Quad a thriller

Benjamin Allen crosses the finish line of the Winter Quadrathalon outside the Cibola County Convention Center in Grants Saturday. Allen finished with a time of 6:02:28. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

MOUNT TAYLOR — The 26th Annual Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon flowed as smoothly Saturday as the machines and muscles moving the contestants did.

Race director Michael Cerniway said there was a lot of positive feedback from racers on their post-race surveys.

One thing that stood out, he added was the change to two trails for the ski portion of the race, allowing up and downhill contestants to more easily avoid each other.

That, and fact that parts of the ski trail were more sheltered with the new arrangement were popular with racers, he said.

In spite of the race ended up bigger than expected with over 400 participants after the late entries were tallied, the transition points were less crowded and more streamlined than they have been in recent years. Veterans at the bike-to-run transition said the number of volunteers was smaller this year, with fewer people covering all the work for the first change over.

Volunteers at transition points call race numbers to other volunteers as racers approach the leg finish line. With a flurry of activity, volunteers, from boy scouts to grandparents, locate the racer's gear for the next leg of the race, park his or her bicycle and provide water and a banana and orange fruit snack.

With fewer civilian volunteers, the transition point at the top of the first hill seemed almost deserted but those new to quad as well as those who have been at that point for many years kept up with the flow of riders as they came up the hill – and with the runners as they came down the hill from the second transition on the way to the finish line.

Cerniway said some people have volunteered for the race year after year for many years. Some found it was time to move on and did not return this year, accounting for the fewer faces on the course. Other people, local to the Grants and from as far away as Santa Fe stepped up for the first time this year.

New to the course PHI Air Medical Group brought their ever-ready but seldom-seen medical helicopter onsite this.

Cerniway said the helicopter crew gained permission from the National Park Service to temporarily move base of operations from the Grants-Milan Airport to the service's helicopter pad part way up the mountain so they could be on site, just in case.

The only call from air medical help came from Ganado.

The team was up and away in a matter of minutes.

Medical personnel and the pilot, like the personnel from Mount Taylor Ambulance and volunteers from Pine Hill and Ramah, donated their time. Cerniway indicated that medical volunteers asked to be able to work this event.

One National Park Service officer said he came all the way from Santa Fe to help with law enforcement at the race.

A few medical incidents, none of them serious, marred the day. Women's Solo favorite Keri Nelson was scratched when she reported possible frostbite. There was a mild case of hypothermia to medical workers up the mountain.

Undersheriff Felix Saavedra delivered the racer to the bike-run transition, where the she decided to wait in the ambulance rather than be taken to the hospital. Other minor problems included a sprained ankle and a few scrapes.

Cerniway said the Quad is not really a spectator sport. At the start/finish line, between 70 and 80 folks waited and socialized after getting friends or family members mounted and on their way up the hill. The race director said nearly all the "spectators" were in some way associated with the racers or the event.

The excitement of racing was provided by KDSK radio.

The station posted broadcasters at three of the four change points calling out the leading racers as they hit each transition point. DJ Barry Lee kept listeners in touch with background color ad reports of worsening weather and how that affected the race.

A bit warmer done on the flats, station owner Derek Underhill and Gary Bombalicki and Darrel Wayne, better known as the Knuckleheads from Los Angeles, filled in background and race history, interviewing the crowd and race veterans.

Underhill concurred that things went about as smoothly as he had ever seen.