Tarzan of the Plains
Tony Krupicka: trail running's nature boy
By Adam W. Chase
As featured in the December 2007 issue of Running Times Magazine
Certain people leave an indelible mark on your memory, regardless how brief the meeting. Anton (Tony) Krupicka (pronounced "krew-PITCH-kuh") is one of those people. I first met him at the beginning of the Estes Park Marathon in June 2006. Perhaps it was his long hair and scraggly beard--making him look like a very fast hippy--that made him stand out from the five-man lead pack as we took off from the starting line of the nation's highest paved marathon. Maybe it was his ultra-minimalist approach: He wore only a beat-up pair of Nike waffle racers and frayed split shorts. Maybe it was his young, energetic brashness: I remember talking with him about the benefits of going light; that is, until he dusted our group before mile two. He went on to win the race in what remains the course record of 2:45:02.
Two months later, when I showed up to pace a friend at the Half Moon checkpoint, about three-quarters into the Leadville Trail 100, there was a palpable buzz about some young gun who was ripping up the course, leading second place by almost two hours. When I heard that people were calling him "Tarzan," I suspected he was my man Krupicka from the Estes race. Sure enough, Krupicka soon ran by in his signature style, bare-backed with his long hair flowing behind him in the mountain air. He ended up blowing away the field, winning in the second-fastest time ever. A year later, having won Leadville again 45 minutes faster than in 2006, people are starting to know his name, although for most purposes, "Tarzan" will do.
Like the fictional Edgar Rice Burroughs hero, this ardent 24-year-old seeks to "strip off the thin veneer of civilization," and not just clothing. He not only looks the part of Tarzan--tan, athletically built with the body fat percentage seen on many a milk carton and preferring to wear little more than Tarzan's loincloth--he also chooses sleeping spots not too different than Tarzan's tree perches.
The night before his first Leadville race he spent in a public restroom. This year, he ended up on a soccer pitch, complete with a drunken harmonica player to keep him awake. Not that Krupicka has an affinity for sleeping in such spots--he explains that he's just too cheap to spend the money for a hotel room and is irresponsible enough about that sort of thing that he wouldn't have booked a room early enough in advance anyway, because Leadville fills up long before race weekend.
This year, finding a "Closed Due to Vandalism" sign on last year's "surprisingly clean" restroom, Krupicka, girlfriend Jocelyn Jenks, and pacer Kyle Skaggs pitched a tent on the soccer field in the park. "Easy cheesy," says Krupicka. "I don't know. It just worked." Other than the drunken harmonica player, that is.