For the week of Sept 25 - Oct 1, 2002

173 conquer Baldy in annual Hill Climb

Leugers is women’s winner a ninth time

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Nine-time Baldy Hill Climb women’s winner Adrienne Leugers completes another remarkable climb to the summit. Express photo by Willy Cook

Ketchum’s Adrienne Leugers captured her ninth Baldy Hill Climb women’s title Saturday as the 23rd annual event drew 173 runners and hikers to the Warm Springs course.

Leugers, 43, won her fourth straight Baldy climb in 44:55, good for 18th place of 111 racers. Her finishing times the past four years have all been between 44 and 45 minutes.

The first-time men’s winner was Ryan Schmidt, 25, in 37:15, a minute faster than last year’s champion Whitney Albright. Schmidt’s final time was 2:04 behind the course record set by Michael Tobin in 1989.

Leading the hikers with a remarkable 50:41 finish was 14-year-old Alexa Turzian, who also won the "From the Shop to the Top" five-mile hiking ascent up River Run Aug. 24. Turzian’s time was nine minutes faster than her 2001 Baldy climb.

The top three men in Saturday’s Baldy Hill Climb were, from left, race winner Ryan Schmidt, second-place Whitney Albright and third-place Fred Mebley III, who continued the time-honored hill climb tradition of competing under a different name. Express photo by Willy Cook

The event was sponsor as a fundraiser for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF).

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