Only days after many of the top mountain bikers in the country ripped around Prescott, Arizona, for the first of four stops on the Epic Rides calendar, much of the same field traveled to Soldier Hollow, Utah, for the Soldier Hollow Bike Festival.
This year, the festival includes a four-stage race for International Cycling Union (UCI) points, and it all began Thursday with a time trial.
The elite women’s time trial was won by Fort Lewis College’s Savilia Blunk in 23 minutes, 7.9 seconds. Katernia Nash of California was second in 23:08.2, while Haley Batten of Park City was third in 23:22.1. FLC alumna Sofia Gomez-Villafañe finished sixth in 23:46.3. Durango’s Katja Freeburn, a current FLC rider, was 14th in 27:14.3. Stella Sisneros of FLC was 26th in 30:33.8.
The elite men’s race was won by Keegan Swenson of Heber City, Utah. He finished three seconds in front of Durango’s Christopher Blevins and 43.8 seconds ahead of Durangoan Stephan Davoust, who placed third.
Henry Nadell of FLC was eighth in 20:48.9, while his Skyhawk teammate Cooper Wiens was 11th in 20:53.4. Former FLC rider Ryan Standish was 12th in 20:54.9, while Durango’s Ben Sonntag was 13th in 21:01.7. More current FLC riders also finished, as Cole Paton was 16th in 21:16.9. and Nash Dory was 23rd in 21:32.6. Durango’s Daniel Johnson placed 28th in 21:50.5. Durango’s Keiran Eagen, another current FLC rider, was 34th in 22:00.1. FLC’s Jason Rowton was 43rd in 22:20.1. Levi Kurlander of Durango was 46th in 22;23.9.
Durango’s Ruth Holcomb won the girls Category 1 race for riders age 15-16, as she finished in 25:54.6, which was 1:36.3 ahead of Durango’s Lauren Aggeler and 2:16.9 ahead of Tai-Lee Smith of Breckenridge.
Results for juniors age 17-18 were not available at press time Thursday.
The SOHO Bike Festival will continue with a short-track race Friday, cross-country Saturday and a marathon-distance race Sunday.
Before Swenson’s time trial win in Utah, he claimed the Whiskey Off-Road backcountry race Sunday in Arizona with a winning time of 3:12:29 on the 50-mile course that saw some changes this year. Russel Finsterwald of Colorado Springs was second in 3:18:46. Sonntag had a breakthrough ride for his early season, as he finished fourth in 3:21:32. Sonntag had battled an infection early in the season and was happy to put together a solid result to start the four-race series that offers big payouts.
“With the infection and kind of a real bad month of training in Durango, going into the Whiskey 50 I wasn’t confident,” Sonntag said. “I knew I was getting healthy. My start was not ideal, but I started passing people and that gave me good momentum. I kept doing that all day. Unfortunately, I was a little short to catch third place, but, honestly, I made it up to the podium and was really happy.”
Also for Durango, Davoust finished seventh after he was fourth in the Friday night short-track race. Payson McElveen was 10th after he placed second to Swenson in short-trace. Howard Grotts returned to racing after battling an illness and was 20th in 3:31:12 He also was 10th in the short-track.
Among the 83 finishers of the men’s 50-mile race, 17 are either from Durango or Fort Lewis College cycling affiliated.
Reigning national champion Kate Courtney won the women’s 50-mile race in Arizona, as she finished in 3:46:44. Chloe Woodruff was second in 3:49:54 while racing on home soil. Catharine Pendrel of Littleton was third in 3:50:14, as she edged Batten in a sprint to the line. Gomez-Villafañe placed seventh in 4:00:41, while Ashley Carelock of Dolores was 22nd in 4:39:32. The women’s short-track was won by Woodruff while Katerina Nash was second and Gomez-Villafañe was third.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
