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Show Shea beats Stuart by a nose in Wasatch Citizen's ski race by JIM SMEDLEY Record staff writer In the most hotly contested race in the Wasatch Citizens' Series to date, Park City's Lee Shea edged Jeff Stuart by a nose if that much in the Jan. 4 event at Brighton. . "It could have required a photo finish," Shea said of the 8.1-kilometer (5.02-mile) race. Shea and Stuart were thick in the pack of four that jumped to the lead in the M-2 (19 to 29 age) class. After a short straightaway, Stuart and Shea began to break from the pack and by the time they were in the middle of the 4-kilometer downhill stretch, they were clearly the fron-trunners. fron-trunners. "I skated the course last winter so I had experience. I did not go as fast this year. I paced myself to have energy left for the finish," Shea said. "Jeff is a lot stronger skier than I am, so I knew that I didn't want to get in front of him. "I was right behind him all the way. He was maybe 1 to 20 feet in front of me at any given time," he added. The pair completed the downhill section and then swung into the 4-kilometer uphill. Stuart maintained maintain-ed the slightest edge going into the final 75 yards of the homestretch. But Shea stowed enough away to sprint the final 75-yard, level homestretch. "I was right on his tail when we reached 75 yards. We were nose to nose on the way to the finish line," Shea said. When the skiers were a fraction ". away from the finish line, they dove for the tape. Stuart ended up crossing the goal line head first. Shea was able to maintain his balance and his lunee provided the margin of victory. Both skiers were timed at 33 : 06. Stuart, a member of the Utah National Na-tional Guard Biathalon Team, placed plac-ed second in the M-2 Class last season. Park City men also fared well in the M-3 division (30 to 39) in capturing captur-ing three of the top five spots and in the Open Class (open to all ages) and M-4 Class (40 to 49), locals won two of the top three slots. Women from Park City dominated the Women's Open Class as they took four of the top five places. A local skier won the Women's Novice Class, while two of the top three in the W-l (14 to 19) age group were from Park City. Two locals also took two of the top five places in the W-4 (35 to 49) category. Salt Lake City's Dan Gibson won the M-3 class, a 8.1-kilometer race, in 30:20. Tom Noaker was second at 34:16 and Ed Masters finished third and Christoph Schork fifth with times of 35:02 and 36:03 respectively. respective-ly. Brian Glenn, Summit Park, ended end-ed 29th of 34 skiers. Ken McCarthy, the leading point-getter point-getter in the Men's Open Class, won the Open Class by posting a 59:23 for the 16.2 kilometer course. Rob Lan-dis Lan-dis of Alta was second at 1 : 03.20 and Jeff Newsom was third at 1 :04.43. McCarthy, currently a ski instructor instruc-tor who won the Open Class last year, finished third behind two University of Utah ski team members in the Dec. 21 Nordic opener. Jackson Hole's Dean Anderson took honors in the M-4 Class (40 to 49) by posting a 35:05. Dave Hanscom's 36:15 was good enough for second place and Richard Groth was third at 37: 10. "There was a new snow the day before so the track was a lot softer than usual, so a lot of people were using us-ing wax and a diagonal stride, making mak-ing it easier to to get up the hills," Hanscom said. "Dean outsmarted me this time because I was skating and he used the diagonal stride and wax. "The Brighton course has 400 feet of elevation change and it was really a grind compared to the White Pine course at Park City. The elevation is also 8,500 feet compared to 7,000 at Park City," Hanscom added. "The hills and higher elevation make the times for the 8.1-kilometer distance race here comparable to the 10-kilometer race at Park City." Greg Hanscom placed third in the Men's Junior Class (under 14) with a time of 15:28. Madonna Harris was the fastest in the Women's Open Class (open to all ages ) skiing the 8. 1-kilometer course in 37.56. Kathy McCarthy was second se-cond at 39.08, Jeri Simms fourth at 41:09 and Roxanne Toly fifth at 42:32. Paula Sweet coasted to a three-minute three-minute victory in the Women's Novice Class (open to all ages) by posting a 25:48 on the 4.5-kilometer course. Twelve-year-old Wendy Wagner finished third at 30:31. "I had the right wax so I thought the course was terrific," Sweet said. "It was fairly easy though, because we were routed around the hills." In the W-4 Class (35 to 49), Salt Lake City's Ellen Gibson took top honors in 40:44 for the 8.1-kilometer course. Park City's Jean Lown and Karen Korfanta were second and third, handing in times of 43:13 and 44: 48 respectively. W-l Class (14 to 18) skier Holly Hunter won her 4.5-kilometer race in 26:05 and Abbey Peterson was second se-cond at 31:11. |
