by Craig Staszkow |
 Rajah Bose | Daily News |
Nancy Wanamaker and Alan Place get a look at Nick Webb's road burns sustained when Webb tumbled during Sunday's Moscow Mountain Madness race. | |
Monday,
September 8, 2003 
Moscow-Pullman Daily News
(Digitized and used with permission) |
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Bicycle racers
wait for the start Sunday. The 12-mile race climbed for the first 10
miles before a descent to the finish.
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 Rajah Bose | Daily News Chris Hundhausen of Moscow heads to the finish of the Moscow Mountain Madness race Sunday.
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| Moscow's June Sayers was not focused on victory Sunday during the mountain bike portion of the Moscow Mountain Madness race. Staying focused on the rocks ahead was task enough. |  Rajah Bose | Daily News Brian Morra, 13, is greeted by supporters at the end of the race. Morra and friend Brendan Littlefield, 14, completed the race on unicycles. |
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24-year-old University of Idaho student lost a contact lens somewhere near the top of Moscow Mountain yet battled blurry vision in one of the more memorable performances in a busy weekend of recreational racing on the Palouse. Sayers was one of four individual champions at the Moscow Madness race, a hilly 12-mile event for mountain bikers and runners along the spine of Moscow Mountain. The race was run one day after the Palouse Sprint Triathlon in Moscow. Sayers, 24, finished almost five minutes ahead of the second women's cyclist, Marci Stephens, 40, of Moscow, though it's likely Stephens was gaining ground on the two-mile descent down the mountain to the finish. "I couldn't see anything on my right side," Sayers said. "I had to slow down Š my depth perception was way off." Sayers is no stranger to mountain bike racing. She rode competitively in the Washington-Idaho-Montana Mountain Bike Series this summer at the expert level, one level below professional. She plans to ride for the UI in the Collegiate Nationals, Oct. 10-12, in Angel Fire, New Mexico. Still, Saturday's race was less about winning and more about enjoying the ride. Sayers said she has not been able to train much during the last few weeks with the start of school and her work schedule. In addition to pursuing a degree in podiatric medicine with minors in mechanical engineering and German, Sayers works part-time in the deli at a local supermarket. While Sayers' effort was noteworthy, there were other equally impressive performances during the weekend. Here's a selected list of
standouts:
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Ashley Grosse - It's unlikely any competitor has a harder head, or more drive, than Grosse. The Moscow woman placed third in her age group at the triathlon after slamming her forehead into a lifeguard chair while leaving the swim portion of the race at the Hamilton-Lowe Aquatic Center. An Emergency Medical Technician was on hand to check out the injury. After receiving the OK to continue racing, Grosse went about her business. She looked especially tough with the blood running down her forehead during the bike and run, said race director Karl Umiker. | |
| Bob and Marci Stephens - While Bob Stephens saw his two-year victory run at the Palouse Sprint Triathlon snapped, he still earned Maddest of the Palouse honors for masters men with a strong mountain bike effort Sunday. Marci Stephens, Bob's wife, also was named Maddest of the Palouse for masters women. She placed fifth overall in the triathlon and was second overall in the bike portion of Moscow Mountain Madness. | ||
| Tim Traynor - A 39-year-old pharmacy student at Washington State University, Traynor set a course record at Saturday's Palouse Sprint Triathlon with a finishing time of 50 minutes, 37 seconds. Traynor ended the two-year reign of Moscow's Bob Stephens, who placed fourth. Traynor followed up his triathlon victory with a second-place finish in the bike portion of Sunday's Moscow Mountain Madness race. Traynor was named Maddest of the Palouse for his combined finishes in the two races. | Brian Morra and Brendan Littlefield - In a Moscow Mountain Madness first, this pair of Moscow youth rode the entire 12 miles on a unicycle. Morra finished in less than two hours - beating several two-wheeled competitors in the process - while Littlefield finished in just under 2 1/2 hours. Both competitors were given gift certificates to a local sporting good store for their efforts. | |
| Kristina Yanosek - Another Maddest of the Palouse winner, Yanosek was the top women's finisher in the Palouse Sprint Triathlon in a time of 57:15, a course record. She finished as the top woman - and fifth runner overall - at Moscow Mountain Madness. Yanosek, 25, moved to the Palouse in March and works as a civil engineer for the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Moscow. Yanosek said it was nice to win both races, but she didn't have that in mind when she stepped to the line. "I didn't really set a goal," she said. "After I did the triathlon yesterday, I just wanted to see how my legs felt (today)."
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Complete results &
photographs: Moscow Mountain Madness Sprint Triathlon |
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 Rajah Bose | Daily News |
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A welcomed rest after a tough race. |
The steep ascents made for great competition between biker and runner. | |
