Race Across America 2009: RAAM Has a Winner!

Monday, June 29, 2009 - 03:20 PM

Boulder, CO, June 28, 2009 - The Race Across America has a new Male Solo Winner, Daniel Wyss of Switzerland. Dani completed the 3021 mile race in 8 days 5 hours and 23 minutes which was the second fastest in the history of the race. The leading soloists and teams have crossed the finish line in Annapolis, and more will finish their epic journeys in the next two days.

Austrian rider Gerhard Gulewicz claimed second place in the solo male competition, seventeen hours after Dani Wyss. The podium was completed by Marko Baloh, who came in forty hours behind the victor.

Four-time champion Jure Robic was the other half of a race-defining rivalry with Wyss. Even though Robic was in the lead for most of the race, Wyss kept him close. However, Robic stopped racing at Time Station #51 at Mt Airy (the penalty box) for reasons RAAM has not been informed. He is technically still in the race until Monday at 3 pm EST when if he has not completed the course will be officially declared DNF.

Meanwhile, the complexion of the solo female contest has changed in recent days. Long-time leader Janet Christian saw her advantage wiped out by rookie Daniela Genovesi, a Brazilian. She became the first South American winner in RAAM history.

In the team competition, Team Type 1 enjoyed victory in the eight-man competition, breaking last year's speed record in the process. Team RANS triumphed in the four-man contest.

There were two Teams that captured the interest of fans and bloggers of the race; Team Surfing USA and The Great Grand Pac Master. The big wave of interest caused by Surfing USA (Laird Hamilton, Tim Commerford, Don Wildman and Jason Winn) was peaked when Jason Winn was hit by a car while the team was in first place in their division with just over a third of the race to go. The team decided not to continue and their journey came to an end. The Great Grand Pac Masters were a collection of 75 and older racers that form a formidable four man team. The covered their entire race in 8 days 14 hours and 49 minutes at an average speed of almost 15 mph.

They are still racing to Annapolis and the entire story on this year's race has yet to be told. The coverage of the race has never reached as far as it has this years with interest from Brazil, Italy, Switzerland and many other part of the world tuned into the RAAM website. For more information, please visit the RAAM Media Site and Blogs or contact perry.stone@raceacrossamerica.org.