"Keeping the spirit alive."
That was the conclusion of race director Marc Driver after Saturday's sixth annual Whit Henry Memorial Galena Grinder cross-country mountain bike races attracted a record-breaking field of nearly 300 riders on the Galena Lodge trails north of Ketchum.
"It was the largest Galena Grinder to date, with 210 cross-country participants and 72 on the marathon course," he said.
Galena Lodge's Don Shepler added, "We had a great day under awesome conditions and no major injuries or mishaps. Cross-country racers went between 11 and 22.5 miles. Marathon racers completed two full laps for 45 miles on trails and roads around Galena Lodge."
Saturday's Knobby Tire Series/Bob's Bicycles marathon doubled as the Idaho State Marathon Championships and was part of the USA Cycling MTB National XC calendar. The pro purse was $2,500 cash.
Winning the Pro classes were two of the West's top professional mountain bikers—Evan Plews, 31, of Salem, Ore. in 3.54:07 and Amanda Riley-Carey of Victor, Idaho 4.31:30.
Pro winners of the cross-country races were James Williams (Sobe/Canondale) of Bend, Ore. 1.48:15 and Sarah Barber of Boise. Like Riley-Carey, Barber is a member of the Kenda/Titus/Hayes professional mountain bike team.
Listed here are Galena Grinder marathon results. Check Wednesday's Express for cross-country results.
The races were held in memory of Whit Henry, a Bellevue resident and Wood River High School graduate. He was a 20-year-old mountain biking and skiing enthusiast who died in a car accident on the Fairfield road in July 2003.
Pro/Semi Pro Men: 1—Evan Plews (Scott USA/CSC) of Salem, Ore. 3.54:07. 2—Keith Hickerson (Tamarack) of Boise 3.57:27. 3—Ryan Butterfield (ROBS/Surfs Up) of Pocatello 4.01:06. 4—David Harrison (DollarHide) of Fairfield 4.04:34.
5—Nathan Miller of Park City, Utah 4.13:39. 6—Jon Gould (Tamarack) of Boise 4.21:25. 7—Yuri Hauswald (Marin Bikes) of Petaluma, Ca. 4.24:19. 8—William Martin (Team Muleterro) of Missoula, Mt. 4.25:24. 9—Chris Bondurant (Tamarack) of Boise 4.56:26.
Pro Women: 1—Amanda Riley-Carey (Kenda/Titus/Hayes) of Victor, Idaho 4.31:30. 2—Jenny Tobin (Tamarack) of Boise 4.35:24. 3—India Wysong (Mud Honeys) of Ketchum (no time available). 4—Joanna Peters (Tamarack) of Ketchum 5.08:50. 5—Barbara Kreisle of Boise 5.17:20.
Open Singlespeed Men: 1—Sean McLaughlin of Hailey 4.07:11. 2—Michael Shane of Ketchum 4.30:43. 3—Brian Fuller (Aeros/Digestive Health Clinic) of Eagle 4.40:02.
4—Travis Lukens of Breckenridge, Colo. 4.50:35. 5—Rich McChrystal of Boise 4.59:54. 6—Mike Herlinger 5.18:52.
Open Men: 1—Paul Clark of Park City 3.59:41. 2—Matt Luhn of Ketchum 4.13:58. 3—Rick Valvo 4.48:38. 4—Greg Adams of Boise 5.05:30. 5—Heather Lien of Pocatello 5.17:19. DNF—Scott Legere of Nelson, B.C., Canada and Jonas Neeser of Pocatello.
Open Women: 1—Muffy Ritz of Ketchum.
Male 50-plus: 1—Andy Forbes of Ketchum 5.03:59. 2—Dave Bell (Boise Cycling Club) 5.15:20. 3—Will Raff of Hailey (The Elephant's Perch) 5.17:12.
Male 40-49: 1—Brian Taylor (IMT/BOC Sports Medicine) 4.14:13. 2—Steve Butler (Sawtooth Velo) of Ketchum 4.29:45. 3—Sean Donovan (Broken Spoke) of Boise 4.33:28. 4—Reed Melton (Sun Summit Cycling Club) of Bellevue 4.38:33. 5—Doug Herlocker (Lactic Acid) of Boise 4.41:02.
6—Kyle Rafford of Ketchum 4.44:54. 7—Matthew Allen (Oregon Trail Racing) of LaGrande, Ore. 4.55:09. 8—Todd Johnston of Hailey 5.15:56. 9—Waj Nesser of Boise.
Male 30-39: 1—Richard Feldman (Durance Cycleworks) of Ketchum 4.16:32. 2—Kevin Donovan of Boise 4.16:37. 3—Brandon Lynch (California Giant/Specialized) of Hailey 4.29:35. 4—Chris Peters of Park City 4.30:57. 5—Garland Thayer (Missoula Sheepheads) of Missoula, Mt. 4.35:09.
6—Todd Meier of Boise 4.45:31. 7—Thorn Morton (White Pine Touring) of Midway, Utah 4.50:34. 8—Rick Wieloh of Jackson Hole, Wyo. 5.20:32. 9—Andy Michalich of Park City. DNF—Shae Mayner of Twin Falls, Alex Phipps and Jody White of Boise (Broken Spoke Cycling).
Female 30-39: 1—Lara Kendall of Park City 5.08:50. 2—Bethany Elson (Jans) of Park City 5.24:28. 3—Emily Houston (Hoback Sports) of Jackson.
Male 19-29: 1—Miles Fink-Debray of Ketchum 4.53:41. 2—Nate Ginzion of Boise. DNF—Anthony Bunt of Nampa.
Female 19-29: 1—Erin Collins of Provo, Utah 5.04:40. 2—Jocelyn Johns (Mud Honeys) of Sweet 5.06:26. 3—Sarah Jo Lawrence of Boise.
Junior Sport Male: 1—Brady Adams (BYRDS) of Boise 4.30:56.
Ketchum’s Lars-Erik Johnson of Sun Valley Road & Dirt rides to second place in the Pro Male division of Saturday’s Galena Grinder 22.5-mile race. Photo by Willy Cook
