Photo by Justin Treptow, In Focus Photography. Courtesy of Wolf Creek Ski Area
Wolf Creek Ski Area hosted its first Fun Race of the season on Sunday, January 21.
The modified grand slalom course was held on Lower Charisma and was groomed with some light snowfall later in the day making for soft conditions on the course. The turnout was a respectable 44 skiers traveling in from Florida, New Mexico and Arizona.
The overall winner of the day was Dan Hultgren from Saint Petersburg, FL – with an impressive time of 27.30 seconds. Corbin Horrocks of South Fork came in second place with a time of 28.83 seconds. Third place went to Thomas Popov of Pagosa Springs with an equally impressive time of 29.31. Only two seconds separated the first through third place finishers in the men’s race.
The ladies race was equally as exciting with less than one second separating the top three finishers. The overall winner of the ladies race was Linda Johnston of Scottsdale, AZ with an impressive race time of 37.38. Second place went to Laura Mithuff also of Scottsdale, AZ with a time of 37.69. Finally, Julie Church of Pinetop, AZ came in third place with a race time of 37.69.
In the girl’s race, Blayke Hill (age 3-5) and Logyn Hill (age 6 – 8) of Carlsbad, NM came in with race times of 1:12.57 and 45.60 respectively.
Aiden Soden of Pagosa Springs placed 1st in our Boys 9-11 group with a time of 35.91. First time racer Logan Bristow of Pagosa Springs came in just behind Aiden with a race time of 45.49.
Rylan Soden of Pagosa Springs placed 1st in the Boys 12-14 Group with a time of 38.17 seconds, Cooper Webb of South Fork placed 2nd with a race time of 42 flat and Brayden Jones, also of South Fork came in with a finishing race time of 51.79 seconds.
Corbin Horrocks, the overall second place winner was the only contestant in the Boys 15-17 group, finishing with a time of 28.83 seconds.
Finally, there were two racers in our Boys 18-20 group with both racers hailing from Oklahoma City, OK. The overall winner of this age group was Jaxson Chesser with a time of 41.62 seconds and coming in a close second was Carson Osburn at 45.52 seconds.
Overall the first race went well, even with the fresh snow, and WCSA is looking forward to the next fun race which will be held on Sunday, February 18 for President’s Day weekend. The racing fun continues over the next two weeks with the Cont. Freeride IFSA Jr. Event being held this Saturday, January 27 and Sunday, January 28; and the Wolf Creek Giant Slalom Race on Saturday, February 3.