Exterra Mountain Championships here!

Last year the Exterra Mountain Championships was called the "Best Adventure Race" of the year. That, of course, was without a stopover in Utah.

This year it will stop in Utah. Snowbasin will hold the three-event race on Saturday and the city of Ogden will host the fun and games events on Friday and Saturday.

According to organizers, several hundred athletes from 30 states and a dozen countries have entered. The Snowbasin ski area has been called one of the best stops of the five here in the United States. There are also events in 13 countries.

According to Mary Rowland of Snowbasin, there will be two separate events — the Exterra, which is the full-course race, and the Exterra Sport, which is half of the main course.

Athletes in the Exterra will start with a one-mile swim, 19-mile mountain bike race over a mountain course, and finish with a six-mile run up to the peaks and back to the resort.

The mountain bike course is described as starting with a mild, steady climb to warm up the legs before the more demanding climbs. The course will follow both single track and a rocky double track. Riders will turn at the Pineview Dam onto the Wheeler Creek trail that will climb to the 7,000-foot elevation, with only one downhill break. The final four miles climbs back up to the 6,700-foot elevation.

The trail run offer athletes a scenic view of the horizon and groves of aspen. Runners will hit the highest point on the trail about half-way into the run, which is around 7,500 feet. The course will finish at the resort.

Among those entered is Conrad Stoltz, a two-time Olympic triathlete. He finished 20th in the 2000 Games and was the first athlete off the bike and into the run. This is his 6th year on the Exterra circuit.

He won the last race that was held in Richmond, Va.

Jamie Whitmore is ranked No. 1 on the tour this year and is the all-time winningest Exterra athlete — male or female — with 26 wins.

This is her sixth year on the tour and she, too, won the last race in Richmond in the women's class.

Melanie McQuaid is ranked No. 2 on the tour this year. She raced for the Canadian cycling team for six years before joining the tour. She finished second to Whitmore in the last event.

On Friday, a trail running clinic will be held at 12:30 p.m.; a kids base camp swimming clinic at 4 p.m.; a mountain bike clinic at 5 p.m.; a kids' bike race at 5:30 p.m.; a twilight criterium at 6 p.m.; and 5K and 10K trail runs at 7:30 p.m.

All of the events will be at Ogden's Outdoor Amphitheater.

Saturday, the championship race will start at 9 a.m. at Pineview. The shorter race will start at 9:20 p.m. The winner is expected to be at the resort around 11 a.m. Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the resort will offer visitors a Nevada climbing wall, exhibits, music and food.

Award ceremonies will be at the amphitheater at 8:30 p.m.

For information visit the Web site, www.xterraplanet.com.