Kids steal the show at XTERRA Garnet Hill!

By Dick Carlson, Race Director

On Sunday, June 24th Garnet Hill hosted a stop on the XTERRA America Tourt – the 3rd annual XTERRA Garnet Hill.    Competitors from nine states and from as far away as Colorado and Texas came to North River to challenge the Garnet Hill course.  67 athletes stepped up to the plate for the course that consisted of a 1K (.6mi) swim on 13th Lake, a 16K (9mi.) mountain bike leg, and an 8K (4.8mi.) trail run. 

Under a beautiful blue sky day the swim start of the race on Thirteenth Lake began at 10:30AM.  First out of the water was Kevin Crossman from South Glens Falls, NY in 15:44.  He was followed in a minute by Brian Emelson of  Rochester, NY in 16:44, and third out of the water was Ryan Kelly of Concord, NH in 16:49.  The first woman out of the water was Elizabeth Vineis of Albany, NY in 18:25 followed by Sydnie Lieb of Saranac Lake (19:03) then Mara Fronhafer of Argyle (19:13).  After a 1 mile ride up from the beach the bike leg featured two loops of a challenging 4.2 mile course with 500 feet of climbing per lap.  Racers then switched out their bike gear for a 8K trail run on the Garnet Hill Trails.  The bike and run separated out the men’s field and the overall winner was Ryan Kelly of Concord, NH (1:41:25) followed by a fellow pro racer Will Kelsey of Divide, CO (1:44:53).  The third spot was captured by Ian Sullivan of Jerico, VT (1:45:56).  The women’s race was very tight with the lead changing a few times.  Over the same course, 1st place was won by Audrey Huffman of Waitsfield, VT in 2:05:57.  Second place went to Elizabeth Vineis of Albany, NY in 2:08:07, and third place was won by Mara Fronhafer of Argyle in 2:11:38. 
   
It was Thoreau that said “What people say you can’t do – you try and find that you can.”  That was certainly true of the youngest athletes at XTERRA Garnet Hill.   It was the youngest racers and finishers Jonathan LaBrecque age 12 of Minerva and Julia Slyer age 11 of Averill Park that provided the most inspiration for everyone.  Racing over the same challenging course as the adults, Jonathan overcame a broken bike and completed the swim, bike, run course to a chorus of cheers in 4:28:11.  Julia finished with her dad John Slyer in 3:25:20. 

The next local stop on the North East XTERRA circuit is the XTERRA M2Xtreme on July 8 in Ellicottville, NY.  Check out the whole schedule at XTERRAPlanet.com today!

(End note by Jen Trapp, XPS Assistant Manager)  Thanks also goes to Garnet Hill and Dick Carlson for returning this year with a bang!  The venue was beautiful, the accommodations at the Lodge were magnificent, and the post race party was fantastic!  Burgers and beers and locally made soda for everyone!  We are so excited to have this event back on the schedule and are looking forward to even ore exciting additions (bonfires and pasta parties!) for next year.  Stay tuned!

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