2011 6 Hours in Frog Hollow Race Report

For complete photos, visit: Crawling Spider Photography.

10-11-2011

The 2^nd Annual 6 Hours in Frog Hollow took place on October 1^st this year. The small regional event is just as much about having a really fun time riding your bike as it is about racing. The costume theme this year was animals and on course was a fly, a skunk, a butterfly, several bunnies, and a few others. Beer drinking was also a big theme, with more than a few on course PBR’s spotted to help quench the thirst.

The race uses the same route as the iconic 25 Hours in Frog Hollow: a 13 mile loop in the desert east of Hurricane which includes portions of the IMBA EPIC Jem and Hurricane Cliffs trails. The race goes from 9 am to 3 pm, with last lap called at 2 pm. The course was packed and fairly fast race day, but the temperatures of the day proved to be challenging for those trying to achieve a lap goal or vie for a podium spot. At the time last lap was called the mercury was registering 92 out on course.

Despite that fact that the race was well supported with hydration and nutritional products and supplements (and even Swedish fish and gummy worms) only three teams achieved 6 laps compared to 10 teams in 2010 – Solo winner Theron Jeppson, Co-ed Duo team winner Chanda and Brian Jeppson, and Duo Male team winners Bob Saffeil and Shannon Boffeli of MTBRacenews.com/Revolution. But that does not mean that competition in some categories was not fierce. Earning a podium spot in the Solo male category meant staying on course and on pace to pass 25 other guys. Competition was really tight in the male solo single speed category too, with the top 4 finishers all having 4 laps. Paul Pillitteri of Cedar City, a Frog Hollow race veteran, took 1^st in that category, followed by Tom Jones in 2^nd and Team Ramrod.Say it! just 11 min behind for 3^rd place.

There was a lot of excitement in the women’s races this year as well. With a record female turnout of 27%, these ladies meant business. Cait Dwitriew of Glenwood Springs Colorado took 1^st for the solo female category with 5 laps in 5:27:30, followed by Janelle Stewart, who pulled off 5 laps in 6:12:14 for second despite riding most of the day dressed as a skunk. Also of note is the fact that we had two ladies in the Female Masters 50+ category. Both of these ladies put in an incredible effort, with RavenRider taking 1^st place with 4 laps, and Lightning sticking it out to the end to finish her 3. Another exciting outcome in the women’s category was the 1st place Duo Female team MTBRaceNEws.com/HoneySTinger who were racing as two breast cancer survivors.

There were also 4 first time racers on course that day.

All-in-all everyone had a wonderful experience and then finished the day with a meal at one of two local sponsor restaurants in the town of Hurricane.

For a complete list of finishers and standing see http://www.gropromotions.com/RESULTS.html