Adrienne Leugers is one remarkable 50-year-old athlete to anyone who has attempted to climb Baldy for speed. So is Miles Fink-Debray, now 21.
Leugers (45:04) won her 12th Baldy Hill Climb women's title Saturday and tied her highest-ever overall finish with a seventh place out of 100 racers on the 1.86-mile, 3,140 vertical feet course up Warm Springs.
One of the largest-ever fields of racers and hikers, 226, took advantage of a mild early-autumn morning. The record was 299 finishers in 1997.
Leugers started winning the hill climb in 1988 and captured six titles in a row from 1999-2005. Eleven times beating 50 minutes up the hill, the winning Leugers times have ranged from a low of 42:43 to 56:52. No other woman has won the event more than twice.
On Saturday, Leugers won her first climb in five years by a 42-second margin over 2006-07 queen and course record holder Morgan Arritola, 23.
Meanwhile, Fink-Debray is starting to become a legend among the hill climb men. He won his fourth straight Baldy Hill Climb with a time of 36:31, nearly three minutes ahead of second-place Jon Engen. Fink-Debray's times in succession are 35:31, 36:31, 37:29 and 36:31.
Only six-time men's winner and course record holder Michael Tobin of Boise has also won four straight climbs, from 1983-86. Only Tobin and Bill Nurge (1992, 1997-98 and 2000) have won four or more titles.
The 31st annual Baldy Hill Climb again included both hiking and mountain biking.
World Cup mountain biker racer Dave Harrison of Fairfield won Saturday's "Cheeso Baldy Double," named in honor of the late Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) coach Craig "Cheeso" Kjesbo. Kjesbo was the1982 Baldy Hill Climb king.
Harrison broke the course record and nipped closest rival Whit Albright by more than 30 seconds. The "Cheeso" event featured a mountain bike race to the top of Baldy followed by a hiking race to the top. Full results weren't immediately available from race organizers.
Check Baldy Hill Climb racing and hiking results from spondoro.com on today's Express Web site, and also check future Express print editions for final results.
Adrienne Leugers (45:04) won her 12th Baldy Hill Climb women’s title Saturday and tied her highest-ever overall finish with a seventh place out of 100 racers on the 1.86-mile, 3,140 vertical feet course up Warm Springs. Photo by Willy Cook
