"We had a last minute entry from Lance Armstrong, which came as a huge surprise for us all and made for great racing," reports race spokeswoman Erica Reiter.
Race organizers first learned Armstrong would be racing when he tweeted about it the night before the race.
Via press release:
"The Crested Butte Alpine Odyssey (AO) had an outstanding turnout with over 270 racers and a last minute entry from Lance Armstrong (Austin, Texas), 7-time winner of the Tour de France, Leadville Trail 100 winner and cancer survivor. With an enthusiastic crowd of about 300 people cheering the racers on, Armstrong came across the finish line first for yet another victory to add to his collection.
After 63 miles, a snow field 200 yards in length and over 7,500 feet of vertical climbing, Armstrong won the race by three seconds, beating Greg Krause (Littleton, Colo.) with a time of 4:32:21. Local racer Travis Scheefer (Crested Butte, Colo.), racing for Team Alpine Orthopaedics, took third overall with a time of 4:33:48, after leading the race for most of the day.
Rebecca Rusch (Ketchum, Idaho)(Specialized), two-time champion of the Leadville Trail 100 (LT100) and women's LT100 course record holder, led the women across the finish line with a time of 4:51:37. Jennifer Smith (Crested Butte, Colo.) (Team Alpine Orthopaedics) took second finishing in 4:54:39 and Jari Kirkland (Crested Butte, Colo.) (Team Alpine Orthopaedics) came in third with a time of 5:08:41."
After the race Armstrong tweeted, "Helluva fun ride today in CB for the @ltrail100 qualifier. Beautiful course. Squeaked out a "W" somehow. Full body cramp at the end."
