By Mark Schmerling

In a course featuring fast downhills laced with obstructions and many twists, two local youths earned high honors in Saturday’s Oskar Blues Brewery Enduro bicycle race at the second Green River Games, outside Saluda.

Only eight seconds off the pace set by the Men’s Open winner, Green Creek’s Ethan Thompson took second in that category and second among all racers.

Green Creek also contributed Junior Boys (Age 17 and under) first-place finisher Sebastian Streit, who began his bicycle racing in last year’s Green River Games Enduro.

The course, held in the rugged Green River Game Lands, features three timed downhill sections, though riders must traverse lots of uphill terrain to reach those downhills. Both Streit and Thompson have considerable cross-country race experience and training, which helped them reach the downhill stages well on schedule.

Thompson’s times in the three downhills were 03:39 (three minutes, 39 seconds),02:28 and 03:24, for an overall 09:31. First-place finisher for the day was Evan Voss (09:23).

Streit’s times were 04:28, 02:51 and 04:00, respectively, for a total downhill time of 11:19, good for ninth place among all 31 racers.

The above times are listed as “unofficial“ by Green River Games officials.

Riders began the event by cycling on the Green River Cove Trail, off Green River Cove Road and then ascended for each downhill section, the last one on the Bluff Trail which intersects the Green River Cove Trail near the start of the event.