Nearly 800 Wells Fargo Boulder Mountain Tour cross-country skiers will remember Saturday's snow-saturated 32-kilometer (19.8-mile) race as a worthwhile experience.
But they won't necessarily want to do it the same way in the same weather.
It was a worst-case scenario—heavy snow starting 30 minutes before the race start at Senate Meadows near Galena Lodge, and continuing for nearly the entire two-and-a-half hours that it took to get 782 racers across the finish near the SNRA headquarters.
Chief of Race Rick Kapala said, "It was a really, really tough race, hard for the average competitor. It was tough for the lead racers, too. We had a lot of reports of stepping on skis and banging poles. The snow made it impossible to pass because you got bogged down in soft snow. It was also impossible to ski in front."
First-time men's winner Zack Simons, 24, of Ketchum hammered it for the first 12 kilometers but couldn't shed the pursuing skiers.
"You couldn't get away," said Kapala. "Zack decided that strategy wasn't going to work. He's a good sprinter. It came down to the last 1k or 1.5 k. You've got to be cool about it."
"It was sort of like a back-and-forth NBA game that comes down to the last shot. Zack canned the three."
The overall men's sprint champion the Super Tour, Utah-raised Simons (1.22:12.4) won by the stretch of a ski boot at the finish over 29-year-old Casey Ward of Aspen, with Patrick Weaver, 36, of Bend just a little behind for third place.
Hailey's 19-year-old Luke Pletcher (1.22:18.5) had a great eight-place result and was right there in the lead pack. Kapala said about the bunched-up nature of leaders, "There were 19 together at the Sun Valley Suns aid station and 18 still there at Murphy's Bridge."
Finish times were about 15 to 40 minutes slower than 2005.
Women's course record holder Brooke Hovey, 33, of Ketchum (1.30:33) led a pack of four out-of-state women for her second Boulder Tour triumph in four years.
Hovey was one of 18 local age class winners in the 31st annual tour. Despite the snow, "the event went off seamlessly," Kapala said.
Top results and locals' times are on page B-12. Check the Express Web site for more tour history. And check the bouldermountaintour.com Web site for complete results.
Course record holder Brooke Hovey was about 18 minutes slower than when she won the Boulder in 2003, but she was first among women again. Photo by Willy Cook
