And they're off ... Published Oct. 11, 2007 By By John Gorman 319th Force Support Squadron GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- The morning of Sept. 29 dawned fair and warm, meaning the 20th consecutive "Warrior of the North" bike race was a go. Oh, but it was windy. Forecasts predicted gusts in excess of 35 knots out of the south-southeast, which meant at least half the ride would be very challenging. Thirty hardy souls had enough competitive fire burning to brave the winds and race. We started on time at 10:10 a.m., and the last 32-mile racer crossed the finish line at 12:26 p.m. Results of the 32-mile competitive race: Over 35 age group: 1st Gerald Finken 1 hour 28 minutes 57 seconds 2nd Dave Yearwood 1:36:32 3rd Scott Jensen 1:45:31 21-35: 1st John Hanson 1:27:56 2nd Mario Czarnowski 1:33:30 3rd Nathan Barten 1:36:32 Under 21: 1st Chad Boehm 1:36:37 2nd Brian Kays 1:45:34 Results of the 16- mile race: 1st Mike Shae 56:10 2nd Tom Kays in 1:08:19 3rd Tim Driscoll in 1:08:52 Honorable mention: Chess Barberis and Carla Gammon for attempting to "cut a hole through the wind" on a tandem with a time of 2 hours 3 minutes The bike race, put on by the 319 FSS Outdoor Recreation is an on-going effort to bring competitive road racers from the base and community together. This year's event attracted racers from the base, Grand Forks, St. Thomas N.D., Fargo N.D., Jamestown N.D., East Grand Forks Minn., Moorhead Minn., Thief River Falls Minn., and Buffalo, N.Y. We especially want to thank our race sponsor from Grand Forks, without whose generous contribution we couldn't do as well as we do. We also thank all the racers who participated. We hope you had as much fun racing as we did putting it on. See you next year.