For the week of August 14 - 20, 2002

Team USA skis through the night

Glenne, Deuter in New Zealand

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Ketchum-based marathon skiers Olin Glenne and Brett Deuter led the three-skier "Team USA" to fourth place out of seven men’s teams in the HP 50k of Coronet international endurance ski race July 29-30 near Queenstown, New Zealand.

Their teammate was Ian Maclendon of Aspen, Colo.

"Brett and I definitely did most of the legwork for our team," said Glenne. "We probably skied 48,000 vertical meters as a team."

For 15 hours, from 6 p.m. through the night until 10 a.m. the next morning, Team USA finished 107 ski runs—same as the second-place British and third-place New Zealanders.

The Germans, winning for the third straight year, accomplished 108 runs. Rounding out the men’s teams were Japan in fifth place, Austria with downhiller Patrick Ortlieb in sixth and Switzerland in seventh.

Glenne said, "Flat light going from night into day was definitely an issue.

"Brett took a fall and lost a ski about 8 a.m., which cost us 20 to 30 seconds and dropped us from second or third into fifth place. But we fought back and ended fourth. Plus, the course was incredibly rough. They had let people ski on it during the day. And with all the excess snow, they had to close the course about 1 a.m. and clear it for an hour."

Placing first through third in the women’s final standings were Canada, Austria and the U.S. team featuring Nicole Pelletier.

Glenne said, "With all the skiers, men and women, we skied about 2,000 runs."

There was no prize money involved. Proceeds were donated to Cure Kids, a division of the Child Health Research Foundation. Glenne said, "They raised about $300,000 for charity, about $150,000 American."

If they are selected to represent the U.S. next year, Glenne and Deuter said they would be happy to return.

"All in all it was a great trip. We’re looking forward to trying it again next year," said Glenne, who likened the HP 50k of Coronet to a southern hemisphere equivalent of the 24 Hours of Aspen marathon ski race.

Glenne’s sponsors were Bigwood Bread, Sturtevants, Sushi on 2nd, Scott USA and Atomic. Deuter’s sponsors were Scott USA, Smith, Rossignol and Cliff Bar.

 

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