Given the favorable weather conditions and his status as one of the best in his profession, there was pre-race talk about Daniel Romanchuk possibly breaking a course record in the Bolder Boulder wheelchair race.

Mechanical difficulties prevented any records from falling Monday. But they didn’t prevent Romanchuk from winning in dominant fashion.

Despite a couple of issues that forced Romanchuk to pause along the 10K course, he had little trouble crossing the finish line with a stress-free advantage, winning with a time of 24 minutes, 5 seconds that outpaced runner-up Hermin Garic by more than 2 1/2 minutes.

Kendall Gretsch from Colorado Springs won her third consecutive women’s wheelchair race, finishing in 30:56.

“A couple issues,” Romanchuk said. “Things just weren’t secured down, so went over some bumps and things came off. Nothing too major, though. I just turned around and grabbed them, and turned back around to go as fast as I can.”

Gretsch won the women’s wheelchair race by 5:39 over runner-up Aerelle Jones. Gretsch became the sixth athlete to win at least three women’s wheelchair races, and the fourth to win three in a row.

“Bolder Boulder is always a fun race,” Gretsch said. “Fun to be back, even in the rain. I didn’t think it was my best time. The rain makes it tough with gripping on to the wheelchair, but it’s still fun.”

Re-reward

Jesse Aweida has been a fixture at the Bolder Boulder, and his name is prominent among that age group record holders in the race archives.

However, the 94-year old Aweida tragically lost the spoils of his dedication a few years ago, when the Marshall Fire destroyed his family’s home.

The folks at the Bolder Boulder made sure those keepsakes weren’t gone forever. On Sunday, race director Cliff Bosley and Colorado running legend Frank Shorter presented Aweida with a set of medals that replicated each and every one of the distinct medals Aweida lost in the fire.

Hitting the ground running

Justin Schwartz is still not quite one year into his job as the CU chancellor, but he immersed himself into the local culture by participating in his first Bolder Boulder. Schwartz is a recreational triathlete but said he felt compelled to participate Monday, even if running is his least favorite event in triathlons.

“I do it for fun,” Schwartz said. “Running isn’t my favorite, but I’m learning to appreciate. I started (at CU) just after last year’s race, so people were telling me all year I had to do the Bolder Boulder.”

Notable

The final registration tally was 52,195, topping 52,000 for the first time since 2015 (the race was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic). … While the military flyover was conducted as planned, the entrance of the American flag via parachuters, a staple of the Bolder Boulder Memorial Day festivities, was canceled due to the weather conditions. … Thanks largely to the cool weather conditions, race director Cliff Bosley said afterward there were no significant medical emergencies during the race.