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Sorensen victorious in SMC return

ADAM BOFFEY
Summit Daily News
Summit Daily/Eric Drummond
ALL |

DILLON ” When this summer’s Summit Mountain Challenge opened up May 30 in Frisco, Jill Sorensen was in Hawaii with few cares.

Upon her SMC return at Sunday’s Tour de Trash at the Summit County Landfill, last year’s series champion in the expert women 19-34 category not only won the expert women’s race, but she also remembered what she liked so much about the local mountain biking series.

Sorensen, who parted ways with her maiden name of Walker during the offseason, finished with a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 22 seconds ” 13 seconds faster than runner-up Collen Ihnken. The two women exchanged a high five and debriefed the race not far from the finish line.



“We were talking about how lucky we are because all of us (SMC) girls are so friendly with each other,” said Sorensen, “We’re just gabbing at the start line, having fun and wishing each other good luck whereas at a lot of other races, girls have their game faces on ” it’s so serious.”

“I think (Walker) was just taking it easy today,” Ihnken said. “Honestly, she’s so friggin’ fast.”



So is Ihnken, maybe even more so than last summer when she was a new mom.

“I think you get a little stronger after you have a kid,” Ihnken said. “Maybe because you get a little more focused ” there’s less time to do stuff.”

In the men’s pro/elite race, Brett Morgan passed a fallen Jake Wells early in the race and held on for victory with a time of 1:16:26.

Wells (1:19:48) recovered enough to claim second place in his SMC debut.

“It’s a shock to the system when you’re rolling, breathing pretty hard and all of sudden you’re on the ground,” Wells said of his mishap, which he estimated cost him about 30 seconds. “I was trying to do damage control ” make sure my bike was still running good and keep the guy behind me in check.”

The guy behind Wells was ultimately Thane Wright, who rounded out the podium with a time of 1:21:52.

“I didn’t expect that today ” it’s really encouraging,” Wright said of his result. “I kind of go into (local races) thinking if I can ride with that guy or that guy (pointing to fellow members of his category), I’ll be in good shape. Today, I saw Christian Ball and Jake Youcha ahead of me and when I’m around those guys I know I’m having a good day.”

Ball and Youcha finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Sunday’s singlespeed race was won by Tim Faia (1:00:23), who was followed by Todd Smith (1:00:40) and Charlie Hayes (1:03:55).

Faia and Smith were practically tied (Faia by a bike’s length) after the second of three laps, but the eventual winner gradually took over during the third loop.

“I was just trying to figure out what Todd was going to do,” Faia said. “He was really pulling hard and descending way better than me, so I just had to keep my gaps, ride smart and not stack it trying to keep up on the downs. It just worked out that I attacked on the rocks on the last lap then stayed on the gas the whole way.”

Jeff Cospolich (1:23:13) was victorious in the expert men’s race, followed by David Overstreet (1:24:45) and Kevin Kane (1:24:50).

Other adult winners included Elna Persson (sport women, 1:16:38), Jerry Stafford (sport men, 1:05:59), Jessica Kimball (beginner women, 58:35) and John Poukish (beginner men, 50:22).

One of Sunday’s smallest categories was the clydesdale division, which consisted of just five men weighing in at 190 pounds or more.

After Barry Hanson (1:11:45) beat out his four opponents, he spoke to the division’s plight.

“It’s a bummer,” he said. “Last year we started with six or eight, but we don’t know where the guys went ” they just disappeared. We could definitely use more clydesdales.”

Top Five Sport Racers

Men

1. Jerry Stafford ” 1:05:59

2. Ross Holbrook ” 1:06:57

3. Henry Yu ” 1:08:28

4. Geoff Stacey ” 1:08:47

5. Scott Radek ” 1:09:10

Women

1. Elna Persson ” 1:16:38

2. Amy Jamison ” 1:17:39

3. Brenda Moczygemba ” 1:19:44

4. Sybil Praski “1:20:00

5. Crystal Miller ” 1:20:25

Adam Boffey can be contacted at (970) 668-4634, or at aboffey@summitdaily.com.


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