kellogg for the weekend making 2023 the biggest Leadman ever.
“Once again, our community came together to put on a great race,“ said Silver Mountain event coordinator Gus Colburn. “It’s very cool to see Leadman becoming a yearly tradition for lots of families in the area and beyond.”
Leadman isn’t your traditional triathlon either — consisting of skiing, running and biking, it tests athletes’ abilities to jump between seasonal sports adapting to climates that actively change during the course of the race.
The race begins at the top of Kellogg Peak and finishes in the Silver Mountain Gondola Village.
This year’s King of the Hill (top finisher) was Spokane’s John Smith, who blazed through the course with a time of 52 minutes and 16 seconds — beating out last year’s champion, Billy Morse Jr., by more than a minute.
When Colburn said that the race had become a tradition for some families he wasn’t mistaken, and it showed with this year’s Queen of the Hill champion.
Emily Hangartner, a former kid’s division champion and the daughter of five-time champion Kirsten Armstrong, took home the top female honors with a time of 59:19.
Locals were also well represented in 2023, with Scott Albrethsen winning the men’s 28-34 division championship, and the Sunnyside Shady Ladies, comprised of Becca Sewell, Megan Cline and Monica Miller winning gold in the female team division.
Sponsored by Dave Smith Chevrolet and organized by the Kellogg Rotary Club and Silver Mountain Resort, the event is used as a massive fundraiser for area organizations with 100% of the sponsorships and registration fees going directly toward the local groups.
This year’s beneficiaries include Kellogg Storm Football, Kellogg Class of 2027, Shoshone Medical Center Foundation, the Silver Valley Cat Wranglers, Pinehurst Elementary, Kellogg High School Band, Shoshone County Fire District No. 2, and D.C. or Bust.
These groups all assisted during the event, which requires hundreds of total volunteer hours in order to pull off the 13-mile race.
“The Kellogg Rotary Club does a lot for our local community, and Silver Mountain is proud to have partnered with them for the past 19 years for the Leadman race,” Colburn said. “Over the years, this event has raised over $168,000 that has gone back to benefit the Silver Valley.”
Photos from the race can be found on the Silver Mountain Facebook page. A complete list of the race results can be found at silvermt.com.
For more information on the Kellogg Rotary Club, contact their club president Sid Armstrong at sarmstrong1739@gmail.com.
