thegreatoutdoors
GOOD NEWS HAPPENED OUTDOORS IN 2021 By MATT JOHANSON
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oy and excitement filled a perfect day on Nov. 27 at Woodward Park in Fresno when the state’s best 2,007 high school distance runners gathered for the California Cross Country Championships. Brilliant performances broke records, especially the amazing Newbury Park boys team’s Division 1 win with a near-perfect 16 points. The majority of teens who didn’t win medals still achieved personal records, pride and memories that will last a lifetime.
Good news happened outdoors in 2021, as large group events like running races, bike rides and triathlons returned from a pandemic hiatus. Athletes registered sensational achievements in multiple pursuits. Here are a few that stand out. Timothy Olson, 37, ran the entire 2,650 Pacific Crest Trail in 51 days, averaging 52 miles a day. “Know that you are more powerful than you can ever imagine,” he told admirers after reaching the Canadian border. Jordan Moon, 33, ran 3,127 miles from San Francisco to New York in 71 days, averaging 44 miles a day, raising $20,000 for brain disease research and dedicating his effort to mental health. “No matter how hard times get, you can get through those tough times,” he said. In a 12-hour effort, 14-year-old James Savage became the youngest person to swim across the full 21.3-mile length of Lake Tahoe. Jack Greener, 26, overcame a spinal cord injury and two broken vertebrae in his neck to climb 14,505-foot Mount Whitney. His fellow climbers erupted in cheers when he reached the summit and broke into tears of joy.
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Yosemite, as usual, saw astonishing exploits. Skiers Jason Torlano, 45, and Zach Milligan, 40, made the first known full descent of Half Dome. The daring duo risked avalanches and fatal falls as they negotiated perilously steep slopes between the summit and Mirror Lake, nearly 5,000 feet below. Brothers Moises Monterrubio, 26, and Daniel Monterrubio, 23, led a group
effort to rig and walk a highline at Taft Point, high above Yosemite Valley, for 2,800 feet. Their trek through the sky set a distance record for both Yosemite and California. And Dierdre Wolownick, 70, became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan. She and friends celebrated her birthday by ascending fixed lines with jumar ascending tools. Wolonick began scaling rocks ten years
F E B R UA RY/MA R C H 2022
1/25/2022 11:39:00 AM
