Of the 25 mountain bikers who started the fourth annual Great Divide Race on June 15 at Montana’s Port of Roosville along the Canadian border, 11 are still pedaling toward Mexico.
Twelve riders have dropped from the race, including Denver’s Dave Nice, who was aiming to be the first fixed-gear finisher of the grueling 2,490-mile race. Amazingly, two have finished.
Jackson, Wyo., carpenter Jay Petervary rolled into New Mexico’s Antelope Wells on Saturday at 4:18 p.m. to the applause of none. Luckily he was able to persuade a store owner to open his shop for “a bunch of cold pops” and a trip to the bathroom, according to his phoned-in report at. Petervary’s time of 15 days, 4 hours, 18 minutes beats the 16-day, 57-minute record set by Grand Junction’s Mike Curiak in 2004. Petervary, who turned 35 on the trail, averaged a little more than 6.8 mph – that includes time he was sleeping – for the race, which climbs more than 200,000 vertical feet along its five-state route. Matthew Lee of Chapel Hill, N.C., rolled into Antelope Wells 18 hours later, also beating Curiak’s record.
RAFTING
U.S. whitewater teams sink at world meet
Less than two weeks after successfully defending their respective national championship titles on the Arkansas River, the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Whitewater rafting teams were left high and dry in the medal count at the International Rafting Federation’s 2007 world championships on South Korea’s upper Naerinchon River.
After two days of competition, the U.S. teams – both from Vail and captained by husband and wife Chris and Lisa Reeder – faced nearly insurmountable odds in Monday’s final downriver race. The men finished sixth in the opening sprint race and 15th in the slalom, while the women posted an impressive fourth-place slalom result after a non-qualifying sprint run.
This time around, it was the Czech Republic winning the men’s downriver, followed only seconds behind by Russia and Japan on the 45-minute course. After winning the sprint and finishing fifth in slalom, Brazil used a fifth-place showing in downriver to claim the men’s overall title, two points ahead of the Czechs and five ahead of Japan.
The Czech Republic dominated on the women’s side as well, winning the downriver title just ahead of Canada and Slovakia after passing the New Zealand team, captained by kayaking phenom Nikki Kelly, when their raft got hung up on a rock. The downriver win enabled the Czechs to retain the overall title they took away from four-time world champ New Zealand in 2005.
BMX
Murray unlikely to compete again
Stephen Murray took a horrific fall in the Dew Tour’s debut BMX dirt finals in Baltimore two weeks ago, breaking three vertebrae in his neck. The 27-year-old Briton was ascending a double backflip, a new but required trick in BMX freestyle and dirt jumping, when he crashed. The two-time X Games and Gravity Games champion remains at Baltimore’s University Hospital, where he has undergone several surgeries. Although he has regained some feeling below his neck, it is unlikely he will ride competitively again.
TRAVEL
Winter Park’s Summer Ski Train runs Saturdays
Kicking off two weeks earlier than ever before, the Summer Ski Train to Winter Park got rolling out of Union Station on Saturday and will continue for the next seven Saturdays through Aug. 18. Trains leave Union Station at 9 a.m. and take just more than two hours to travel the 56-mile scenic route to Winter Park, departing the ski area at 3 p.m. for the return trip. Round-trip tickets will cost adults $44 ($39 for kids under 13, seniors over 62 and groups of 12 or more), but their bikes can ride along for free. Discount tickets for resort activities are also available on the train. Find out more at 303-296-4754 or.
FOOTNOTES
Snowboard Grand Prix bound for Breck
The 12-year-old 2008 Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix will stop at three American hills next season, including the first stop Dec. 14-15 at Breckenridge. The Breck event will include the quarterfinal big-air contest under the lights in downtown Breck. … Apparently the misery of racing several hundred miles in five days in Moab’s fiery July heat was not enough to deter the 75 teams of adventure racers who signed up for the location-unknown Primal Quest 2008. Registration opened at midnight on Sunday and was sold out 12 hours later, at a cost of $12,500 per team. The location of the June 2008 race will remain a secret until this fall.
