Colorado 200 Mile Endurance Run
Michele Yates
Co-Race Director
Wyatt Yates
Co-Race Director
Michele's passion for running began on the middle school cross country team and has grown ever since. Michele played soccer at Northern Michigan University before transferring to the University of Nevada of Las Vegas to run on the cross country and track teams. After graduating from college, Michele made the trek to Colorado to pursue her running dreams.
Michele is a 2x Olympic Trials qualifier in the marathon, has ran for the USA National Team at the Mountain Running World Champsionships, at the IAU Trail World Championships and twice at the North American Central American Caribbean Mountain Running Championships. She has completed over 20 marathons, including 9 wins and still holds numerous course records at the elite level. She is a 4x USATF National Champion in the ultra trail events and was named Ultra Runner of the Year in 2013 by Ultrarunning Magazine. Michele is excited to be a part of the Colorado 200 and be able to give back to the sport that has given her so much.
Eight years ago when Todd became a certified Emergency Medical Technician he never imagined it would lead to this. Todd is a former infantry marine and currently a nationally certified Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician with certifications in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, pre-hospital Trauma Life Support, and an EPIC traumatic brain injury trainer.
With a field and clinical background, Todd began volunteering for local races in Arizona for such events as Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, Mad Mud Run, the Xterra race series and the Old Pueblo 50 to name a few. Todd's passion for emergency medicine and the outdoors fueled his desire to become more involved in the ultra-running community. The highlight of this, so far, was accepting the position as Medical Director for the inaugural Tahoe 200 in September of 2014. With confidence, Todd is honored to take on the challenge of the Colorado 200.
Wyatt ran cross country and track during high school as a way to stay in shape for wrestling. After college, without wrestling and working long office hours, he started running again for health and to enjoy the beautiful Colorado outdoors. Little did he know that running in a local 5k would lead him to his wife, Michele.
Since then he has enjoyed time chasing his wife around to crew for her at ultras. He even got the ultra bug enough to try one out first hand at a local 50k, though he now prefers his shorter trail runs with their two dogs. When he isn't crewing for his wife, Wyatt can be found exploring the backcountry on a backpacking or hunting expedition. Wyatt is excited to be a part of the Colorado 200 and bring a safe, memorable and unique event to the Colorado high country for ultra runners.
Todd Nardi
Medical Director
Justine Helminiak
Volunteer Coordinator
The TEAM
A race of this magnitude takes a team effort. As such, we are always looking for passionate individuals that are interested in being a part of the team. If you are interested in joining the Colorado 200 Team, please contact us through the Contact Us page and we can discuss what opportunities are available.
From New Zealand, Justine moved to Sedona, AZ in 1999. It was in the red rocks she discovered her love of hiking the trails, although it wasn't until 10 years later she ran her first mile. She found her passion of trail running during a 24 hr relay while training for her 2nd marathon. She was hooked, 7 weeks later she ran her first 50 mile race. She is currently training for her 4th 100 miler, going for her 3rd finish.
Justine visits her daughter in Colorado and runs the CO trails as often as she can. Her dedication to the sport, her love of the ultra community, and being coached by Michele Yates, has fueled the opportunity to be involved at a grass roots level in this inaugural Colorado 200. Her love of slogging it out all night will ensure the best volunteers to help make the Colorado 200 your race of the year!