The 2025 Zions Bank Boulder Mountain Tour: A Lesson in Perseverance and Faith in the People Around You

By: Jody Zarkos

Epic.

The 2025 Zions Bank Boulder Mountain Tour was a lesson in perseverance, faith in the people around you, and the knowledge that Nordic skiers are made of pretty tough stuff. What other group of people will tackle a stormy 34-kilometer point-to-point race with 20 millimeters of fabric between them and the outdoors?

After a spate of bluebird Boulders, the 52nd annual race rolled in on a stormfront that dropped almost a foot of snow the night before the start and picked up again the next morning, albeit with less ferocity. Like Keith Richards in his heyday, the Blaine County Recreation District’s grooming crew pulled all-nighters prepping the course for the 770 starters. It paid off, especially for overall men’s champion Joe Davies.

Men’s elite class. (Photos: Craig Wolfrom)

“The course was in much better shape than I thought it would be, given the new snow. It was fairly firm underneath.”

So was Davies’ resolve.

With three Super Tour podiums under his belt in the New Year, including a win in a 15k freestyle at Soldier Hollow two weeks prior, the 23-year-old University of Utah senior and eight other racers, including Garrett Butts, Ander Weiss, and Reid Goble, the Brit pulled away from the 60 other skiers in wave one. 15k into the race, Davies was by himself, 40 seconds ahead, and after the ensuing 18k on the Harriman Trail, he crossed the finish line in 1:28.33.

“I am not a sprinter, and I didn’t want to leave it to that,” Davies remarked.

Davies with the W for the win. (Photos: Craig Wolfrom)

Butts, one of three Alaska-Pacific men to finish in the top 10, skied to second place in 1:30.10. BSF’s Reid Goble was third at 1:31.12. For a crowd used to a horse race at this finish, the sight of racers skiing in alone harkened back to 2022 when David Norris was more than a minute faster than the field.

Not so in the women’s clash. Hometown favorite Annika Landis and Erica Laven, a racer at the University of Utah, turned the last corner within a stride of each other, and Laven held her off for the win in 1:44.01. Landis crossed in 1:44.02. It was the second year in a row the first two women finished 18th and 19th overall. Another Ute racer and 20-year-old Scandinavian, Selma Nevin, finished third in 1:47.08.

Women’s elite with Erika Laven (left) and Annika Landis. (Photos: Craig Wolfrom)

Skiing for Enjoy Winter, Landis was favored in the field and assigned the #1 bib before the Utah racers jumped in at the suggestion of Johnny Hagenbuch, the 2020 BMT champ and SVSEF alumni.

“I just thought, Laven, oh no,” Landis said. It was not an unwarranted concern.

In her last 14 race starts, dating back to December 14, 2024, the Swedish racer has eight victories and never finished off the podium.

Other wave winners were Dave Burch and Josephine Renner in Wave 3, Neil Johnson and Carolyn Sterrett in Wave 4, Brian Keefe and Eloise Zimbelman in Wave 5, Carter Ros and Cami Laakmann in Wave 6, Chris Cooney and Abigail Rideout in Wave 7.

In the Para division, “One Arm” Willie Stewart of Challenged Athletes Foundation won the standing class in 2:29.10 – good enough for 189th in men’s overall. Greg Mallory (2:48.19) and Otis Loga (3:02.17) went one-two in the sitting category. Zack Simons, a three-time Boulder champion, acted as Loga’s guide.

Jordan Valentine may have been the biggest winner of the day. Tackling the 34k course for the first time with guide Lettie Stratton, the pair got engaged in the middle of the race, noting that they had met at the Boulder when they skied it in 2022. Starting single but finishing engaged, Valentine timed in at 3:55.17.

Normally, the Jon Engen Award is given to the man and woman who improve their time by the greatest percentage from the previous year. Emilie Rice and Juerg Stauffacher were awarded the Engen this year by finishing the closest to last year’s time. Rice was an amazing one percent off, and Stauffacher was only three percent off in 2024.

“This year, it is going to the people that sucked the least,” announcer Travis Jones quipped on stage at the awards.

Father and daughter Gregory Sirek and Eleanor Sirek, a racer for SVSEF, won the Charley Course Half Boulder crowns and led a contingent of eight skiers to finish the 15k in under an hour. Team Golden Fang, with Isaac and Tim Nueschwander, won the Parent/Child title. The Wolfpack with River and Sara Wolf was second.

Charley Course Para champs were Kevin Hoyt, Abbas Mamodoum, and Jason Stoffer in the men’s sitting category, Brittany Chadbourne, Quinn Brett, and Makenzie Searle in the women’s. Sarah Pedersen claimed the women’s standing category.

After the race, Stoffer of Eureka, Montana, talked about how taking up cross-country skiing just two months before the race infused his life with deeper purpose and meaning.

“Training for the race really gave me something to work toward every day. It helped me feel better physically, and even more than that, improved my mental health,” Stoffer said.

Challenged Athletes Foundation brought 19 skiers to the 2025 BMT, including first-time racer 10-year-old Vivian Elison of Kuna, who, like Annika Landis, was celebrating her birthday the next day. Like our Groundhog Day girls, we hope to see everyone back at the Boulder next year.