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Best Mascot

The Twins

Okay, okay: Betty Fitzgerald Hoover and Peggy Fitzgerald Coppom, known collectively as the Twins, aren't traditional mascots for CU-Boulder, which already has a fine one (hello, Ralphie). Instead, they're something better: a wonderful symbol of how love of sports can last a lifetime. The ninety-something pair first became CU football season-ticket holders in 1957, adding men's and women's basketball games to their schedule 22 years later. Since then, the sisters, who dress identically and seem to get more adorable with each passing decade, have been cherished by generations of athletes and fans — and we hope that continues for a long time to come.

Readers' choice: Rocky

Best Roller Derby Name

Sweet Mary Pain

Quick — what's Colorado's fastest-growing recreational pursuit? You know, besides that. Sweet Mary Pain, aka Emily Lucks, is co-captain of the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls' all-star 5280 Fight Club travel team, and also skates as both blocker and smokin'-fast jammer for Dooms Daisies, one of five gloriously named RMRG home teams (the others are Kill Scouts, United States Pummeling Service, Sugar Kill Gang, and Red Ridin' Hoods). No one is better at name games than Colorado skaters.

Readers' choice: Daisy Dukes-Up

Best New Roller Derby Team

Ground Control

The Denver Roller Dolls rebranded themselves as the Denver Roller Derby this year — the league's tenth — partly to mark the addition of a new traveling men's team, Ground Control. The latter joins the high-flying women's traveling teams Mile High Club, Bruising Altitude and the Standbys, and was just accepted into the growing Men's Roller Derby Association. For now, the gents are thrilled to be following the ladies' lead: Led by Tim "Dirt Monkey" Burns and Scott "Scott Free" Paul, Ground Control is coached by Bruising Altitude blocker Lisa "RockScar" Cassell and Tracy "Disco" Akers, a founding member of the Roller Dolls and longtime star of the Mile High Club.

Best Full-Throttle Fun for Women

The Scarlet Headers

Riding motorcycles isn't just for the boys: Each week, the Scarlet Headers, a group of hog-riding women who promote equality in the world of motorcycling, come together to ride, gear up on motorcycle maintenance and support rookie riders. The group's goal is to encourage women to be comfortable in the scene, and the Headers welcome all interested parties with open arms and a spare helmet.

Best Twerking Workout

Twerkshop

If you've ever had the inclination to practice your best Miley moves, the Twerkshop at Tease dance studio is the perfect place to burn some cals while learning a sexy new routine. You'll be dancing to some sick beats, for sure, but don't be fooled: This is a high-energy cardio class, and nobody's wasting time twerking in place. You'll be catwalking and crab-crawling across the floor and back before you know it, bouncing, laughing, and shaping your badonkadonk in the process.

Best Yoga With Live Music

Karma Yoga Center

In Hinduism, "bhakti" means love and devotion — and that's what Katrina Gustafson's classes are all about. As the owner of Karma Yoga, Gustafson incorporates bhakti elements into every class and encourages her instructors to do the same. The best offering is Thursday night's Live Music Bhakti Flow class, with drumming from musician Zay Alejandro Rios, locally renowned for his work at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. This class gets packed, with upwards of thirty students doing an active asana series that culminates in freestyle dance followed by a shavasana (deep relaxation) set against soft piano. Drop in for $15, or buy a package and save.

Best Yoga With Scenery

#Yograffiti by @lafitara

For a sweet new hashtag showing off Denver in all its glory, check out @lafitara's #yograffiti on Instagram to see the Denver resident flexing and posing in mind-boggling fashion in front of street art and city buildings, showcasing often-overlooked parts of the 5280. The #yograffiti project started with ad agency and photographer friends @giggletron4k and @tsirotek, a talented and creative bunch whose aim is to bring visibility to Mile High artists and culture and fitness enthusiasts. If you're wondering how this flexy chick gets her body to bend like that, well, you're not alone. Inversions, man.

Best Free Outdoor Workout Group

The November Project

It's not easy to run, climb, jump or do lunges before the sun comes up — much less in inclement weather. But it helps when you get support and hugs from fellow members of the November Project. The group, which is an officially sanctioned part of Civic Center Moves, takes free outdoor fitness to a new level with its early-morning workouts in Civic Center and other city parks. The collectively nicknamed Tribe promotes an active lifestyle, team-building and accountability — meaning you're supposed to be there regardless of conditions — but all fitness levels are welcome, and the workouts are adaptable. Expect Taylor Swift songs, some burpees and a positivity award handed out after a solid chunk of time spent running. Oh, and someone might spray-paint "November Project 5280" onto your T-shirt as an official welcome.

Best Place to Work Out Like Nadia Comaneci

Awaken Gymnastics Inspired Fitness

Awaken is not your average gym. It doesn't feature rows and rows of treadmills, sweaty exercise bikes and back-to-back episodes of House Hunters International playing on wall-mounted TVs. Instead, the sunny studio on Santa Fe is filled with rings, bars and a pommel horse, and offers classes such as Handstand Strength and Gymnastics Foundations. If you've ever dreamed of sticking the landing like Olympian Nadia Comaneci, or of building rock-hard abs and Michelle Obama arms in a fun atmosphere with no HGTV, Awaken is your spot.

Best Place for a NERF War

PATH Movement

By day, PATH Movement is the country's only fully customizable parkour gym, offering patrons new ways to jump, swing and climb on its movable obstacle course each day. But on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, the place becomes a NERF war zone, a fully stocked tactical training facility offering guns and ammo of the foam variety for hours of fun-infused combat. Learn battle strategies through PATH's NERF Madness sessions and then take that knowledge into its NERF Warz, where sixteen-person teams go head-to-head in glorious, all-out foam-ammunition-loaded scrimmages.

8000 S. Lincoln St., Littleton
720-443-1164

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