STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

It was eight years ago that Sun Valley’s Matt Gelso and 2010 Olympian Caitlin Gregg set Boulder Mountain tour records.

And, as both toed the starting line outside Galena Lodge for the first time since, many thought that their records might be broken given temperatures that had climbed into the 50s the past few days leaving course conditions fast.

But, despite what Race Director Jody Zarkos called one of the tightest races ever for both men and women, Gelso and Gregg retained their titles as the fastest Zions Bank Boulder Mountain Tour champs ever.

Six men, including Will Koch, Peter Wolter and Elijah Weenig chased one another down the nearly 21-mile course.

The top three men crossed the finish line less than a minute behind Gelso’s 2018 time of 1 hour 10 minutes and 28 seconds. The women were just under three minutes off the pace of Gregg’s 1 hour 17 minutes and 41 seconds.

“We went hard, and the conditions were fast,” said Will Koch, who finished second in his first Boulder Mountain Tour. “I heard there was a tailwind back when they set the record.”

That records didn’t fall didn’t make the 34-kilometer, or 20.4-mile, race from Galena Lodge to SNRA headquarters any less exciting.

A pack of six men, including Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Gold Team members Elijah Weenig, Will Koch and Peter Wolter, crossed the road at Cathedral Pines 11 kilometers from the finish line together.

The podium featured second-place finishers Annika Landis and Will Koch, first-place finishers Elijah Weenig and Emma Albrecht and third-place finishers Caitlin Gregg and Willson Moore.

About 10 women moved together down the track, doing a little elbow pushing along the way.

Elijah Weenig, in his first year on the elite Gold Team, crossed the finish line in 1 hour 11 minutes, 12 seconds and one-tenth of a second as the sun caught the glint of gold cowbells ringing up and down at the finish.

His Gold Team colleague Will Koch was on his ski tips, crossing the finish line at 1:11.12.5. Willson Moore of the Bridger Ski Foundation was a close third at 1:11.13.8.

Emma Albrecht, who also skis with the Bridger Ski Foundation, crossed the finish line less than a second ahead of Sun Valley’s Annika Landis—1:20.27.6 to 1:20.28.4. Caitlin Gregg, a five-time American Birkebeiner champ, was third at 1.20.28.8.

Seven women vied for first at the finish line.

“It feels great to win because I haven’t won a race this year. And this race is just awesome—so beautiful. Such a fun race and we had perfect conditions,” said Weenig, who was competing in his first Boulder Mountain Tour.

Weenig said it was difficult to break away from a large group of men the first 10 kilometers. Finally, six pulled ahead at Prairie Creek. They traded leads as they sailed through Frostbite Flats and through the North Fork Campground.

Weenig was third with one kilometer to go when he went outside on a turn and pulled out in front, charging hard through a narrow area in the woods that opened up at the finish line.

“It was awesome—there were so many people cheering at the finish line,” he said.

Matt Gelso, in the yellow outfit, didn’t win but he did retain his title as fastest man in the Boulder Mountain Tour.

Annika Landis was beaming at the race’s end, even though she narrowly missed first for the third year in a row. Finishing second this year was not a given since the 28-year-old had only raced in one race this year.

“Today was such a beautiful day, compared to last year when it snowed. This year was a true Boulder Mountain Tour—so fun to ski,” she said.

The large field of elite women made it difficult to win, difficult to break away, she said.

“But that makes it fun,” she added. “We took it out pretty measured. There were a couple falls early on—Emma Albrecht fell so we waited for her…a little bit. I’m happy she was able to come back and win after falling.”

Jenny Busdon said she wasn’t surprised to see the success that Annika Landis has had ski racing.

“I coached her when she was 8 and 9 in Girls on the Run and she always wanted to run when the other girls were saying, ‘We don’t feel like running today.’ I knew she had something then.”

Gregg was defending her earlier Boulder Mountain Tour title when she set the record in 2018. A 2015 World Championship bronze medalist, she kidded then about being blessed with superpowers after being struck by lightning from thundersnow while jogging to the Nordic trails in West Yellowstone in November 2017.

She and her husband Brian Gregg, who was in the second pack of men to cross the finish line, recently moved from Minnesota to Washington’s Methow Valley where Brian’s family lives. They had planned to race in Methow’s Ski to the Sun but jumped in the car with their 7- and 1-year-old and headed to Sun Valley after that race was cancelled due to lack of snow.

“The Boulder Mountain Tour is one of the most beautiful races I’ve ever done,” she said. “Today’s field was so strong, so tight, it was hard to break away. But the course was beautiful and so fast.”

Gelso, a former World Cup competitor who has climbed podiums at Super Tour races, Nor Ams and NCAA championships, was a few minutes behind the winners in Saturday’s Boulder Mountain Tour. But he was all smiles as those around him traded fist bumps and hugs.

“Good to see I still have the record!” he said.

See all the race results at https://bouldermountaintour.com/.