For the week of June 25 - July 1, 2003

A unique trip over Galena Summit

Sawtooth Relay is staged

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By MICHAEL AMES 
Express Staff Writer

The 12th annual Sawtooth Relay was a smooth success this past weekend for 112 teams and four solo individuals.
Under sunny skies and in brisk temperatures, runners and walkers from all over the country competed in the unique mountain race.

Express photo by Willy Cook
Making the transition at Galena Lodge, with runner Megan Thomas taking the baton, is Running On Empty. Two racer workers are pictured at left. Team members, from left, are Molly Currie, Lauren DuBose, Katie Rauch and Lydia Terry. Not shown is Nicole Ramey.

Originally run from Stanley to Boise, the format has been condensed in recent years to a more manageable 61.9-mile course stretching from Stanley Elementary School to Ketchum’s Atkinson Park.

Though shorter, this race is by no means an easy endeavor.
Though there were a few impressive solo racers, most competitors ran in teams, with members running 12 legs averaging five miles apiece.

The various legs were categorized from the “very hard” 5.35-mile climb up Galena Summit to the “very easy” final leg from Hulen Meadows to the finish.

The Wood River Valley had a strong showing this year with the first-place men’s team—The Gnads—hailing from both Boise and Ketchum.

With an average mile time of 5 minutes and 50 seconds, the Gnads ran an impressive and “gnarly” race. They finished in 6 hours, 1 minute, 26 seconds.

There were 32 men’s teams, 37 mixed and 18 women’s, plus corporate, high school and Masters teams.

Various other local teams entered in the event, highlighted with names such as Joe Kugots Flying Fish, Will Run for Beer and the all female teams Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Running On Empty.

Training, wake-ups

After weeks of training, the race was a much-anticipated event for these local runners.

Runners would offer the news to friends casually: “We are running a relay race from Stanley to Ketchum,” which would invariably be met by dropped jaws, laughter and skepticism.

For many, the idea of running up and over Galena is a nightmare. For the runners of the Sawtooth Relay, however, it was a quest.

Starting under an arch of twinkling Christmas lights, teams gathered for staggered mass starts in the cover of night at Stanley.

Solo runners started especially early.

Nampa’s Forest Thomas started his race at 3:30 a.m. and Mary Ritz of Cody, Wyo. began at 1 a.m. Ritz finished in 15 hours, 27:19 minutes. Top individual was Wayne Rancourt of Boise, 9.43:37.

Running on Empty, the all-female team hailing from Ketchum and Sun Valley, is an exemplary collection of athletes. They were 12th in the women’s relay class (10.11:05).

Their team had to be in Stanley well in advance of a 5:30 a.m start. The abbreviated night’s sleep was a sacrifice of no small scale, but the 3:00 a.m. wakeup call was, according to team member Megan Thomas, “well executed.”

Finishing at 3:40 that afternoon, competitor Molly Currie said the start in Stanley felt like a “lifetime away, like three weeks ago.”

Such was the monumental scope of the race, such was its all-encompassing, life-altering effects on these courageous young women.

For Thomas and friend and teammate Nicole Ramey, who both grew up in Boise, the race has long been a familiar challenge. But these girls decided to make it a team effort.

“I don’t get to see my roommates that often, so this was a good way to spend time together,” said Thomas.

Running on Empty, like all the teams, had a vehicle with them for the race, in this case a 1995 Suburban equipped with Texas plates and stocked with fruits and other victuals.

Along with these aids, volunteer Christine Gelb helped out the team. Runners Katie Rauch, Lauren DuBose who focused on the natural beauty around her to beat out the pain and Lydia I. B. Terry rounded out the rest of the team.

All in all the experience was a positive one for all involved.

Though some teams were out to win, for most it was, as Currie described, a wonderful experience for a “community of people who want to run a beautiful stretch of highway.”

Here are the final results:

Overall: 1—Gnads (Boise & Ketchum) 6.01:26. 2—Team Garland (Pennsylvania) 6.07:05. 3—Butczeikes (Boise) 6.25:59.

Corporate: 1—Runtime Errors (Ketchum) 8.19:35. 2—Juggernauts (Meridian) 9.09:31. 3—Supernova’s (Portland, Ore.) 9.27:07.

High School: 1—Meridian Warriors (Meridian) 6.40:57. 2—Timmy Severa Fan Club (Boise) 7.00:01. 3—Quik Black (Jerome) 7.36:22.

Masters: 1—Inside Track (Pennsylvania) 6.39:19. 2—Clydes 
Masters 2 (Spokane) 7.06:38. 3—Spud Muffins (Boise) 7.48:40.

Men’s: 1—Bowl Cut Powers (Boise) 6.27:34. 2—2 Legs Each (Boise/Eagle) 7.29:02. 3—Clydes Seattle (Seattle) 7.30:57.

Mixed: 1—Run-N-Gunners (Caldwell) 6.41:22. 2—Bandanna On the Run (Boise) 7.24:34. 3—No Whiners (Boise) 7.44:07. 

Women: 1—Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Ketchum) 7.29:03. 2—Foxy Flyers Too (Ketchum) 7.43:34. 3—GU GU Dolls (Boise) 8.50:07.

Solo: 1—Wayne Rancourt (Boise) 9.43:37. 2—Leon Rothstein (Boise) 11.08:42. 3—Mary Ritz (Wyo.) 15.27:19.

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