Elk Mountain Grand Traverse

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The Joining of Two Mountain Communities

Corey Rosen / 01.04.2006

Midnight last night marked the 9th annual Crested Butte to Aspen Grand Traverse Cross Country Ski Race. Teams of two spent all night trekking and skiing through the Colorado Wilderness. 101 teams began the all night race and within two hours, teams were spread all over the course. Most teams kept the team in front of them in their sights througout the race.

Fresh off their trip to the Raid, Team Crested Butte/Gunnison, had three members of their team finish in first place in two different classes, the Two-Man team, and the Co-ed team. Jon Brown and Brian Smith finished First Place in the Two-Man division as well as the overall ranking. This team set a new course record of Seven hours Fifty-Two minutes and Thirty seconds followed directly by Dave Penny and Eric Sullivan of Breckenridge at a time of Seven hours Fifty-Two minutes and Thirty-Five seconds. Third Place went to Chris Clark and Trond Flagstad of Alaska with a time of Seven hours Fifty-Four minutes and Twenty-Five seconds.

Jari Kirkland of Team Crested Butte/Gunnison raced in this two person team sport with someone not from her team, Allen Hadley. Jari's teammate hurt his back last week and was not able to compete in this years race. "I don't think we spoke more than six sentences to each other before this race," Jari said. Apparently, the last minute choice in a new teammate proved to work for Jari and Allen finishing First Place in the Co-ed division and eighth place overall.See All Event Posts