Saturday's cold and sunny weather at West Yellowstone, Mt. made for slow snow underfoot during the 27th annual Yellowstone Rendezvous cross-country ski race.
There were 572 finishers in six divisions for the Great American Ski Chase event.
The 46 entrants from the Wood River Valley did quite well. They earned 11 first places, five seconds and two thirds in their age classes.
Special mention for top-10 overall finishes went to Bob Rosso, 58, (6th 25-kilometer classic) and Mike Wolter, 40, (10th 25k classic), plus Chris Mallory, 23, (6th 50k freestyle) and Jim Santa, 45, (8th 25k freestyle.
Ketchum's Muffy Ritz, 48, finished a very close second to 50k skate women's winner Nikki Kimball, 34, of Bozeman, Mt. Kimball was timed in two hours, 53 minutes and 26 seconds while Ritz was just 15 seconds off the pace in 2.53:41.
Age class winners from the valley were Mallory, Ritz and Tricia Swartling at 50k; Darla McRoberts and Andy Andrews at 25k skate; Rosso, Gabriele Andersen, Linda McClatchy and Charley French at 25k classic; Sam East and Cyndy Garvin at 10k.
Patrick Weaver, 36, of Oregon (2.24:43) and Kimball were the 50k winners in a 164-racer field. Tim Downey, 20, of Pocatello (1.20:02) and Kelly Milligan, 44, of Park City, Utah (1.29:31) led 103 finishers in the 25k classic event.
The 25k skate winners out of 176 finishers were Nathan Park, 21, of Bozeman, Mt. (1.12:28) and former Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski team and Colby College racer Crystal Ward, 23, of Park City (1.26:01).
Ward, a Wood River High graduate, is coaching the Park City high school cross-country team while training. The daughter of Ken and Cindy Ward of Hailey finished well in the 2006 Boulder Mountain Ski Tour Feb. 4 (winning the women's 18-24 class and placing 164th overall) and is planning to compete in Sunday's California Gold Rush.
Top results, overall placings, ages and class finishes in parentheses for the local Yellowstone skiers follow:
10k freestyle: 1—Ben Westesen, 14, (Bozeman) 38:07. 9—Alexis Sumsion, 16, (Park City) 46:35. 12—Sam East, 65 (1) 49:07. 27—Cyndy Garvin, 52 (1) 1.08:20—(55 racers).
25k freestyle: 1—Nathan Park, 21, (Bozeman) 1.12:28. 8—Jim Santa, 45 (2) 1.23:33. 14—Crystal Ward, 23 (Park City) 1.26:01. 23—Darla McRoberts, 39 (1) 1.28:49. 46—Andy Andrews, 64 (1) 1.38:00. 54—Todd Byle, 36 (7) 1.41:16. 56—Chris O'Donnell, 35 (8) 1.41:41. 57—Kim Garvin, 50 (4) 1.41:44. 83—Mary O'Sullivan, 32 (2) 1.47:06. 87 (tie)—Katherine Sheldon, 48 (5) and Carol Rank, 48 (5) 1.47:48. 98—Tom Bowman, 51 (12) 1.49:57. 103—Kevin Lupton, 45 (15) 1.51:56. 105—Matthew Gervase, 56 (7) 1.53:16. 108—Dick Andersen, 58 (8) 1.55:24. 124—Genie Swyers, 51 (5) 2.01:43. 126—J. Peter Maier, 65 (3) 2.02:42. 131—John Swyers, 66 (4) 2.04:37. 151—Veronique Forgeat, 36 (8) 2.13:44. 160—Wallace Mills, 61 (7) 2.20:50. 170—Dustin Sandoz, 33 (6) 2.43:21. 172—John Gladics, 59 (14) 2.46:17—(176 racers).
25k classic: 1—Tim Downey, 20 (Pocatello) 1.20:02. 6—Bob Rosso, 58 (1) 1.28:10. 8—Kelly Milligan, 44 (Park City) 1.29:31. 10—Mike Wolter, 40 (3) 1.30:32. 25—Michael Dunham, 56 (2) 1.43:07. 33—Gabriele Andersen, 60 (1) 1.48:45. 38—Susan Thoreson, 44 (3) 1.52:51. 39—Linda McClatchy, 56 (1) 1.52:56. 48—John Plummer, 52 (5) 1.57:05. 59—Nancy McMath, 45 (4) 2.04:13. 67—Charley French, 79 (1) 2.11:22. 69—Joni Cashman, 51 (3) 2.14:11—(103 racers).
50k freestyle: 1—Patrick Weaver, 36 (Oregon) 2.24:43. 6—Chris Mallory, 23 (1) 2.32:37. 13—John King, 31 (1) 2.41:57. 30—Kris Thoreson, 48 (2) 2.53:18. 31—Nikki Kimball, 34 (Bozeman) 2.53:26. 32—Muffy Ritz, 48 (1) 2.53:41. 39—Jim McClatchy, 53 (4) 2.56:48. 54—Jim Bradford, 54 (6) 3.04:23. 70—Jeremy Fryberger, 40 (9) 3.11:18. 72—Tricia Swartling, 40 (1) 3.11:41. 75—Jon Holmquist, 52 (9) 3.13:24. 85—John Seiller, 39 (15) 3.15:47. 107—Will Raff, 52 (17) 3.29:09. 153—Gary Shelton, 54 (24) 4.13:18. 162—Pru McDonald, 55 (2) 4.29:46—(164 racers).
