Great Lake Tahoe Cycle Race record falls again

The Great Lake Tahoe Cycle Race record is made to be broken.

For the second year in succession the record fell for the 72-mile loop of the lake Saturday morning. This time, Curtis Doman of South Jordan, Utah, shaved nearly four minutes off Nate Freed's 2008 record of two hours, 59 minutes and 8 seconds.

The lead pack was separated by a mere half-a-bike length as it came across the finish line in Zephyr Cove. Doman's official time was 2:55:21.77.

Race director Les Wright delayed announcing an official winner until later Saturday because of the close finish and to allow a finish-line camera to sort out the results

Area racers fared well as Chad Timmerman of Reno finished third, Freed of Tahoe City took fourth and Stefan Laursen of South Lake Tahoe came in fifth. Their places weren't official, and times weren't yet available.

Tahoe City's Todd Weltzenberg also was among the leaders, as he captured the men's masters title in 2:55.22.04.

Defending women's champion Nancy Harrison of South Lake Tahoe was the runner-up Saturday, even though her time was 13 minutes faster. She, however, did take the masters title.

"First amateur," she declared after finishing the race in 3:14:10.19 "It's my personal best, so I'm really happy. I did the best I could."

Katrin Tobin of Santa Cruz was the only woman better than Harrison, finishing near the lead pack at 2:57:57.58.

One of the biggest dramas of the race was where the tandem team of Dan Spano and Reve Ramos would finish. The South Lake Tahoe duo accomplished their goal of breaking the three-hour mark, finishing in just over 2:58:00 - well ahead of the old course record.

"I honestly didn't believe it was possible to break three hours," said Spano, whose team finished in 3:07 a year ago. "I realize I had a limited belief there, and I realized Reve was right. It can be done. Reve is all heart and all out all of the time."

The longtime local residents, who led the single bikes until the climb to Spooner Summit, pumped their fists as they glanced back at the finish-line clock.

"There were a lot of times where we were out front, and when we got to Spooner that was our big challenge and minimizing the difference between the lead pack," Spano said.

Laursen came away impressed with Spano and Ramos' feat.

"It's a real testament to the Tahoe strength ... men of steel," he said.

Freed was a little disappointed about not repeating.

"Yeah, I felt some pressure to defend," he said. "There is a lot of prize money, so the word is starting to spread. I road race every weekend, there is not this much prize money unless you do a national-type race."

For additional results, go to tahoedailytribune.com.