Scenes From 19th Annual Butterfly Run

Runners take off at the start of the Butterfly Run June 18 at the Pojoaque Wellness Center. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
 
Los Alamos High School boys track and field coach Stephen Montoya was fourth in the 10-kilometer race at the Butterfly Run. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com/ladailypost.com
 
Lindsey Montoya, a coach at Los Alamos Middle School, took second in the women’s division of the 10-kilometer run at the Butterfly Run. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com

 

By GEORGE MORSE 
Sports and Outdoors
Los Alamos Daily Post
 
The 19th annual Butterfly Run hosted by the Pojoaque Wellness Center has seen its share of world-class runners over the years, including 2015 Boston Marathon winner Caroline Rotich of Santa Fe. There were no international stars this year but there was a good group of local runners that included athletes young and old.
 
Taking a break from his duties as track and field coach of the Los Alamos High School boys track and field team was Stephen Montoya, who was joined by his wife Lindsey in the 10-kilometer run. Montoya finished a respectable third overall with a time of 44 minutes, 24 seconds. He was second in the 40-49 year-old age division.
 
“This is my time to be in shape and do what I like to do,” Coach Montoya said.
 
Lindsey Montoya came in 9th overall and second in the women’s 30-39 year-old age group. Also a coach at Los Alamos Middle School, her time was 47 minutes, 31 seconds.
 
“She’s tough,” Coach Montoya said. “She makes me work.”
 
The winner of the men’s 10-kilometer race was Erwin Sagche of Santa Fe with a time of 33 minutes, 47 seconds. Although 12-year-old Joseph Romero of Santa Fe was listed as finishing second on the results print out, he actually finished 26 th in the 5-kilometer. Guillermo Caneda of El Prado was second in the men’s division. Calvin Waquie of Jemez Pueblo was fourth overall and Nathaniel Earls of Santa Fe was fifth.
 
Jamie Dawes of Rio Rancho was the first female runner to cross the finish line in 45 minutes, 44 seconds. Lindsey Montoya was second. Judith Merriweather of Chimayo took third. Diane Aragon of New Laguna was tourth and Michelle Holland of Chimayo fifth overall in the women’s division.
 
The winner of the men’s 5-kilometer race, run in conjunction with the 10-kilometer race, was Nathan Blim. From East Texas and now living in Santa Fe, the former runner for Southern Arkansas College crossed the finish line with a time of 24 minutes, 17 seconds.
 
“The altitude definitely got to me,” he said.
 
Patrick Ortiz, former state cross country state champion and coach of the state champion Pecos High School cross country team, came in second. Gilbert “Gilly” Valdez of Dixon, just 12 years old, took third among the men. Another youngster, 11-year-old Gregory Ortiz of Pecos, was fourth. The fifth runner was Albuquerque’s Geno Higgins. Another Pecos resident and a third member of the Ortiz clan, Isaac, came in sixth.
 
In the women’s division, Amy Higgins of Albuquerque came in first with a time of 25 minutes, 41 seconds. Espanola’s Cindy VanAndel of El Centro Health Care was second. Elizabeth Towles of Chimayo, just 11 years old, was third. Hannah Shoemaker of New York was fourth and Cami Riley of Laguna was fifth.
 
Well represented in the 5-kilometer was the Tiede family of Chimayo. Lucas Tiede, 12, came in 15th overall and 11th in the mens division. Matias Tiede, 10, was 25th overall and 16th. Andres Tiede, 15, was 31st and 18th in the men’s division.
 
Ojo Caliente’s Joel Martinez was 11th overall and seventh in the men’s division. Jared Martinez, who will be organizing the upcoming Torch Run at the Espanola Onate Fiesta, came in right behind him. A third Martinez, Jarrod just 14 years old, came in 14th overall and 10th in the men’s division.
 
After the 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer races, there was a one-mile kids run with the boys and girls winners getting bicycles. Gregory Ortiz, who had run in the 5-kilometer race, came in first. The first female runner was Elizabeth Towles, who also ran in the 5-kilometer race.
 
The Butterfly run is held on Father’s Day every year.
 
Amy Higgins of Albuquerque took first place in the 5-kilometer race at the Butterfly Run. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
 
Jamie Dawes of Rio Rancho took first in the women’s 10-kilometer run at the Butterfly Run. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
 
Elizabeth Towles of Chimayo was third in the women’s division of the 5-kilometer race at the Butterfly Run. She was also first female to finish the one-mile kids run and won a bicycle. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
 
Gilbert ‘Gilly’ Valdez of Dixon was third in the men’s 5-kilometer run at the Butterfly Run. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
 
Gregory Ortiz of Pecos, 11, took first place in the one-mile kids race and won a bicycle. He also took fourth place in the 5-kilometer run. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
 
Nathan Blim of Santa Fe was the first runner to cross the finish line in the 5-kilometer run at the Butterfly Run Sunday at the Pojoaque Wellness Center. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
 
Espanola’s Cindy VanAndel of El Centro Health Care took second place in the 5-kilometer race at the Butterfly Run. Photo by George Morse/ladailypost.com
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