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Sundance Spin at Soldier Hollow
May 14, 2011The
Sundance Solder Hollow race was fun but painful. The new clockwise course
was satisfyingly brutal, and the trail was in great condition. Well,
except for
the mud-bog right at the start and finish. Concerns about the new
singletrack disappeared as racers discovered that the sketchy areas on the
new trail had been lovingly shoveled and bermed. After a few threatening
early-morning clouds retreated, the weather was perfect for racing.
Congrats to Nate Drozd who took 1st place, and to Coleman Cowan, Richard
Ewell, and Mark Messer who grabbed 2nds.
Left: Mark, Jason, and John head up the first
hill in the Expert Men 40-plus pack.
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Coleman Cowan grinds up the hill
on the 9-and-under lap to take podium
with a 2nd place finish. |
Jacey Messer sprints out from the
start
line and hits the first mud-bog in the
grass on her way to 4th place. |
Sydney Nielsen pedals toward the
start
area to begin her second lap, finishing
with the 6th place position. |
| Category 10-12: UMB had no
age 10-12 riders! |
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Left: Shawn Nielsen tilts
as the trail curves
around a spruce tree, taking a 4th
place
finish in Beginner 13-15.
Right: The start-finish area is
located on
the lawn below the timing tower of the
Olympic area. The east end of the grass
was covered in water, for a mud-wallow
as you started your lap, and another
as you finished.
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Left: Dallin Johnson began his
race well,
but had to bail and take a DNF.
Right: The 9-and-under racers line
up
at the starting gate.
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| Beginner 19-29: UMB had no
Beginner Men 19-29 riders! |
| Beginner 30-39: UMB had no
Beginner Men 30-39 riders! |
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Left: Adam Reynders cranks
some more
downhill speed as he nears the end of
the lap, taking 4th place in Beginner Men
40-plus.Right: Coleman
raises a splash as he hits
the water near the end of his 2nd lap. |
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| Beginner Women: UMB had no
Beginner Women riders! |
| Sport/Expert 13-15: UMB had no
S/E 13-15 riders! |
| Sport/Expert 16-18: UMB had no
S/E 16-18 riders! |
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Left: Ian Beaty heads
downhill with
helmet-cam in place on his way to a
podium finish with 3rd place in Sport Men
19-29.Right:
The Expert 30-39 group heads up
the grassy meadow as they start out
for the first of three laps. |
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Left: Ben
Hutchings tips into a turn and
takes the 8th place finish in the Sport Men
30-34 category. Right: View
from half-way up the hill. The
start-finish area is at left, 1/3 from the bottom.
Above it is a bit of Deer Creek Reservoir. |
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Left: Jonathan Hall gets
set to spring over
the little ditch as he heads through the
meadow area near the finish line. Jonathan
gets team points with a 7th place finish.
Right: Ian pops up to stay out of
the water.
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Left: Dave Benson hustles
downhill on
the cross-country ski slope to finish with
the 4th
place spot in Sport Men 40-plus. Right: Mike
rolls into the mud bog just
before the finish line. |
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Left: Cat Kalwies flies
down the ski path
to finish her first lap, taking 8th place in
Sport Women.Right:
Laps completed. Dissecting the
events and strategies of the race.
Stats: 7.5 miles, 1260 vertical per lap. |
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| Expert Men 19-29: UMB had no
Expert Men 19-29 riders! |
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Left: Nathan Drozd leans
hard into a tight
turn on his first of three laps, nailing 1st
place
in Expert Men 30-39.
Right: The BBQ that almost
didn't happen.
The gas wasn't cooperating. Jake attacked
the diaphragm of the pressure regulator
with a screwdriver, and we had flame. |
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Mark Messer sprints across the
meadow
on the way to taking 2nd place in the
Expert Men 40-plus group. |
New to the team with this
race,
John Higgins pedals through a turn
on the lower slope, taking 3rd
place. |
Jason Sparks tips into a
high-speed
turn on the XC ski slope, grabbing the
4th place finish in the category. |
| Expert Women:
UMB had no Expert Women riders! |
| Singlespeed: UMB had no
Singlespeed racers at this event! |
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Left: Richard Ewell is
almost finished with
his race, making a turn near the willow trees
on the way to 2nd place.
Right: Jeremy Pierson rounds
the corner near
the willow trees as he heads into the 7.5-mile
lap on the way to 5th place in his first outing
as a UMB team member. |
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Left: Sally Reynders is
just getting started,
pedaling up that ugly first hill, taking the
4th
place spot in Women 35-plus.Right: Racers
gather around the leaderboard
to check racing times and order of finish. |
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Left: In the 2nd race of his vacation
from
Australia, Michael MacDonald breaks a
derailleur at the starting line, and after
repairs, loses his brakes. But he keeps at it
to take 5th place in Men 50-plus.Right:
Jake gets the burgers and dogs going. |
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Joel Quinn pops up from
singletrack
onto the lane of the ski slope to finish
with 3rd place in Men 57-plus. |
Bruce Argyle coasts downhill
on his
final lap. Bruce takes the 4th place
position in the category. |
Gene Poncelet cranks uphill on
the XC
ski slope on the way to an 8th place
finish. |
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Our racers made some great individual
performances in this race. But as a team, UMB lost big and dropped in the season standings. With competition from Fathers and Sons campouts, we just didn't have
enough racers -- our turnout of 22 racers was half the number we had
at Five Mile Pass last week. Mad Dog bit hard, and they chewed us like an old slipper. Those cranky canines lifted
their leg and marked their territory all over us. [OK, I'm done. Insert
your own dog metaphor here.] Let's see what we can do next week! More pictures:
Kay
Hutchings photos from the race
Ian's helmet-cam video: Part
1 Part
2
Left: 3 in the top 4. Jason (far left), Mark (2nd from
left), and John (2nd from right) get their ribbons.
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