Minutes after winning the 34th annual Wells Fargo Boulder Mountain Ski Tour in an stirring photo finish Saturday, 27-year-old Zack Simons of Park City, Utah shed his skis and accepted congratulations from his fellow racers on a brilliant, sunny Sun Valley day.
Simons took a little solitary stroll away from the finish area, collecting his thoughts and regaining his wind. Then, when asked about winning his second Boulder Ski Tour men's title in four years, Simons was thankful. He said, "I needed a result. I needed it so bad."
Rossignol racer Simons, the 2007 American Birkebeiner men's champion who was second overall and the top American in the prestigious Birkie last year, said he suffered the debilitating intestinal effects of Giardia this fall and missed three months of training.
Once healthy and back on snow, Simons said he kept plugging away in his training like it was still fall. He wasn't totally encouraged by a fourth place in an Aspen (Colo.) Super Tour 25-kilometer race in mid-January, then he faded in an exciting sprint finish and settled for fourth in the 35k City of Lakes Loppet skate race Feb. 1 at Minneapolis, Minn.
He said, "I had some bad luck at City of Lakes and was a little shaken, but still pretty confident and comfortable with what I was doing. On Friday before the Boulder, I did some light intervals with Billy Demong and felt I was skiing strong. I just needed a result."
Simons certainly had one in 2006. In the snow-saturated 2006 Boulder Ski Tour, Simons took the early lead in driving snow but couldn't pry free from the pursuing skiers. A Super Tour men's sprint champion, Simons came back to the pack but saved a sprint and won by the stretch of a ski boot over Aspen's Casey Ward. It was like a last-second buzzer beater.
His Boulder winning time that time was one hour, 22 minutes and 12 seconds.
On a blistering hard and fast course Saturday north of Ketchum, Simons called on experience to pull out the result he needed—stretching again at the finish to beat Marshall Greene, 27, of Bend, Ore. by the slimmest of margins.
The winning time on the sun-baked track was 1.10:55.7, 12 minutes faster than Simons' top time in 2006 and nearly nine minutes better than Mike Sinnott's 1.19:45 that won the 2008 Boulder Ski Tour. In all there were 689 finishers.
Simons said, "I had worked out a few strategies beforehand, but it always depends on how fast the snow is. This time I hung in the back like a bike racer and chilled out there. I was probably ninth with 10k to go. But I've skied the course the past three years and basically took the same approach as last year, when I was just beaten at the finish by Mike (Sinnott) and Leif (Zimmermann)."
"I guess I just played my cards better this time," added Simons, a member of the University of Utah's 2003 NCAA championship ski team while a senior in Salt Lake City.
Not surprised in the least was Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski team coach Rick Kapala, who coached Simons on the SVSEF Olympic Development Team in 2005-06. Kapala said, "Zack has always been the kind of skier who can generate a good sprint, even after he has already skied hard for an hour or 90 minutes or more."
At the Sawtooth National Recreation Area finish line to the 32k (19.8-mile) freestyle race, Simons, Greene and U.S. Nordic Combined racer Bryan Fletcher held off a late attack by fourth-place Sinnott and USST Nordic Combined star Demong, who finished fifth.
Making yet another comeback was Saturday's women's winner, 28-year-old Saab/Salomon racer Rebecca Dussault of Gunnison, Colo. The mother of two and 2004 Boulder winner placed 31st in 1.16:45, 13 minutes faster than her top time five years ago.
Dussault, earning her fourth win in four weeks and taking both preems in the 59-racer women's Elite field, said it was a "hugely tactical race," that opened up for her with 10k left. She won by 38 seconds in a top-four Saab/Salomon sweep.
Top local women were 16th-place Muffy Ritz, 51, in 1.25:40 and 17th-place Adrienne Leugers, 49, in 1.25:57. Other top local men skiing well in the 70-racer Elite field were 16th-place Miles Havlick, 19, in 1.14:37, 17th-place Willie Neal, 19, in 1.14:47 and 19th-place Jon Engen, 51, in 1.14:56.
Age class podiums were numerous for locals—10 gold medals, five silvers and seven bronzes. Winning their classes were Joanne Davis, Linda McClatchy, Muffy Ritz, Julia Bowman, 82-year-old Charley French, Norman Clark, Nello Busdon, Andy Andrews, Jon Engen and Del Pletcher.
Skiers who also did the Boulder in 2008 generally felt good about themselves Saturday, since the fast course reduced their times by anywhere from 12 to 40 minutes or more.
Check the top placers in each class and local times and placings on today's Web site. Also listed are winning historical results dating back to 1973.
U.S. Nordic Combined super stud Billy Demong, the 2007 Boulder Tour men’s champion wearing the #2 bib this year, leads the Elite Men down Saturday’s 32-kilometer course north of Ketchum—just ahead of last year’s winner Mike Sinnott of Ketchum, wearing #1.
Photo by Willy Cook
