Local

Having to deal with insane heat, temperature swings of nearly 100 degrees, hard-to-navigate terrain and more didn’t seem to faze Garth Reader one bit.
In fact, it couldn’t have worked out a lot better.
Reader, 50, a local ultra-runner, finished in the top three among United States competitors and No. 9 in his age group at this month’s Marathon Des Sables, held in the western Sahara Desert in the country of Morocco.
Reader finished the race in 30 hours, 55 minutes, 57 seconds to finish 110th overall in the competition which featured more than 1,000 competitors.
“I exceeded all expectations going in,” said Reader of the nearly weeklong competition in northwestern Africa. “I thought I ran a pretty smart race. I ran a little conservative, not knowing what to expect.”
The race cuts right through the desert and is separated into five stages of varying length. Despite the race being run in one of the harshest environments in the world, it is well organized with volunteers and medical staff and the course is well marked so competitors don’t take a wrong turn somewhere.
In the race, along with having to deal with temperatures which peaked at 125 degrees and dropped down into the 30s, competitors are responsible for bringing along their own food and carry it with them.

Gold buying event will support LAHS athletics

Los Alamos High School’s athletic department is hosting a gold buying event May 5.
A certified and accredited gold buyer will be on hand between noon-4 p.m. that day to purchase unwanted gold, silver and platinum.
A portion of the proceeds from the buying event will go to benefit LAHS athletics and activities.
The gold purchase will be in the administration area of LAHS.
More information can be found by visiting golddoesgood.com.

Bower 5K race will benefit research for Alzheimer’s disease

A race to raise funds for Alzheimer’s disease research is scheduled for May 11.
The Jerry Bower Memorial Run will begin at 9 a.m. May 11 at the Betty Ehart Senior Center.
Price for participation is $25. T-shirts are available to participants.
Race registrations forms are available at several locations throughout Los Alamos County.
Registration forms may also be downloaded at atomicrunners.com.
More information is available by calling 672-1639.
 

Members of the Los Alamos Nukes and the Volcano Vista Hawks battle it out during an April 20 game at Sullivan Field. 

Baseball team is No. 10 in MaxPrep ratings

The Los Alamos Hilltopper baseball team is ranked No. 10 in Class 4A, according to the most recent MaxPreps.com ratings.
The website’s rankings, which have been sporadic at best this season, were released Sunday.
Heading into Wednesday’s game against Santa Fe, Los Alamos was the only District 2-4A team to crack the top 10. Española Valley (15-5 overall, 5-2 in 2-4A) was in the No. 14 spot and Bernalillo, Santa Fe and Capital were the Nos. 23, 24 and 26 teams in the 26-school class.
Piedra Vista (12-8) was the No. 1 team in 4A this week, ahead of Goddard (13-3) and Farmington (15-7). Los Alamos and Española Valley were the two lowest-ranked teams in the state with above-.500 records.

Piedra Vista tops softball rankings, LA is 12th