Mountain bike and trail races were held on Friday evening and Saturday morning with the 2023 Rides & Reggae and a little Grass annual music and biking festival in New Castle. 

Sixty runners and 99 cyclists competed in the single-track trail races and enjoyed music from The Lil Smokies, The Hip Abduction and several other bands after racing.

10k trail race

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The Dirty Dozen 10k trail race was held at 6 p.m. Friday with 60 finishers, and featured the popular Stairway to Heaven Climb on the Colorow Trail system. 

The top three spots on the women’s side were taken by New Castle residents. Kayla Toews finished first in the women’s race in 58:52 in hot and dry conditions. Second and third went to Linnea Kehm and Katie Whelan, in 1:01:23 and 1:02:24, respectively. The women’s record is Cessair’s McKinney’s 2022 time of 50:31.

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Joseph DeMoor, running professionally for La Sportiva out of Carbondale, dominated the men’s race in 42:38, the second fastest time ever run on the 10k course. His 2021 time of 40:22 is the current course record and was ran in much cooler early morning conditions. 

A tight battle between New Castle locals for second and third resulted in Alan Czepinski overtaking Samuel Whelan in the closing stages to finish in 47:15 and 47:35, respectively.

20-mile MTB

The Dirty Dozen mountain bike race, held on New Castle’s Colorow and Highlands trail systems, began with relatively cool temps at 7 a.m. with a neutral start through downtown New Castle until C Avenue, where the pace car pulled off and the racers began the punchy C Avenue Climb. 

Sixty five cyclists completed the race, with two DNFs. 

Carbondale’s Butch Peterson, who was second in 2022, won with the second fastest time ever on this course in 1:57:33. Cameron Brenneman’s 1:54:36 in 2022 remains the course record. 

Chris Brandt, who was first in 2021 and third in 2022, came on strong on the final downhills to take a close second in 1:58:02.

Kyle Crawley finished third in a hard fought 1:59:14.

The women’s race was won by local resident Sam Meskin in a quick 2:26:24.

A tight race ensued for second and third place with local Tara Dewitte taking second in 2:35:32 over Briana Valarosi, who was just behind in 2:37:56. The women’s record of 2:17:34 was set in 2021 by Chloe Lutgring.

Combo event

The combo event consisted of racing the Friday night 10k trail race followed by Saturday morning’s 20-mile MTB. Six men finished the combo with a razor thin margin between the top two. 

After the 10k race, New Castle’s Samuel Whelan held a nearly 5-minute lead over his nearest competitor, Carbondale’s Quinn Hartnett. 

On Saturday, Trevor Gerber, who was fourth among combo racers after the run, put together a very strong MTB race with a 2:08:22. His combined time of 3:03:10 was just 13 seconds ahead of Samuel Whelan’s 3:03:23. 

Trevor Gerber also won 2022 edition of the combo race in 3:12:14, giving him back-to-back wins. 

New Castle’s 17-year-old Asher Nichols rounded out the top three in an impressive 3:13:29. Josh Cullen’s 2:54:20 is the combo event’s record from 2021.

6-mile MTB

The 6-mile MTB race, a new event for 2023, started at 9:30 a.m. in warm conditions with 32 finishers. The course was similar to the trail 10k and immediately began with a steep climb up Stairway to Heaven. 

In the women’s race, Jill Patnick and Caitlyn Tivy had a tight battle for first with Jill Patnick winning by 8 seconds in 56:46. 

Nicole Packard took third in 1:03:43. 

Mike Pritchard won the men’s race convincingly in 36:37 over Dan Conrado and Donnie Tietsema in 38:30 and 40:13, respectively.