TOUR OF THE OTHER MINING COUNTRY RACE
Tour of the OTHER Mining Country -- August 4th, 2002 -- approx 15 miles

Newsminer Press Release:

"Careening down the the muddy trail, Tom Clark carved a corner steeply,
demanding a little too much from his tires, and his mountain bike went
down, sending Clark rolling down the trail.  Despite this, he went on to
win the Tour of the Other Mining Country Race, hosted annually by the
Fairbanks Cycle Club. 

Starting near Ester, the course takes racers up Ester Dome via trails and
dirt road, then across the hilltops to within 100 yards of the Equinox
Marathon turnaround point.  Racers veer left and begin a long, fast,
technically challenging descent.  The last half of the downhill is
bone-shakingly rough, making for raw hands and rattled teeth.  At the
bottom, racers zoom to the finish near Old Nenana Highway, for a total
distance of about 15 miles.

Sunday's conditions were questionable: miserably wet, drizzly weather
accompanied by a cold wind and low clouds made for a truly dirty mountain
bike race.  Racers were covered from head to toe with all forms of dirt,
but no one seemed to mind and all eleven racers seemed to be grinning.

In the Men's Expert division, Rick Johnson posted a time of 1:22:49.  In
the Women's Sport division, new Fairbanksan Christina Bertram finished in
2:10:44.  In the men's Sport Division Tom Clark crossed the line at
1:18:16.  Racing in the Beginner divison, Jeff McBride stopped the clock
at 2:13:56. "

Thanks to Sandy Clark for doing the timing for the race and helping to
mark the course.



Expert Men		 Time	    Overall Finish
==========		=====	    ==============	
Rick Johnson		1:22:49		2
Josh Snow		1:26:10		3
Fred Harbison		1:39:26		7

Sport Men
=========
Tom Clark		1:18:16		1
Pete Wilda		1:26:42		4
Chris Conn		1:34:02		5
David French		1:34:36		6
Doug Burnside		2:06:00		8
Jim Palsha		2:13:56		11

Sport Women
===========
Christina Bertram	2:10:44		10

Beginner Men
============
Jeff McBride		2:10:41		9