Simons and Dussault Win Boulder Mountain Tour

Sun Valley, Idaho – Zack Simons (Rossignol) and Rebecca Dussault (Saab Salomon Factory Team) won the 34th annual Boulder Mountain Tour this past weekend.

Simons, who is rounding into form after his early season took a significant setback due to illness, edged Marshall Green (Alpina/XC-Oregon) in an exciting sprint to the finish. The final margin of victory was recorded as a mere .1 seconds. US Nordic Combined skier Bryan Fletcher (Madshus) was just 1.5 seconds back in third.

In the women’s race, Rebecca Dussault was able to ski away from Saab Salomon Factory teammate Kristina Trygstad-Saari for a 38 second win. In a finish that matched the the men’s battle for first, Trygstad-Saari outkicked yet another Saab Salomon skier, Evelyn Dong (XC-Oregon), nabbing the second spot by just over a second.

Trygstad-Saari in the lead, Dussault second, and eventual 4th place finisher Laura McCabe (#106). Evelyn Dong is 3rd and Nicole DeYong (Fischer/Craft,SVSEF) is in 4th. DeYong finished 5th on the day.

The 30km Boulder Mountain Tour is one of the classic American ski races. Starting up at Galena Lodge, the point-to-point course winds for 32km down the valley to finish at the Sawtooth National Recreation Headquarters, 1100 feet lower. Because the significant eleveation drop makes for fast skiing, the field usually stays tightly bunched, with a large pack of elite skiers at the front.

The top trio in the men’s race was able to open a small gap heading into the finish. Mike Sinnott (Saab Salomon Factory Team) was 4th, 11.7 seconds behind Fletcher. Hailing from Sun Valley and racing before the local crowd, Sinnott barely outsprinted one of the top Nordic Combined Skiers in the world, and a past winner of the Boulder Mountain Tour, Billy Demong.