By Tom Horrocks

DURANGO, Co. - For the first time three years sunshine made an appearance at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic for both the road and mountain bike races.

Racing under bright Colorado sunshine Saturday, Burke Swindlehurst (Nutra Fig) of Hurricane Utah, also made another appearance, this time on the on the top step of the podium. Swindlehurst, who also won in 1995, took a five-up sprint across the finish line into the historic mining town of Silverton to win the 47-mile road race that featured 5,500 feet of climbing.

Road Race Results USA Cycling site

Cross Country Results

Observed Trials Results

Mountain Cross Results

Meanwhile, Tammy Jacques (Schwinn/Toyota RAV4) of Carbondale, Colo., won the women's pro race after out-climbing the field on the second of two major passes. The victory was the first-ever for the 32-year-old racer who has finished second numerous times at the event. "I knew I could out-climb those guys," Jacques said,. "so I just put in in a bigger gear and dropped Ruthie."

In Sunday's cross country mountain bike race, Ruthie Matthes (PowerBar/Moots) of Durango, avenged her disappointment from Saturday and rode to victory on the dry and rocky course in the hills above town and Fort Lewis College. Travis Brown (Trek/VW), also of Durango, won the pro men's race.

Brown, who didn't compete in the road race, scorched the 26.1-mile race with a time of 1 hour, 56 minutes, 40 seconds. Matthes won the 14.7-mile pro women's race with a time of 1:24:15, despite suffering a flat tire.

After snow, rain and just plain bad weather plagued the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic the past three years, racers were thrilled to see some fantastic weather. "It was great to finally have a nice day," said Swindlehurst, who finished fifth in 1996 when more than six inches of snow fell on the course.

After climbing to the 10,600-foot summit of Molas Pass and the 10,900-foot summit of Coal Bank Pass, a group of five lead the charged toward the finish line in Silverton, where Swindlehurst out-sprinted Scott Price, Bryan Miller, Ned Overend and Michael Engleman for the win. "Both Scott and I have been in that position before," Swindlehurst said, "so I knew he would lead out the sprint and I just sat on his wheel."

Swindlehurst's time of 2:10:28 was more than 10 minutes off the record time set by Jonathon Vaughters in 1996 of 1:58:27. Most memorable for Swindlehurst though was the ride back to Durango on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Train. "This is fantastic," he said, while relaxing in the Cinco Animas Parlor car's crushed velvet seats. "What a great way to end the day."