Race Starting Location:
North Monument Valley Park, W Fontanero Street & Culebra Place, Colorado Springs, CO
The Nielson Two Mile Challenge is a Running race in Colorado Springs, Colorado consisting of a 2 Mile Trail Run.
The first time you run this event, you'll establish a base time for yourself. This base time is used to generate a handicap time. The handicap time is calculated using an algorithm developed by Bob Royse, and it's geared to favor a beginning runner and the slower runners. Click here for an explanation of the handicap algorithm.
Once you have an established handicap, you are racing against your handicap time. The person who improves the most from their handicap time is the winner. Each month the results are sent off to Bob Royse and he fires up his Nielson algorithm and regenerates all of the handicap times based on the latest result data.
As mentioned before, the handicap does favor a beginning runner or a slower runner who is putting in a lot of quality training time, as it's these types of runners who tend to have significant time improvements running the same course. But the race is also good for established runners and the swift of feet because it gives those runners a good indication of their fitness level. It's the same 2 mile course each month. Thus given similar weather conditions, you have a very good basis to check out your running fitness from month to month.
Awards
At each monthly race, the person who improves the most over their handicap earns a Nielson shirt. Their name also goes on the Nielson plaque for that month. At the PPRR membership dinner and meeting in November, the person with the most Nielson wins during the past 12 months is recognized as the year's winner and gets to keep the Nielson plaque. (A new plaque is then started for the next 12 months.) If multiple people have won the Nielson an equal amount of times, then the yearly award is determined by the person who improved over their handicap by the greatest amount.
The shirts are generously donated by Michael Schenk of EON Studios, located at 836 N Institute in Colorado Springs (633-7986). Visit EON Studios for all of your screen printing needs. Michael gets his exercise on a bicycle, while his wife Susan does the running in the family.
Course Records
Male: 9:35.599, set by Justin Chaston, May 2011.
Female: 11:12.516, set by Shannon Payne, July 2013.
The results data we have goes back to 1999. From that time to the present, there have been ten sub-10 minute finishers. The top 10 finishers from 1999 to the present are:
Male
1. 9:35.599, Justin Chaston, May 2011
2. 9:37.784, Joseph Gray, Apr 2016
3. 9:40.713, Joseph Gray, May 2016
4. 9:45.623, Joseph Gray, Apr 2015
5. 9:48.374, Andrew Lesser, Jun 2015
6. 9:48.562, Adam Rich, Nov 2009
7. 9:48.840, Robbie Young, Nov 2009
8. 9:49.430, Curtis Suver, Aug 2014
9. 9:49.937, Justin Chaston, Apr 2011
10. 9:53.015, Brandon Birdsong, Apr 2016
Female
1. 11:12.516, Shannon Payne, July 2013
2. 11:14.555, Brittni Hutton, Mar 2016
3. 11:20.469, Shannon Payne, Aug 2013
4. 11:24.506, Kaitlin Hanenburg, Aug 2009
(Note: #4 could be Jordan Olson, who ran 11:21.959 in July of 2009. We are not sure if this Jordan is male or female.)
5. 11:31.569 Heather Bates, Feb 2013
6. 11:32.271, Shannon Payne, Nov 2013
7. 11:36.888, Christie Foster, Jun 2014
8. 11:36.978, Micah Tate, Nov 2010
9. 11:46.578, Shannon Payne, May 2013
10. 11:49.130, Allie McLaughlin, Dec 2008