Ponderosa Ridge Run

Craig Denney ran to first-place at the 31st annual Ponderosa Ridge Run trail race from Spooner Summit to Kingsbury on Saturday.

Denney finished the 9.5-mile route across the mountain tops from Spooner Summit to Kingsbury in a time of 1 hour, 41 minutes and 43 seconds.

Chris Haines, 53, finished second overall in 1:44:07. Haines, a Gardnerville resident, skied in the 30- and 50-K Nordic events at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.

Valeri Friedland was the first woman and third overall finisher in 1:56:18.

Lee Morris was fourth overall (2:02:08), followed by Gary Dobrenz (2:02:53), Joseph Rousse (2:13:23) and Frank Perry (2:27:08). Patty Cyr from St. Louis was eighth overall and the second woman in 2:28:22.

Among the race highlights was South Lake Tahoe's Alan Simmons, three months shy of his 70th birthday, who became the oldest finisher in the history of the event as he came across the line 10th overall in 2:50:13. This was a comeback of sorts for Simmons, who last ran the race in 1976.

The course starts at an altitude of 7,300 feet and climbs nearly 2,000 feet in the first four miles.