For the week of August 20 - 26, 2003

White Knob a tough ride for mountain bikers

Aug. 2-3 racing at Mackay

---

A couple of Wood River Valley mountain bikers came away with general category victories during the 19th annual White Knob Challenge in Mackay Aug. 2-3.

The White Knob Challenge sponsored by Lost River Cycling and Intermountain Orthopaedics featured a cross-country race Aug. 2 on double track and single track, head-to-head dirt sprints and short track races.

Georgia Gould of Ketchum won the general category in the Expert Women’s class while Troy Quesnel and Bill Olson went 1-2 in Expert Men. Corey Bellinger was second in the Beginner Men general category.

There were 168 registered riders including 26 from the Sun Valley and Ketchum area. Among business supporters of the event were Sun Summit and Sun Summit South, Smith Sport Optics, Durance Cycleworks, Sturtos and Smokey Mountain Pizza.

Highlight as always was the nine-mile cross-country ascent with 2,300 feet of elevation gain.

In the cross-country race, Gould (1.30:28) won the Expert Women’s 19-29 class while Quesnel (1.17:41) topped Expert Men 19-29.

Sun Valley’s Michael McClure (1.15:16) clocked the second-fastest time of the day with a second-place overall finish behind White Knob winner Eric Jones (1.14:08) in the Pro/Semi Pro Men category.

And Junior Men’s 17-18 winner Jason Eder of Hailey (1.17:16) had the sixth-fastest time of the race.

Other Wood River Valley class winners in the White Knob cross-country race included Carl Praeger, Hans Muehlegger, Gabriele Andersen and Dusty LaBarr.

Coming up for mountain bikers: The 2003 Wild Rockies Series resumes Aug. 23-24 with the Brundage Mountain Bike Festival near McCall; and the Idaho State NORBA cross-country championship finals Aug. 30 at Soldier Mountain near Fairfield.

Here are Wood River placings and times by class from the White Knob Challenge Aug. 2 near Mackay:

Pro/Semi Pro Men: 1—Eric Jones 1.14:08. 2—Michael McClure 1.15:16.

Expert Men 19-29: 1—Troy Quesnel 1.17:41. 3—Sam Young 1.26:13. 6—Jedd Young 1.32:36.

Expert Men 30-39: 2—Lars-Erik Johnson 1.19:11. 3—Bill Olson 1.21:17. 13—Chad Howard 1.43:57.

Expert Men 40-49: 1—Carl Praeger 1.28:16. 3—Dave Bell 1.33:08.

Expert Men 50-plus: 1—Hans Muehlegger 1.33:22.

Expert Women 19-29: 1—Georgia Gould 1.30:28.

Sport Men 40-49: 3—Kyle Kunz 1.36:15.

Sport Men 50-plus: 3—Brian McGinnis 1.48:15. 4—Tom Praggastis 1.48:53.

Sport Women 50-plus: 1—Gabriele Andersen 1.56:35.

Singlespeed: 1—Dusty LaBarr 1.24:15.

Junior Men 15-16: 1—Andrew Juliano 1.27:43. 3—Corey Bellinger 1.30:17.

Junior Men 17-18: 1—Jason Eder 1.17:16.

 

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.