The Flat Top’s West Elk Trail was the postcard setting for Saturday’s high altitude running event held in memory of New Castle’s William DuBois. Captain DuBois lost his life defending our country when his F-16 crashed in the Middle East on December 1, 2014.

Pyro’s “Push it Up” Trail Run, which includes races of 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles), 7.7k (4.8 miles), and 13k (8 miles), was started last summer by Donna and Ham Dubois, to honor their fallen son, and to raise money for a scholarship fund that will help future pilots and their families.

Surrounded by aspen trees and a plentiful array of wildflowers, Donna DuBois reflected on the days of the past spent with her son.

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“Today is one day before Will’s birthday,” said DuBois, as she looked around at the beautiful scenery and the racers reveling at the post-race barbecue. “This area is where our family did so many things together. We went camping, and hiking. We came up here to get our Christmas tree each year. It’s the only setting we thought of for this race.”

On Saturday, just over 90 participants made the trek up to the Western Colorado high country to get some exercise and pay tribute to an American hero. In the longest version of the day’s races, Glenwood Springs High School sophomore Henry Barth, who has competed in many local races this summer, came out on top in the 8 mile run. The steep, rugged terrain of the Flat Tops didn’t seem to slow Barth’s piston-like stride one little bit.

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“I’ve been trying to get in some longer runs this summer,” said Barth, who will begin cross country practice for the Demons on Monday. “The longer races are more of my thing than the shorter ones, but I’m hoping to go out faster this fall during cross country season and have a good kick at the end.”

New Castle’s Josh Hejtmanek came to the finish line behind Barth in second place. Hejtmanek, who said he is starting to “Pass the torch” to some of his younger competitors, recorded an excellent time of 1 hour, 4 minutes, 45 seconds, while Barth’s winning effort put him at 1:03:53.

Kathryn Ruggles was the women’s winner with a time of 1:27:45. Caryn Hettler was next at 1:29:00.

In the shorter 4.8 mile Pyro’s Run, Maggie Romance, a social studies teacher at the Riverside Middle School in New Castle, made a strong surge in the latter stages of the race to post a winning time of 44 minutes, 20 seconds. Romance was trailing during the middle portion of the race, but opened up the pace in the hilly last mile to claim the victory. Richard Sandrock also made a late charge to finish in second place with a time of 44:45.

United States Captain William “Pyro” DuBois would have turned 31 years old today, August 14.

Top Ten Overall (*Female), 8 Miles

1. Henry Barth, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 53 seconds: 2. Josh Hejtmanek, 1:04:45; 3. Ryan Wilch, 1:20:35; 4. Eddie Murray, 1:20:35; 5. Alex Tapia, 1:20:35; 6. Bob Byram, 1:21:10; 7. Bob DuBois, 1:26:59; 8. Kathryn Ruggles*, 1:27:45; 9. Caryn Hettler*, 1:29:00; 10. Gregory Liquori, 1:29:51.

4.8 Mile

1. Maggie Romance*, 44 minutes, 20 seconds; 2. Richard Sandrock, 44:45; 3. Johnny Utah, 44:56; 4. Charlie Marley, 45:02; 5. Sue Bilstad*, 45:48; 6. Brandon DuBois, 47:47; 7. Brackett Pollard, 49:14; 8. Matthew Barrett, 50:42; 9. Jennifer Huck*, 50:45; 10. Christopher Magrin, 51:54.