Wadsworth wins
again, in a photo finish
Record 869 finish
Boulder Tour
If any of
the Olympic cross-country ski races end like Saturday’s Wells Fargo
Boulder Mountain Ski Tour, the 2002 Winter Olympics will be an event to
remember.
The top
three Boulder Tour men, from left, second-place Carl Swenson, 31, of
Boulder and Dartmouth; winner Justin Wadsworth, 33, of Bend; and
third-place Tor Arne Hetland, 27, of the Norwegian Olympic team. Express
photo by Willy Cook
In a
photo-finish precursor to Soldier Hollow, three-time U.S. Olympian Justin
Wadsworth (1.16:01.1) beat teammate and 1998-2000 Boulder king Carl
Swenson (1.16:01.4) by 3/100ths of a second to win the 27th annual tour
from Galena Lodge to the SNRA headquarters.
Tor Arne
Hetland, a skier on the Norwegian Olympic team training in Sun Valley, was
third by a hair.
In the lead
pack were U.S. Olympians Andrew Johnson in fourth and Patrick Weaver
fifth. Nathan Schultz, the 2001 American Ski Marathon champ, was sixth and
Ketchum's Peter Webb was seventh.
It was
Wadsworth's second consecutive victory in the 32-kilometer (19.8 mile)
Boulder Tour. On a cold and clear morning, a record 869 of the 990
registered participants crossed the finish line.
In the
women's division, Suzanne King of Bend, Ore. finally stood atop the
podium, after a third-place finish last year.
King, 37,
won the women's overall title in 1:26.10. Brooke Baughman, 29, of Ketchum
(1.26:13) was second and Kelly Milligan, 40, of Salt Lake City (1.26:13).
The race
also featured seven disabled skiers including Paralympians and World
Champions gold medalists Candace Cable of Truckee and Bob Balk of Long
Beach, Ca., and disabled team member Scott McNiece of Florida.
On a
supremely sunny day, six of 186 locals skied well enough to win their age
class.
Besides
Baughman, class winners from the Wood River Valley were Gabriele Andersen,
Joanne Davis, Del Pletcher, Andy Andrews, Marvin Melville and 75-year-old
Charley French.
Scotty
Phelan of Ketchum traded in his hockey skates for skis and was one of
three 10-year-olds to complete the course.
Check the
Express web site for complete results and see next week’s Local Life for
more Boulder Tour photos.