From Devil’s Thumb to Idlewild: Skiers race in Stagecoach Classic

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Almost 400 participants skied from Devil’s Thumb Ranch to the former Idlewild Ski Area in Winter Park for the seventh annual Stagecoach Classic Race and Tour on Saturday.

The annual event featured three events, including a 30km Nordic ski race, a 15km race and a 15km tour. The Stagecoach Classic is the longest classic-only point-to-point Nordic ski race in the country.

The top three male winners finished the 30km race in under two hours. Dan Weinberger, Tyler Scholl and Kevin Geisen finished with times of 1:48:20, 1:50:11 and 1:53:20. The top three female winners for the 30km race were Tabor Scholl, Gwynn Barrows and Lillian Marclone with times of 2:10:10, 2:12:01 and 2:13:09.

For the 15km race, which included teams from universities around the Midwest, the top three male winners finished within seconds of each other. Trevor Willoughby finished at 50:44.1, Matt Williams at 50:47.5 and Elvind Roed at 50:48.6. The female winner of the 15km race was 18-year-old Ariel Benney at 1:00:31, followed by Ella Dewolf at 1:01:19 and Kat Gruner at 1:01:33.

The 15km ski tour, which started immediately following the 15km race, was won by Anne Adema with a time 1:34:08, followed by Eva Gottschall and Leslie Cutler at 1:40:27 and 1:43:23. The top three men finishers were Corbett Wilkinson, Jeff Tupala and Gary Neptune with times of 1:36:40, 1:36:26 and 1:37:45.

The events were presented by Devil’s Thumb Ranch and the Winter Park and Fraser Chamber. A portion of the proceeds raised by the races went to Mountain Family Center.