Senovio Torres nearly died two years ago. On Sunday, he set an age-group record in the Pikes Peak Marathon.

By Bob Stephens

PikesPeakSports.us

The Pikes Peak Marathon's best comeback story might belong to 60-year-old Senovio Torres of Cordova, N.M. In his 17th round-trip on Pikes Peak, Torres finished 18th (4:48:31) and set an age-group record (male, 60-64).

The previous record had stood since 1993 when Verne Carlson mastered the mountain in 4:56:51.

But Torres was just happy to be running. A year after he ran the Pikes Peak Marathon five years ago, he broke a foot during training. The next year, he contracted fungi meningitis.

“I was in the hospital for 10 days and almost died,” he said. “I had IV antibiotics for two months. I wasn’t running at all, but started training again two years ago and decided to go for it this year.”

Torres said he got sick five days after retiring as a videographer specialist in Los Alamos, N.M.

“This is my second marathon since I got sick,” he said. “Last October, I ran the Dukes City Marathon in Albuquerque (N.M.).”

Torres said he’s competed in approximately 50 marathons in his career, highlighted when he was 41 and won the U.S. Track and Field Masters championship.

So, how long will he continue to compete?

Torres smiled, and simply said, “There are a lot of age group records to be broken.”

DOUBLE TROUBLE: She’s a veteran of both the Pikes Peak Ascent and Pikes Peak Marathon – at the tender age of 21 – and now Megan Kunkel is a champion.

She won the “Doubler Award” for best combined time among female competitors (8:49:15) in the two races on back-to-back days. Kunkel did the Ascent on Saturday in 3:23:38 and then placed third in the marathon on Sunday in 5:25:37, a 10-minute improvement from a year ago.

She’s a Rampart High School graduate and a Colorado State University student majoring in biomedical sciences. The future doctor first did the Ascent at age 16. She ran the marathon at ages 17 and 18, and has doubled the difficult races the last three years.

“I honestly had no idea that I could win,” she said. “There were a couple of others signed up for both, and they’re super-fast so I didn’t know if I could beat them.”

Kunkel broke the age-group record (female, 20-24) for doublers that she set last year by nearly 11 minutes. She also beat her 18-year-old brother Forest, who was the event’s youngest “doubler.” Her mother, Ann Labosky, also did the marathon.

“I ran up today with Forest and I was feeling good, so I went on,” Kunkel explained.

Kunkel raced her first ultra, the 50-miler San Juan Solstice in Lake City, Colo., in June, with her mom and brother.

“Every year, I can’t believe the devotion she puts into doing this,” said her father, Ken Kunkel, who wore a shirt from the Leadville (Colo.) 100 he ran a year ago. “I couldn’t be more proud of her, for so many reasons.”

The 21-year-old said, “It was a fun day out there today. The people here make it a great time. The committee makes it so much fun. It’s why I keep coming back every year.”

But she wasn't the fastest doubler of the weekend. That title goes to Jason Delaney of Polson, Mont., who clocked 2:16:17 - and placed seventh - in the Pikes Peak Ascent on Saturday, then followed with a 3:57:26 run in the marathon - good for second place - on Sunday. His combined time of 6:13:43 is an age-group record, but short of the all-time record.

"I have a better doubler time than everyone not named Matt Carpenter," Delaney joked.

Carpenter placed second in the 1989 Pikes Peak Ascent (2:08:25) and won the marathon (3:39:26) for a combined 5:47:51.