It was quite a sight and quite a legendary party when the 25th annual Sun Valley Telemark Series wrapped up Saturday with the running of the springtime tropical delight called the Hawaiian Nationals and Tandem Telemark Challenge.
Costumes, tandems, refreshments and a two-run dual giant slalom for combined time were the main orders of the day. But the Hawaiian Nationals also featured the second annual Telemark Parade after the racing, in the afternoon, down College, Squirrel and through the halfpipe.
It was sunny during the race for the 94 racers, and nobody seemed to mind the cloudy skies afterwards during the post-race party at Apples Bar & Grill. Prizes up for grabs included Atomic skis, Black Diamond backcountry gear, a variety of jackets, and hoods from Smith Sport Optics and Scott USA.
Elite winners were Jen King and Dan McGregor. Kelly Odell and Phil McCracken captured the Sport classes. Jen King and Jim Hutchinson captured the tandem class, while Buck Cobb was all alone as the winner of the new Backwards class.
Sponsoring Saturday's races were Marmot, Backwoods Mountain Sports and D.L. Evans Bank.
Series sponsors were Guinness, the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber & Visitor Bureau, Atomic and Sentinel Fire and Security. Here are top results from Saturday's big event:
Elite Women: 1—Jen King 57.40 seconds. 2—Gretchen Flint 62.87. 3—Joan Curtis 63.56. 4—Hannah Ragsdale 65.00. 5—Molly Holt 66.62. 6—Katie Raffetto 71.41. 7—Britt Overby 71.88.
Elite Men: 1—Dan McGregor 56.86. 2—John King 57.67. 3—Danny "Irie" Walton 57.88. 4—Ryan Casey 58.13. 5—Greg Thomas 59.63. 6—Jeremy Fryberger 60.00. 7—Buck Cobb 60.95. 8—Todd 61.34. 9—Erik Lisk 61.79. 10—Brian Dirksmeier 63.40. 11—Scott Levy 67.10. 12—Chris Peterson 67.69.
Sport Women: 1—Kelly Odell 64.75. 2—Idie Mawby 67.70. 3—Sally Hall 72.52. 4—Megan Nickum 73.18. 5—Pauline Philpos 74.02. 6—Lauren Dubois 74.66. 7—Tess O'Sullivan 74.96. 8—Casey Hanrahan 77.26.
Sport Men: 1—Phil McCracken 59.04. 2—Jim Hutchinson 59.63. 3—Will Hovey 61.35. 4—John Kearney Jr. 61.87. 5—Jason Hayes 62.84. 6—Herbi Nyuckpuk 64.57. 7—Troy Trayer 64.66. 8—John Riley 64.68. 9—Doug Oper 64.73.
Women's Snowboard: 1—Jill May Parker 74.90. 2—Valerie Lewis 84.75. 3—Robin Shaw 87.74. 4—Thia Konig 97.17. Men's Snowboard: 1—Luke Solly 62.17. 2—Josh Solly 62.20. 3—Guy Robbins 64.31. 4—Jason Kuehn 71.81. 5—Shane Kinmer 73.05. 6—Reider Owen 85.05.
Tandem: 1—Jen King and Jim Hutchinson 67.37. 2—Ryan Casey and John Kearney Jr. 69.49. 3—Gretchen Flint and Gordo 80.34. 4—John King and Brier McKaly 86.86. 5—Buck Cobb and Kelly Odell 93.35.
Backwards (new this year): 1—Buck Cobb 59.37.
Best costume: 1—Mike Schlatter and Greg Hedin as Telesaurus and Tele-bear.
Tandem flamingo winners, from left, Jim Hutchinson and Jen King.
