A couple of young Wood River Valley cross-country ski racers, Crystal Ward and Chris Holmquist, grabbed overall victories in 25-kilometer events at the 28th annual Yellowstone Rendezvous Saturday.
In all, there were 556 Nordic skiers completing the American Ski Marathon Series event including 43 from the Wood River Valley. Course distances ranged from 2k to 50k.
Last year's champion Ward, 24, who now lives in Park City, Utah, repeated her 25k women's freestyle triumph in 1.24:04. The Wood River High School graduate improved her finishing time by nearly two minutes and won by 2:18 over runner-up Kelly Allison, 45, of Ketchum.
The men's 25k classic winner in a field of 58 finishers was Holmquist, 19, of Sun Valley by just two seconds over 17-year-old Josh Sample of West Yellowstone, Mt.
Meanwhile, Sun Valley Olympic Development Team racer Kate Underwood, 25, was the women's 50k freestyle winner in 2.35:14 for a photo-finish victory over runner-up and last year's marathon queen Nikki Kimball, 35, of Bozeman, Mt.
Among the notable results were men's 55-59 winner Bob Rosso, 59, of Hailey placing fourth and Sun Valley's Del Pletcher, 62, finishing fifth overall in the men's 25k classic race.
In the 50k event, Ketchum's Muffy Ritz, 49, was sixth overall among the 32 women and Chris Mallory, 24, finished seventh of 141 men.
Of the 43 Wood River skiers, 11 won their age classes. They were, at 50k, Kate Underwood and Muffy Ritz; in 25k classic, Linda McClatchy, Chris Holmquist, Bob Rosso, Del Pletcher and Charley French; in 25k freestyle, Crystal Ward, Kelly Allison and Andy Andrews; and in 10k, Sam East.
Time improvements compared to the 2006 Rendezvous were plentiful.
They were, at 50k, Wilhelm Northrop 16:30, Kris Thoreson 12:39, Muffy Ritz 9:23, Chris Mallory 6:24 and Jim McClatchy 3:20; at 25k skate, Matthew Gervase 19:08, Veronique Forgeat 14:02, Andy Andrews 8:51, Chris O'Donnell 8:05, Linda McClatchy 4:25, Charley French 3:11, Crystal Ward 1:57 and Bob Rosso 1:10; and at 10k, Sam East 0:39.
Overall results for local Nordic skiers completing the 2007 Yellowstone Rendezvous follow with their age and class placings in parentheses:
50k men's freestyle: 1—Ian Harvey, 39, of Heber City, Utah 2.20:56. 7—Chris Mallory, 24, 2.26:13 (2nd). 21—Wilhelm Northrop, 37, 2.37:18 (7th). 27—Kris Thoreson, 49, 2.40:39 (3rd). 43—Brian Elkins, 51, 2.49:05 (3rd). 51—Steve Butler, 45, 2.53:09 (7th). 53—Jim McClatchy, 54, 2.53:23 (4th). 85—Tim Inch, 45, 3.11:49 (20th). 86—Michael Stevens, 38, 3.11:59 (15th). 96—Chris Gardner, 44, 3.16:16 (19th). 107—Greg Wilt, 43, 3.22:42 (21st). 114—Thad Farnham, 52, 3.33:38 (17th). 118—Robert Coplin, 57, 3.34:24 (7th). 125—George Rutherford, 49, 3.43:26 (29th) (141 finishers).
50k women's freestyle: 1—Kate Underwood, 25, 2.35:14 (1st). 6—Muffy Ritz, 49, 2.44:18 (1st). 18—Karoline Droege, 36, 3.11:48 (3rd). 21—Katharine Sheldon, 49, 3.22:50 (5th) (32 finishers).
25k men's classic: 1—Chris Holmquist, 19, 1.24:27 (1st). 4—Bob Rosso, 59, 1.27:00 (1st). 5—Del Pletcher, 62, 1.30:08 (1st). 15—Craig Phelan, 55, 1.36:14 (3rd). 47—Charley French, 80, 2.08:11 (1st) (58 finishers).
25k women's classic: 1—Kelly Milligan, 45, of Park City 1.30:04. 14—Susan Thoreson, 45, 1.53:17 (5th). 16—Linda McClatchy, 57, 1.57:21 (1st) (35 finishers).
25k men's freestyle: 1—Ben Morley, 24, of Jackson, Wyo. 1.13:16. 13—Sam Farnham, 16, 1.25:09 (2nd). 15—Chris Williams, 41, 1.26:31 (3rd). 25—Andy Andrews, 65, 1.29:09 (1st). 31—John Tormey, 40, 1.31:16 (4th). 35—Chris O'Donnell, 36, 1.33:36 (5th). 36—Jason Hayes, 33, 1.33:58 (6th). 37—William Spiller, 14, 1.34:10 (9th). 40—Danny Sundali, 14, 1.35:00 (10th). 55—Gary Shelton, 55, 1.43:06 (5th). 57—Matthew Gervase, 57, 1.44:08 (6th). 89—Chip Mills, 62, 2.22:20 (7th) (89 finishers).
25k women's freestyle: 1—Crystal Ward, 24, of Park City 1.24:04 (1st). 2—Kelly Allison, 45, 1.26:22 (1st). 7—Colleen Hayes, 38, 1.35:53 (2nd). 25—Jamie McClure, 51, 1.50:14 (2nd). 32—Pru McDonald, 56, 1.53:58 (3rd). 37—Elsa Sweek, 16, 1.56:02 (4th). 41—Veronique Forgeat, 37, 1.59:42 (3rd) (58 finishers).
10k men's freestyle: 1—Jake Morgan, 16, of Bozeman, 31:50. 14—Sam East 48:28 (1st) (27 finishers).
Local Yellowstone Rendezvous contestants with medals. Bottom row, from left, 50-kilometer women?s winner Kate Underwood, Elsa Sweek, Bob Rosso, Karoline Droege and Linda McClatchy. Top, from left, Craig Phelan, Del Pletcher, Muffy Ritz, Sam Farnham, Kris Thoreson, Chris Holmquist, Colleen Hayes, Jamie McClure and Chris Williams.
