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Randonnee Rally comes down to seven seconds

Whistler patroller wins women's recreational category

In the end, after 1,375 metres (4,583 feet) of climbing and slightly more descending through Whistler’s alpine terrain, just seven seconds and a little bit of strategy were all that separated the top two men.

Greg Hill of Revelstoke had won the Whistler Randonnee Rally event for the past three years, and came into this year’s competition looking to make it four.

Without the same level of fitness as past years – only about 35 days of ski touring so far in 2005-06 compared to about 50 days by the same time last year – Hill decided to use strategy rather than fitness to win the day.

In past years he has always led the way, breaking trail for the other competitors, and this year he decided to let other skiers break trail for him, then use his downhill skiing skills to pull ahead near the end.

"Did it pan out? It doesn’t look like it," said Hill. "I let (winner Carey Smith) get ahead, and got lost for a bit behind before catching up. I had a better fitness level last year for sure, but I always assumed my downhill skills were a little better and I could make up the gap, but his skills were pretty good too. I almost caught him."

Hill, who recently became a father, doesn’t intend to race any of the other events in the eight-event Randonnee Rally series this year. Instead, he will help to organize a ski touring event like the Randonnee Rally at Sunshine Village Resort outside of Banff.

"My internal coach took the fall off," he said. "There’s a 24 hour race in Aspen I want to do, but that’s pretty much it for competing."

Hill also reached a personal goal last year by ski touring 40,000 vertical feet in a single day.

The winner, Carey Smith of Jackson Hole, called the race a nail-biter.

"Racing is always stressful, and this one was really close – Greg was right there the whole time," said Smith. "But if it isn’t Greg Hill, it’s Chris Kroger, or Steve Romeo, or any of these guys. Someone else steps up each week, and the races are really close.

"If the slightest thing happened it could be a different race. You have to be strong but you have to think your way through the descents, the transitions. A lot of factors go into it – you drop a glove, drop a skin, come out of your binding, and then spend 10 seconds futzing with it, and guys will go by you."

Smith is a member of the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association team that is heading to the World Championships in Spain this February. He says he is training hard with his teammates, but they still don’t expect to finish with any medals against European racers that have been competing on a far more established randonnee racing series.

"We’re just starting out with ski touring competitions in North America, but (Randonnee Rally series organizer John) Scott, has put together a great series, and it’s a growing series that’s getting a lot of support, and one day hopefully we’ll have something here to rival Europe," said Smith.

Smith finished the course in one hour, 33 minutes and three seconds, while Hill crossed the line in 1:33:10. In third place with a time of 1:34:56 was Chris Kroger of Jackson Hole.

Only two women were in the pro race, Colorado’s Monique Merrill and Karen Kingsley, finishing less than a minute apart with times of 1:51:54 and 1:52:47 respectively.

"There’s only two women, but they’re both competitive women," said Merrill. "Karen and I are always back and forth on the course and usually within about 10 seconds at the finish, and we were definitely back and fourth to the end of this race. I was feeling really strong on the climbs, but I had to ski really on edge because she’s a lot better on the downhills and I knew she wasn’t far behind."

Merrill and Kingsley will also be representing the USSMA in the world championships.

In the recreational category, which raced a shorter course, Seth Davis of Seattle was the first man across the line in 1:00:30, followed by Scott Coldiron of Spokane, Washington in 1:03:01. Neil Lang of Vancouver was third in 1:03:20, one second ahead of Whistler’s Scott Flavelle.

For Davis, this is his second Randonnee Rally in Whistler.

"I should have entered the race category, I definitely could have kept going," he said.

"I love this event… it’s like a big group ski and it’s fun being paced at the start with all the fast guys."

This was also Davis’s first time on mountaineering skis. While he appreciated the light weight on the climbs, he was less sure on the descents.

"They’re not the most high performance skis out there. It’s like skiing on wet noodles going downhill, and the packed part at the end was pretty tough, but there are no form points here," said Davis.

The first recreational woman across the line was Whistler ski patroller Erika Janackova. She already put in a full morning at work doing avalanche control before the race, and was nice and warmed up by the time the Randonnee Rally got underway.

She finished in 1:17:30, 2:11 faster than Holly Walker of Seattle. Sam Elvin of Vancouver was third in 1:29:59.

"I have an advantage because I know the course so well. I know where it’s going to hurt, but also where I can make up some time here and there," said Janackova. "It was hard to do all that climbing out of the start, but your body adjusts pretty quickly. After that it’s fine, you just put your head down and go," said Janackova.

"It’s good this race is here and we should all support it."

Complete results for the Randonnee Rally are available online at www.life-link.com/llrally.htm