2021 HORSES WILD JOKER RACE – 1hr / 4hr / 7hr MTB & Trail Run

This year was the 2nd annual Horses Wild Joker event.  The first year was in 2019 and Rocky Road Adventures only had 4 participants; 2 trail runners and 2 MTB’ers/trail runners.  In 2020, the event was cancelled and the event came back this year.  Horses Wild was held on September 18th, 2021 on the MTB single-track trails at Barnes Canyon in Caliente Nevada.   In 2019, the event was either a 28k trail run or 30k duathlon (MTB & Trail Run combo).  This year, RRA, changed the event to a 1 hour, 4 hour, 7 hour continual loop race that either offered trail running, or mountain biking, or both.   The event was a different kind of twist to the overall win.  The participant that had the most elevation gain and most laps took the win.  There were 2 loops to choose from; mongoose course that was 8.8 miles and 1,154 ft of gain and primer course that was 3 miles and had 452 ft of gain.  It was all about how many laps of gain and miles they could get in the amount of time they signed up for; 1 hour, 4 hours, or 7 hours.

The event ended up being beyond fun!  We had trail runners and MTB’ers, young and old, and bipolar weather….very awesome.  The weather gave us rain, sunshine, humidity, warmth, and cold all in the 7 hours of racing.

The trails beat some of the participants and the remaining participants beat the trails!  Barnes Canyon MTB trails are awesome and have a little bit of everything to make you enjoy the scenery and pay attention.  Compared to 2019, RRA had 10 participants this year and within those 10 was 3 youth riders/runner.  RRA was beyond excited to have those 3 kiddos out there struggling but determined to finish what they started.

In the 1 Hr MTB/Trail Run Duathlon had one participant, Hannah Robins from St. George Utah took our overall finish with a total of 904 ft gain completing 2 laps of the 3 mile loop; one lap on her MTB and one running totaling 6 miles.

The 1 Hr MTB Race there were 2 participants; 1st place was Kaleb Nielson from McGill Nevada.  This young man at the age of 12 rode the big loop one time of 8.8 miles and had 1,154 ft gain.  2nd place went to my son, Austin Romans, who is from Dry Valley.  He accomplished 2 laps of the 3 mile course having a total of 904 ft gain and 6 miles.

In the 1 Hr Trail Run, there was two participants; Stacey Omar from Pioche Nevada and our youngest competitor of the event, Breanna Nielson from McGill Nevada.  Stacey and Breanna both completed only one lap of the 3 mile loop with both having the total elevation gain of 452 ft.  The tie breaker when off the fastest time.  Stacey received 1st place with a time of 48:18 and Breanna’s time was 1:58:54.  As stated before, Breanna also received our youngest participant award.

There was only one participant in any of the 7 Hr categories; Ian Floyd from Las Vegas Nevada entered into the 7 Hr Trail Run and completed 6 laps for a total of 29.6 miles and 4,118 ft gain.  He received 1st place and the furthest traveled to event.

The 4 Hr MTB / Trail Run went to the dad of the youngsters, Curtis Nielson from McGill Nevada.  He completed 3 laps, 1 lap of the 8.8 mile loop and 2 laps of the 3 mile loop.  He got a total of 2,059 ft gain and 14.8 miles.  He rode 2 laps and hiked one lap with his kiddo Breanna.  AWESOME DAD FOR SURE!!

In the 4 Hr MTB race, there were 3 competitors and they really hustled and brought it.  3rd place finisher went to Terry Donaho from Mesquite Nevada, he finished 2 laps of the 8.8 miles totally 17.6 miles and 2.310 ft gain.  2nd place went to the last youngster at event, Carter Nielson from McGill Nevada.  He completed 5 laps; one lap of the 8.8 mile and 4 laps of the 3 miles, totaling 20.8 miles and 2,963 ft gain.  He absolutely rocked it!!  Our 1st place finisher was Bryan Chesser from Caliente Nevada, he completed 4 laps of the 8.8 mile loop for a grand total of 4.620 ft gain and 35.2 miles.  The most miles and gain of all the competitors.

I am so proud of all these competitors and it was beyond fun.  I look forward to 2022 event and hope all and more come back.

A huge thank you’s need to go out to Tailwind Nutrition for sponsoring the event with their awesome and healthy product.  To my family…Jason, Austin, and Hannah for helping me with set up and clean up.  To Terry & Terri for their great work on the swag hats, sponsorship of this event, their help during the event, and their friendship.

And a huge congrats to all the participants, again well done.  Thank you for sharing this day and event with me.

~ Kristal Romans, Race Director/Owner