Battling the Elements
Reigning champs defeat fellow competitors, harsh weather

Skiers battle harsh winds and snow Saturday as they reach the top of Heartbreak Ridge, the steepest climb of the cross-country skiing portion of the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathalon. (Photo by Jerry Wilson/Independent)

By Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer

Greg Overman, from Albuquerque's The Bike Coop, adjusts a competitor's rear gear mechanism during a free safety check before the Grants Winter Quadrathalon. Overman has been coming to the Quad to do free safety checks for 18 years. (Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent)

GRANTS — It was a familiar sight at the finish of the 22nd Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon on a cold, windy, wet, overcast Saturday afternoon.

Danelle Ballengee of Dillon, Colo., continued her domination in the solo female division, claiming her ninth title in the last 11 Quads, her sixth in a row, while Josiah Middaugh of Vail, Colo., captured his second straight solo male title.

Despite not being able to train prior to her latest Quadrathlon, the 33-year-old Ballengee still managed to dominate the women's division, winning with a time of 4 hours, 18 minutes and 34 seconds. Ballengee's winning time was more than 14 minutes ahead of her closest competitor, Jennifer Hopkinson of Gunnison, Colo., with a 4:32:51.

Ballengee admitted that she did not put in her usual training for the Quad due to a long and hard adventure racing team season she had. Still the other competitors could not match her determination to add to her ever-growing haul of Quadrathlon titles.

"The wind was so strong," she said. "It was tough with the whiteout at the top. It was just windy with the blowing snow."

She said that the downhill bike portion proved to be the toughest. "I was using my Granny gear," she said. "It was super slow with the head winds. I struggled a little on the bike."

She was third on the bike going up and then overtook her competitors on the run.

"I felt pretty good on the downhill run. I had the lead and just hung on."

Her winning time was her slowest of her nine victories in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and now 2005. This year's time was nearly eight minutes slower than her winning time of 4:10.40 from last year. Ballengee's best time was a 3:52:09 in 2000 when there was no snow on Mt. Taylor so the skiing portion was eliminated. Her fastest winning time came in 1997 with a 3:58:29.

Competitors from Colorado dominated the solo female division, taking 15 of the top 25 spots.

Keri Nelson of Gunnison, Colo. placed third (4:33:17) with Lisa Isom of Vail, Colo. fourth (4:44:39) and Amber Rydholm of Boulder, Colo. fifth (4:44:39).

Grants' Jessica Rappleyea finished 20th overall with a time of 6:00:42 in her second try at soloing.

Ballengee said she will be competing in a four-day Extreme adventure competition in Mexico beginning today.

She said she plans to return to try to win her 10th women's title.

"I'll be back," she promised. "Grants does an excellent job. That's the reason I come back every year. I was pleased with myself. I just raced within myself today. Every year I come back. I must have short-term memory because I seem to forget how hard it is. I'm competitive by nature. I want to come back to at least get No. 10. I'm getting older and today I felt older than my age. But I can't stop now. It is kind of unique. It's so well-organized. It's beautiful up there. This year you couldn't see the view at the top. But lower it was like an enchanted forest with all the tree tops frosted over. Mt. Taylor - it's one of the most beautiful places I've been. It's something you don't want to miss."

Middaugh, the solo male champion said that "complete whiteout conditions" on the top of the 11,300 foot Mt. Taylor made for very challenging conditions.

"It was dramatic conditions," the 26-year-old Middaugh said. "We went from overheating at the start to freezing cold. At the top we had complete whiteout conditions. There were 45 m.p.h. winds. I was just going from (bamboo) pole to pole. The cross country skiing coming down was treacherous. I went down three times. But the snow was so soft with so much snow. It made it soft when you crashed."

Middaugh was sixth during the bike portion of the competition, before moving up to third during the cross country skiing leg and finally to the lead during the snowshoe portion.

"I kept first the rest of the way," Middaugh said.

Although his first place time of 3 hours, 42 minutes and 50 seconds was just one minute and 15 seconds off of last year's winning time of 3:41:35, Middaugh thought that his time this year would be a lot slower.

"It felt a lot slower," he said. "It was very slow conditions. It was a battle against the elements."

Middaugh, who was the runner-up three years ago, admitted that he felt confident about his chances of repeating in only this third Quadrathlon.

"I definitely had a lot of confidence," said Middaugh who had to rush home after last year's Quad to be with his wife who was expecting their first child, Sullivan, who was born March 9. "I felt pretty good during the race but I kept looking back (at the others)."

Middaugh finished exactly nine minutes ahead of runner-up Brian Smith of Gunnison, Colo. with a 3:51:50. 2001 Quad champion Andrew Adamowski of Evergreen, Colo. placed third with a time of 3;57:18. Tom Zirbel of Boulder, Colo. was fourth (3:58:20) with Scott Nydam of El Dorado, Colo. rounding out the top five (3:59:04).

Again the state of Colorado dominated the competition with 17 of the first 25 hailing from that state.

Shane Cleveland of Albuquerque, the 1990 Quad champion, finished seventh with a time of 4:08:08. Eric Black of Dillon, Colo. the 2002 Quad champion, placed ninth (4:17:31).

Like Ballengee, Middaugh says he's returning.

"I'm coming back next year," he said. "I look forward to this all winter. It's such a fun event. As far as the volunteers it's one of the smoothest races I do. With the four transitions, it's a huge challenge."

Gallup's Peter Tempest finished 23rd with a time of 4:43:59 while Grants pharmacist Randy Mattila was right behind in 24th place with a time of 4:46:05.

Grants' Harry Little, 71 years old, won his age group division with a time of 6:48.41.