For the week of March 12 - 18, 2003

Nearly 800 try Yellowstone’s trails

In Rendezvous Nordic races

---

It was a huge field of nearly 800 racers for Saturday’s 24th annual Yellowstone Rendezvous cross-country ski races at distances ranging from 2 kilometers to 50 kilometers.

Racers ranged in age from five to 76, and that happened to be Ketchum’s Charley French, who won his age class in 25k freestyle.

Ketchum’s Peter Webb (2.30:57) placed seventh overall in 50k skate. The valley excelled at 25k classic, placing four in the top 10 led by Luke Pletcher, 16, in third place and Bob Rosso, 55, in fifth place of 114 racers.

Jeremy Fryberger topped the local 25k skate finishers in eighth place out of 255 finishers. Sun Valley’s Hannes Thum, 19, won the 10k race while Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski teamers Reid Pletcher and Robbie Hamlin finished 1-2 at the 5k skate distance.

There were 89 Wood River Valley skiers in the 786-racer field.

Thirty of the 89 podiumed in their age classes and 15 won their age classes—Reid Pletcher at 5k; Hannes Thum, Heidi Smith and Marty Smith at 10k; Jeremy Fryberger, Andy Andrews and Charley French at 25k freestyle; Luke Pletcher, Bob Rosso, Rick Knoebel, Mike Wolter and Michael Dunham at 25k classic; Del Pletcher, E.J. Harpham and Gabriele Andersen at 50k free.

Meanwhile, in last weekend’s Western Regional Junior Championships at West Yellowstone, several Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski teamers podiumed in their events including:

Mikey Matteson, Tess Dahlgren, Reid Pletcher, Max Danielson and Hayley Stommel in classic, plus a 1-2-3 sweep in J1 boys with Luke Pletcher (35:07), Alex Hamlin (36:33) and George Livingston (37:02), and also class winners Hannes Thum, Reid Pletcher, Mikey Matteson and Tess Dahlgren in skate.

 

Overall Yellowstone Rendezvous results follow, with class placings in parentheses and finishing times:

·  2k freestyle (17 racers): 7—Leah Smith (2) 11:13.

·  5k freestyle (80 racers): 1—Reid Pletcher (1) 14:33. 2—Robbie Hamlin (2) 15:22. 5—Max Danielson (3) 15:26. 19—Mikey Matteson (6) 17:58. 33—Latner Straley (7) 19:19. 36—Preston Rumley (10) 19:33. 39—Travis Job (11) 19:35. 40—Scotty Phelan (9) 19:35. 43—Sam Farnham (12) 19:47. 45—Chelsea Vanderpool (8) 20:09. 47—Tess Dahlgren (9) 20:25. 58—Nicol Wheeler (13) 22:15. 63—Nick Smith (18) 24:59. 70—Lindsey Mason (13) 28:27. 71—Keller Gibson (14) 28:47. 74—Diki Sherpa (15) 30:23. 77—Tara Cappel (10) 1.18:44. 78—Hayley Stommel (11) 1.18:45.

·  10k freestyle (70 racers): 1—Hannes Thum (1) 34:54. 29—Heidi Smith (1) 49:42. 33—Marty Smith (1) 53:30.

·  25k freestyle (255 racers): 8—Jeremy Fryberger (1) 1.18:57. 26—Sam Smith (5) 1.26:24. 29—Russell Lintner (4) 1.27:19. 34—Darla McRoberts (2) 1.27:57. 36—Greg Thompson (6) 1.28:14. 43—Andy Andrews (1) 1.30:06. 69—Heidi Wilt (3) 1.35:08. 72—Dick Andersen (4) 1.35:36. 74—Patrick Simpson (2) 1.35:56. 77—Jason Hayes (9) 1.36:47. 80—Bob Closser (13) 1.36:57. 81—James Foster (12) 1.37:08. 83—John Swyers (2) 1.37:37. 85—Katharine Sheldon (3) 1.37:48. 87—Kyle Kunz (14) 1.37:56. 112—Linda McClatchy (3) 1.42:31. 122—Colleen Connery (4) 1.44:12. 128—Scott Watanabe (19) 1.45:27. 130—Shauna Unser (9) 1.45:46. 134—Joni Cashman (7) 1.46:18. 139—Bob Lowry (22) 1.47:15. 144—Tim East (5) 1.47:36. 157—Michael Stevens (13) 1.49:51. 161—Genie Swyers (9) 1.50:17. 170—Matthew Gervase (12) 1.51:48. 179—Shari Kunz (12) 1.54:16. 182—Charley French (1) 1.55:04. 187—Lexie Praggastis (6) 1.55:54. 188—Mollie Parker (7) 1.55:54. 198—Gregg Hedin (15) 1.57:01. 219—Maureen McGinnis (16) 2.03:20. 225—Andrew Parnes (12) 2.06:39. 227—Wallace Mills (13) 2.09:57. 231—Karen Simpson (10) 2.13:05. 242—Cynthia Phelan (13) 2.28:16.

·  25k classic (114 racers): 3—Luke Pletcher (1) 1.30:56. 5—Bob Rosso (1) 1.33:12. 6—Rick Knoebel (1) 1.33:18. 8—Mike Wolter (1) 1.33:53. 13—Alex Hamlin (3) 1.36:10. 20—George Livingston (4) 1.38:49. 23—Michael Dunham (1) 1.40:50. 29—Brad Bradford (5) 1.44:50. 32—Craig Phelan (2) 1.45:27. 34—James Cleveland (3) 1.46:38. 38—John Plummer (10) 1.50:17. 64—Terry Potts (11) 2.05:19. 72—Lili Simpson (3) 2.09:04. 82—Jane Peterson (4) 2.21:57. 95—Denise Jackson (3) 2.34:16.

·  50k freestyle (250 racers): 1—Patrick Weaver, 33, of Bend (1) 2.24:08. 7—Peter Webb (5) 2.30:57. 22—Katerina Hanusova, 25, of Truckee (1) 2.39:49. 29—John King (5) 2.43:44. 40—Del Pletcher (1) 2.49:20 (1:44 improvement). 47—Kris Thoreson (5) 2.51:42 (0:23 improvement). 57—Jeff Ford (9) 2.55:04 (1:13 improvement). 71—Jim McClatchy (5) 2.59:34 (10:35 improvement). 84—E.J. Harpham (1) 3.04:11. 87—Gabriele Andersen (1) 3.04:49. 97—Brian Elkins (11) 3.08:46. 112—Tim Inch (20) 3.13:44. 118—Peter Stommel (11) 3.16:06 (2:25 improvement). 124—Scott Mason (22) 3.17:26. 127—Jon Holmquist (16) 3.19:38. 140—Susan Thoreson (6) 3.22:27 (7:36 improvement). 146—Stella Keane (3) 3.23:02. 174—Carol Rank (5) 3.32:11 (4:57 improvement). 210—John Braafladt (30) 3.55:17.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.