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Faces in the barrel of a gun: Annual Gunbarrel race at Heavenly brings out mountain’s best ‘Face Rats’

Staff reports
Glen Plake works on his 25 laps through the moguls during the Gunbarrel 25 on Saturday at Heavenly Mountain Resort.
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Glen Plake didn’t have any problem attracting freestyle skiers to his second-year event – the Gunbarrel 25 – last Saturday at Heavenly Mountain Resort.

One hundred twenty “Face Rats” turned out for Plake’s annual event that demands durability and endurance on Gunbarrel, one of the steeper mogul runs in the country.

Ironman and Ironwoman titles were captured by South Lake Tahoe’s Andre Villaret and Ivana Kynclova, respectively.



Villaret, a 2004 runner-up to Plake in the Ironman, completed a record 46 runs in the six-hour time allotment for runs down The Face. In 2004, Villaret completed 38 runs and Plake 39 runs. Kynclova’s knees held up for 36 runs this year.

South Shore’s Janez Demsar dethroned Tom Bork for the fastest to complete 25 laps. Demsar finished his 25 laps in 3 hours, 10 minutes. Bork finished second, seven minutes behind Demsar. Raegan Bellik of South Lake Tahoe was the fastest female to 25 laps, reaching the magic number in 3 hours, 32 1Ú2 minutes.



“Timber” raced on a monoboard and won the men’s experimental division in 3 hours, 56 minutes. Snowboarder Jen Menzel won the women’s experimental division, which included snowboarders, telemark skiers and monoboarders, in 3 hours, 57 minutes.


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