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Idahoan featured in racing film

A documentary showing in Boise on Thursday looks at the Leadville 100 mountain bike race and the people who make it happen.

BY ROGER PHILLIPS - rphillips@idahostatesman.com

Published: 11/12/09


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Why is this muddy woman smiling? Because Rebecca Rusch can ride a mountain bike for a very long way very fast.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

WATCH THE FILM

"Race Across the Sky" is showing one night only at 9 p.m. Thursday at the Edwards 22 and IMAX at 7701 Overland Road in Boise.

Tickets are $12.50. They are available in advance at www.fathomevents.com.

Rebecca Rusch of Ketchum will introduce the film and host a free pre-party event from7 to 8:30 p.m. at G Fit Studios, 1414 W. Grove St.

Try racing a mountain bike 100 miles over 10,000 feet in elevation in the Colorado Rockies, and finishing in less than 12 hours or you're disqualified.

One Idaho racer, Rebecca Rusch, not only completed the Leadville 100, she won it. She's one of the stars in "Racing Across The Sky," which will be screened Thursday in Boise.

Rusch won the women's division the first time she competed in the race while some roadie-turned-mountain-bike-wannabe named Lance Armstrong won the men's division.

The film isn't a pedal-for-pedal rehash; it's about the race itself and the people who participate in it.

"It's pretty inspirational," Rusch said. "You don't have to be a cyclist to be moved by it."

Rusch is a professional mountain bike racer whose resume includes three24-hour world mountain bike championships.

She's been a Ketchum resident for eight years after leading a semi-nomadic life as an adventure racer and professional cyclist.

"I came here to train with my friends, and it felt like home from day one," she said.

Rusch is among the world's best mountain bikers featured in the film, along with some of the unsung racers - like a Leadville woman who was critically injured by a car while training for last year's race, a racer who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and a 45-plus-year-old rider who has competed every year since the race began 15 years ago.

To see a trailer for the film, go to www.raceacrossthesky.com.

Roger Phillips: 373-6615

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