Acosta tops Atomic City Road Runners Pace Race at Pajarito Complex

Eliverio Acosta came closest to his predicted time in the Atomic City Road Runners’ latest Pace Race, finishing just 11 seconds off at the Pajarito Complex on Arizona Avenue. The weekly run once again mixed competition with community as neighbors tracked their own pace against the clock across routes that reward precision as much as speed.

Behind Acosta, Felix Candia finished 18 seconds off his prediction, Warren Scoggins was 28 seconds off, Madeline Harms and Conor Gavin tied at 33 seconds off, and Zach Medin was 36 seconds off. The close spreads are part of what has kept the Tuesday tradition alive in Los Alamos County for decades: runners and walkers are not racing each other as much as they are chasing their own estimate.

The one-mile course brought out some of the youngest competitors in the field. Eight-year-old Ivana Velechovsky was the best finisher on that route with a time of 10:22, while 5-year-old Ryder Hetrick was the first male at 11:43. Those results fit the club’s family-oriented model, which has long made the Pace Race one of the few local athletic events where children, adults and walkers all share the same course on the same evening.

On the longer side, Eric Anderson led the three-mile finishers in 21:30, and Lynn Bjorklund was first female in 30:58. The mix of familiar names, from Anderson to Bjorklund, alongside regulars such as Candia and Medin, points to a stable running community that keeps showing up across Los Alamos trails and neighborhood roads.

The Atomic City Road Runners Club, founded in 1974, says its Pace Race meets every Tuesday from April through October and lets participants choose 1 mile, 2 miles or 3 miles. The club says even the slowest walker can win if the finish time is closest to the prediction, a format that keeps the event open to runners, walkers and families looking for a reason to stay active together.

The next Pace Race is set for Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in the Quemazon complex, starting at Quemazon Montessori School. That run will offer 1-mile paved and 3-mile hybrid routes, continuing a 52nd season that has already sent the club from Canyon Rim Trail to Canada Bonita Trail and now into another corner of Los Alamos County.