Chad Ricklefs, A'85 - Burke Mountain Academy

Alumni
Spotlight
Chad Ricklefs, BMA ’85
by Teo Jackson
C had Ricklefs, BMA ’85, is a Senior
Environmental Planner in Boulder, Colorado,
where he lives with his wife Samantha. He
has been pursuing ultramarathon running for 10 years and
recently reached an all-time high in his career, placing 17th
overall at the 2007 IAU 100KM World Cup in September in
Winschoten, Netherlands. Chad’s time of 7:01 was a personal
best and helped the U.S. team capture the bronze medal
behind Japan and Russia respectively. This race also served as
the World Masters Championships where he placed 3rd in the
40-44 age group.
Teo Jackson – Chad, what were some of the milestones in
your early athletic career?
Chad Ricklefs – I was introduced to alpine skiing in the early
70’s at Ski Roundtop (Pennsylvania) when I was five years old
and began racing when was about nine or ten years old. As a
kid I was always active in the typical sports (baseball, soccer,
etc.) as well as showing my ponies in local horse shows and
combined training events. When I was 14 I started racing my
road bike and I quickly fell in love with that sport. I progressed
through the junior ranks, eventually competing in the Junior
National Road Cycling Championships in the summer while
competing at the national level in Alpine skiing during the
winter while at BMA. As an Alpine racer I participated in a
U.S. Ski Team Camp where I had mediocre results on the hill
but excelled in the physical fitness tests. It wasn’t until my
freshman year in college at the University of Colorado that I
finally realized I reached what I thought was my potential as
a scrawny 130 pound Alpine racer. During that freshman year
I returned to BMA as a PG and started to race Nordic with the
support of John Sackett.
TJ – Tell us briefly about your life since BMA; college, career,
hobbies (running), plans for the future, and the like.
CR – After my PG year at BMA I returned to the University
of Colorado and graduated in 1990 with a BA in environmental
conservation and political science. I continued to chase my
dream of being a professional endurance athlete for a few
years; racing bikes in the summer and Nordic skiing during
the winter while working odd jobs when I was strapped for
cash. In 1993 I married my wife Samantha; a Boulder native
who also raced bikes. In 1997 we moved to BMA where
we were dorm parents in Witherell House while I was the
Director of Admissions and JIII coach. It was during this time
back at Burke that I started running ultramarathons. I entered
my first 50 kilometer and 50 mile races in the fall of 1998 and
won both of them. Right away I was hooked!
TJ – Explain your current job as a Senior Environmental
Planner.
CR – We moved back to Boulder in 2000 and I enrolled
in the University of Colorado’s master’s program for
environmental planning. Since getting my master’s degree I
have been working as an environmental planner on National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) projects. NEPA requires
federal agencies to consider the environmental impacts
of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to
those actions. These analysis are commonly referred to as
environmental impact statements (EISs) and environmental
assessments (EAs). As a sub-consultant to the National Park
Service, Bureau of Land Management, Federal Highway

Administration, and other agencies I manage the preparation
of EISs and EAs. I think that I always knew I wanted to
eventually work to help protect the natural environment, and
I am sure spending so much time in the Northeast Kingdom
had something to do with that.
TJ – What have BMA’s values taught you about life after
high school and college? Were there any Burke principles that
carried over and proved useful?
CR – Of course BMA has had a major influence on how I
have approached life. The values that BMA is based on have
carried over into my personal and work life. Growing up in
the BMA community provided a solid foundation based on
trust and honesty. These values have helped me forge strong
relationships with professional clients as well as with family
members.
TJ – How has the close-knit community of BMA affected you
positively or negatively in the real world? What has it taught
you?
CR – I think that the closeness of the BMA community
taught me to respect other people’s beliefs and values which
has been invaluable in my professional career. I think that
the one downfall of living in such a small community was
trying to integrate into a large community at CU. Moving to
Boulder from East Burke as an 18-year old was a challenge.
There definitely wasn’t that close-knit feeling like BMA. It took
awhile to remove myself from the distractions and focus on
what was important to me, athletics and education.
TJ – What did Burke prepare you well for? What did Burke
not prepare you for?
CR – As I just mentioned, I think that I wasn’t really prepared
for the realities of life in a town like Boulder. Being somewhat
isolated from “distractions” at BMA may have made it easier
for me to focus on my athletics and education. However, BMA
definitely provided me with the skills to set goals and to go
after them like there was no tomorrow; both athletically and
professionally.
TJ – Boulder is an obvious choice of residence for a runner of
your caliber, how has the active lifestyle there allowed you to
pursue, and excel, as a long distance runner?
CR – For me Boulder is the ideal location to train. Being
surrounded by world class cyclists, marathoners, triathletes,
etc. provides excellent motivation. It is uncommon to not run
into some world class athlete during a training run. I have also
been lucky to hook up with a great coach, Mark Plaatjes (1993
world marathon champion), who is also my physical therapist.
Another benefit of living in Boulder is the ability to train at
altitude.
TJ – How does your job allow you to be a long distance
runner? I’m sure a quick hour long run around the track isn’t
what prepares you for an ultramarathon. And was your choice
of career affected by your desire to run?
CR – Fortunately my employer is flexible and allows me
to train when I need to. Although running between 1 and 2
½ hours before work still requires me to be on the roads by
5 a.m. ( and I thought the 6:45 morning runs at BMA were
early). I like to get my run in before work so that I don’t have
to worry about escaping from work to go run.
TJ – On the same note, tell us a little about your training.
What’s it take to be an ultramarathoner?
CR – As you can imagine, training for ultramarathons
requires spending a lot of time on the roads and trails. A
typical week during the peak of my season includes intervals,
hill repeats, or tempo workouts on Tuesday and Friday (1 ½ to
2 hours per session), a 2 – 2 ½ hour run on Wednesday, and an
easy 1 hour recovery run on Thursday. My runs on weekends
range between 2 to 6 hours depending on what race distance I
am preparing for. For example, I was doing 6 hour runs on both
Saturday and Sunday leading up to my 100 mile trail races. I
also have learned that as I get older I need to spend two days
in the weight room to help avoid injuries. As you can see, my
days are pretty packed so there is not a lot of time to spend on
things other than training and work. Competing at the level I
do in ultras while also having a full time professional career
has forced me to make many sacrifices. I know that I only
have a few more years left in me at the elite level; after that
there will be plenty of time to relax and enjoy some snackies!
TJ – You recently placed 17th overall, 3rd for your age
category, in an IAU 100 km World Cup in the Netherlands,
reaching a personal best time of 7:01. What was this
experience like? How did it feel to be all the way over in
Europe and have such a great race, competing for the USA
Track and Field’s 100 km Ultramarathon Team?
CR – Last year’s World 100 Kilometer Championships was an
incredible experience. After nearly 25 years of pursuing my
dream of competing at an international level championship,
I finally was able to live that dream. Racing in Europe is
awesome! As you can imagine, ultrarunning in the U.S. is
not very popular so the crowds and interest in races is small.
Europeans live for obscure sports like ultras, cycling, Nordic
skiing, etc., so the crowds are always large and in typical
fashion very boisterous! Competing in a USA uniform was
inspiring and I am sure helped me run a personal best time
for the 100 kilometer distance. I have already qualified for
the 2008 U.S. World 100 Kilometer Championships team and
have started preparing for that event (being held in Italy in
November). My goal is to improve on my overall pacing by
finishing in the top ten. This year’s course has some hills
which will play into my strength. n