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When it comes to uphill running, ignorance usually isn’t bliss. Course familiarization helps.

While most of the 275 runners — representing 18 states and three different countries — toed the Vail Hill Climb start line Saturday morning knowing they’d signed up for a suffer fest, Milaina Almonte made her first try at the 7.7-mile, 2,200 foot ascent to Mid-Vail look easy.

“My strategy was to start pretty conservative. I didn’t want to push it not knowing how steep it got. I had no idea, really, how long it was,” Almonte said after winning the 49th-annual race in a time of 59 minutes, 32 seconds. Despite being her debut, the 19-year-old did know there were some rolling sections in the top half of the course.

“Once I felt that, I tried to pick it up and push myself more,” said the former Battle Mountain star, who went stride-for-stride down the gravel homestretch with Eagle Valley alumnus Jackson Filmore.

Lakewood’s Emily Lane (1:03:32) and Fort Collins’ Sophie Anders (1:04:41) rounded out the women’s podium with uphill legend Kim Dobson coming in fourth (1:06:43). While Dobson holds course records at many of the country’s most famous ascents — including Pikes Peak and Mount Baldy () — Almonte’s time is the fastest on the new Vail course going back to at least 2016.

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Annie Bersagel (1:00:57) won that year, three-time XTERRA World Champion Lesley Paterson (1:01:55) took the victory in 2017 and Dobson won in both 2018 (59:58) and 2021 (58:54). But the latter race concluded on a trail (not the usual fire road) for the final seven-tenths of a mile. Meanwhile, Bailey Kowalczyk ran 1:03.04 to win on a modified course in 2020, and the last three champions were Janelle Lincks (2022, 1:02.26), Maggie Berry (2023, 1:07:29) and Alayna Szuch (2024, 1:00:36), respectively.

On the men’s side, Josh Ernst continued his skyrocketing progression in the uphill scene. After running 1:02:32 to finish 13th overall in 2022, he sliced more than six minutes off his time in . On Saturday, the Breckenridge runner ran 53:03 to claim the win.

“Today was just a full effort from the beginning and I felt really good,” the 30-year-old said.

Colin Cornbog of Portland, Maine took the pace out hard, gapping Ernst by roughly 50 meters in the flat opening road mile through Vail Village. But Ernst locked into his rhythm once he hit the gravel, tracking Cornbog down before the 3-mile mark. He pushed every steep switchback, pulling away on the 12% grades past Post Road and icing the victory on the final kicker onto Main Vail Road.

“I knew it was going to be a fast start. For me, I just go hard from the beginning. One pace all the way out,” Ernst said. “This year I felt pretty good, I was able to keep it. Last year I sort of died near the end.”

With the 50th-anniversary coming next July, Sally Clair — who has completed every Vail Hill Climb since it’s inception — said, “one more,” after crossing the finish line in 2:14:15.

“Yeah I’m going to do it. For sure. Why not?” Clair said of next year’s race. As for whether or not it will be her last, she said she’s “taking it year by year.” The 75-year-old is a multi-time winner of the event, which she helped start.

“Some of the earlier ones were really fun when we went up to Lionshead because there were kegs of beer at the finish,” she said. “We’d have a beer and then run back down the mountain.”

Clair stays fit hiking up Berry Picker to Mid-Vail or making the trek to Cougar Ridge when she comes over from her Edwards home. She works out with fellow uphill enthusiast Ellen Miller on Mondays and joins a hiking group on Tuesdays and Fridays, always accumulating between 3-8 miles of walking a day. While she can’t run the Vail Hill Climb anymore, the challenge and history brings her back every year.

“We’re just so fortunate,” she said. “The older I get, the more I appreciate my life and I can still do this. And I feel it’s an honor that I can still do this.”

After setting personal bests in the 1500 meters this spring, Almonte will head back to Santa Clara as one of the Broncos’ top returners for the fall cross-country campaign.

“It’s going to be good to step into that leadership position,” she said.

Ernst, who competed at Broken Arrow two weeks ago, is targeting the Mammoth TrailFest in September. The former Minnesota State University Moorhead runner keeps his weekly running below 40 miles and typically trains on the bike after races to fend off shin splints. He’ll return for a pair of upcoming Vail Recreation District races: the 10K at 10,000 feet later this month and Berry Picker on Aug. 2.

He’s never run the latter event — another uphill-only trail running competition — but plans to follow Almonte’s lead and go for the win in his debut.

“I’m looking forward to that,” he said. “If there’s a hill, I’m going to hit it as hard as I can.”