Sam Brown Wins Eagle Enduro Downhill Anchor in Smoke-Hazed Boneyard Brawl

The air still tasted like campfire ash on Wednesday night in Eagle, a lingering reminder of the wildfire smoke that had forced officials to scrub the schedule just days prior. Thirty-six young cyclists lined up for the Boneyard Brawl, their bikes clattering against the gravel, while eighty-two adults prepared to hurl themselves down the mountain for the Eagle Enduro. It wasn’t the pristine June day the Vail Recreation District had hoped for, but it was a day that happened.

The race served as the downhill anchor for the AC/DC competition, a dual-stage contest where cyclists’ fortunes are decided by the sum of their uphill Davos Dash and downhill Eagle Enduro times. Stage one was a technical 1.6-mile, 372-foot drop down Upper Boneyard Trail. Stage two was a longer, steeper 1.9-mile, 591-foot descent down Redneck Ridge. The winners would eventually be crowned at the Camp Hale Hup on July 8, but on this night, the focus was purely on speed and gravity.

Sam Brown knew what it took to win. He had already conquered the uphill Davos Dash earlier in June, and he brought that same aggressive momentum to the downhill segment. Brown took the men’s pro/open crown with a combined time of 9 minutes and 13 seconds. This clean sweep of sorts for the local favorite put him atop the overall AC/DC leaderboard.

Behind him, the pack tightened. Bergen Tjossem finished second in 9:38, with Quintin Cook rounding out the podium at 9:53. But the story of the night might have been David Sanders. Sanders, who won the expert category, actually posted the second-quickest time of the entire day at 9:36. He was faster than Tjossem and Cook, just not faster than Brown. In a sport where margins are measured in seconds, that distinction matters.

On the women’s side, Haley Dumke claimed the title with a time of 11:12, holding off Finnley Stanek, who finished in 11:43. It was a tight battle, but Dumke’s consistency kept her at the front.

Down in the youth division, the Boneyard Brawl offered a different kind of drama. Noah Hall posted the fastest time of the day in the two-mile loop, clocking in at 15:30. The course gained 458 feet of elevation, demanding a different kind of endurance from the kids than the pure downhill speed required of the adults. Isabella Kanova took the girls division, finishing in 17:53.

The delay caused by the smoke had added a layer of uncertainty to the event. Originally scheduled for June 24, the race waited out the unhealthy air quality, forcing organizers to pivot. But once the skies cleared enough, the riders took to the trails. The results are now set, pending the final AC/DC calculations. The community can look forward to the awards ceremony in July, but for now, the times are etched in stone. Brown, Dumke, and Hall stand at the top of their respective peaks, having conquered Boneyard and Redneck Ridge in a single night.