Park City & Deer Valley

Citizen Series Second Race a Huge Success

Park City native Nick Hendrickson had the race of his life last Saturday. He was leading Olympic gold medalist Bill Demong with 40 meters to go in the second Smartwool Wasatch Citizens Series race at White Pine. Unfortunately for Nick, however, Bill had more speed in the final sprint.

Demong led a group of seven, which included six World Cup athletes and a University of Utah skier, for the first of three blistering free-technique (skating) laps.

Hendrickson took over the lead during the second tour around the course, but couldn't shake Demong, Australian cross country skier Ben Sim, and nordic combined teammate Bryan Fletcher.

Winning time for the 16.2 kilometers (just over 10 miles) was a speedy 41:25. The top four were within six seconds at the finish.

A number of local women also did well on their home course, which was in perfect condition after all the recent snow storms. Roxanne Toly's time of 51:02, fastest for any woman, was enough to beat White Pine instructors Inge Travis and Emma Garrard. Stacey McCooley and Tanya Swenson had their first series victories in the 25-29 and 45-49 age groups, respectively. Deborah Wagner won her second in a row in the 60-65 class, with Nancy Fichter and Cyndi Schwandt close behind.

Among the adult men, White Pine manager Isaac Wilson beat all the 40-45's by a wide margin for the second time this year, and former Parkite Greg Hanscom came all the way from Baltimore to take the 35-39 division. Midway resident Steve Evans squeaked by Paul Smith and Bruce Allen in the 50 year old group, which has been the most competitive WCS division.

Far the best performance for a junior was turned in by 17 year old cross country and nordic combined skier Tyler Smith. His 16-kilometer time of 44:29 was more than four minutes ahead of the next finisher. Other Park City youngsters on top of their age group were siblings Drew and Sydney Palmer-Leger, who won the boys 10-11 and girls 8-9 classes, and Leah Lange, who finished ahead of the other 12-13 girls. All three of these skiers are undefeated in series races this winter. Bel Clayton led the 5-7 year old girls, and Henry Silver finished in front of the other 8-9 boys.

This was the best field ever for a Wasatch Citizens Series event. The pace of the top skiers was just over four minutes per mile on slow snow, attesting to the high quality of the racers. Also competing, finishing 1:27 off the pace in fifth place, was Olympic medalist Johnny Spillane, who's recovering well from a summer injury.

Runner-up Hendrickson grew up in Park City and competed in the Junior Nationals in both cross country and nordic combined. Showing great progress in the past couple of years, he was able to garner World Cup points last summer in a Grand Prix race in Europe. Jumping on plastic and skating on roller skis, he placed 21st overall in a field that included many of the top Olympic skiers.

The third race in the Smartwool Series will be a 10 kilometer classical technique race at Mountain Dell on Saturday, January 22nd, 2011. This will also be a Utah Winter Games event.

submitted by Dave Hanscom : The Park Record

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