When Zach Chute crossed the finish line at the first-ever Jackson Hole Half Marathon on Saturday, he wasn’t even certain he’d won the race.

Though the 19-year-old from Owasso, Okla., motored past most of the 126 other racers to finish in a personal best 1 hour, 24 minutes, 43 seconds, several other runners finished in front of him, including Teton Science Schools grad student David Buth. After oversleeping, Chute had arrived at the starting line eight minutes after the race began and just moments before organizers removed the electronic timing mechanism. It wasn’t until several minutes after the race that Chute learned he had won, finishing 1 minute, 32 seconds faster than Buth.

“We misset our alarm clocks, we thought it was an hour earlier than it actually was,” Chute said. “I was feeling the thin air a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad.”

Chute graduated from high school earlier this month, and will attend the University of Tulsa this fall on a track scholarship. He discovered the Jackson Hole Half Marathon on the Internet, and decided to enter after learning the race would coincide with his family’s planned vacation.

Dorothy Gach, 34, dominated the ladies’ field and finished third overall in 1:28:02, nearly six minutes ahead of Shannon Scherer of Moab, Utah. A member of the Powerbar Running team, Gach moved to Jackson three months ago from Chicago, where she regularly placed in the top three at regional road races. Primarily a   marathon runner, Gach finished 62nd in the women’s field at the Chicago Marathon in October with a time of 3:03:33.

“Running on the pathways was great,” Gach said. “This race really has a lot of potential; I could really see this race taking off next year.”

Eric Bjorkman of Tetonia, Idaho, was pleased with his time of 1:36:15 only a year and a half after tearing the meniscus in his knee. Fresh from competing in the Cache Creek to Game Creek mountain bike race on June 21, Bjorkman has a full schedule of running and mountain biking races planned for this summer.

“The knee doesn’t feel perfect, but each race is training for the next one,” Bjorkman said. “I’m just knocking them down.”

Race director Jason Cox said he was pleased with both the turnout and the cooperation from local officials for the inaugural event. The registration deadline of June 10 prevented some last-minute hopefuls from competing, and a handful of “bandit” runners took to the course unofficially.

“Everything went off real well,” Cox said. “For next year, we’ve talked about extending the registration window.”

Though the relatively flat course produced plenty of fast times, those who were unprepared for the distance found their resolve being tested. After walking across the finish line, a pained Bart Conrad blamed a lack of adequate preparation for his performance, noting that he hadn’t run longer than a 10-k distance since last September.

“At mile 11 I was like, ‘This is stupid’ and I started walking,” Conrad said. “That’s what happens when you don’t train.”

The Jackson Hole Half Marathon began just north of Teton Village and followed the pathway south along Highway 390. At Wyoming 22, Teton County sheriff’s deputies halted traffic for the runners who then followed the highway for two miles before returning to the pathway. The last half of the course had runners winding their way past Jackson Hole Middle School and Flat Creek before returning to Snow King Avenue and the finish line at Phil Baux Park. Most runners found the course to be well marked, despite the number of intersections.

“It was a little confusing by the community gardens,” said Jackson resident Eric Huyffer, who finished eighth overall in 1:31:20. “Overall, though, it was much better organized than I expected.”

Cool temperatures and a lack of a headwind may also have contributed to a fast race, as more than one-third of the field managed to finish in under two hours.

“There was actually very little traffic on the pathways, and the water stations every two miles were great,” said Heinz Walter, one of only three sixtysomething runners to enter the race.

At the finish line, discussions turned to future races and the possibility of a marathon returning to Jackson. Holly Balough is part of a group working to bring a marathon back to the valley, something that hasn’t happened since 1996. Ideally, she envisions a course north of Jackson that would encompass Teton views and utilize the Moose-Wilson Road, but recognizes the difficulty of getting approval to have a race pass through Grand Teton National Park.

“With the cost and logistics of putting on a marathon here, we’d have to get outside sponsors,” Balough said. “But there’s potential to put on a spectacular event that would attract a lot of interest.”

For complete results of the Jackson Hole Half Marathon, see Sports Review on page 7C.