RED CLIFF — Sam Sutton of New Zealand went from swimmer to winner in the inaugural event of the 2010 Teva Mountain Games, the steep creek championships held Thursday on Homestake Creek near Red Cliff.
Dropping some 480 feet per mile, the twisted gorge that is Homestake Creek got the upper hand on the 21-year-old kayaker during his first training run two days ago, pinning his boat underwater and ripping off his helmet beneath a sizable waterfall known as “Leap of Faith.”
“I actually got pinned underwater and thought I was drowning for a second, but managed to pull my deck (skirt) and was swimming like a fish. So I’m pretty stoked to turn it around,” said Sutton of Thursday’s win in the two-lap race. “The first run back, I had it in my head for sure.”
Sutton is the second consecutive Kiwi to win the men’s division of the steep creek race, taking down last year’s champion, Mike Dawson, along with the rest of the 35 competitors. Only six-tenths of a second separated Sutton and runner-up Andrew Holcombe of Asheville, N.C., after one lap through the course, but a strong, clean line on Sutton’s second lap widened the final gap to nearly two seconds.
Tao Berman, a three-time Homestake Creek race champion from White Salmon, Wash., finished third, four seconds back.
Australian Tanya Faux dominated the women’s field of 13 with a 14-second margin over her closest competitor, Martina Wegman of New Hampshire.
Kiwi Nikki Kelly, a three- time Homestake champion and now a mother of two, placed third.
