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MADISON, Wis. — It took a swimming lesson and a lot of time away from practice for J.R. Salzman of Rochester, Minn., to reclaim his gold medal at Boom Run competition in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.

"My expectations were to run the boom and not get wet, but you can see from my clothes that it didn't work out like that," said Salzman, who skipped his usual regimen of boom practice this spring in favor of training in the Army National Guard.

Salzman and five more of the eight competitors went for a dip on Saturday at the Alliant Energy Center, where two 106-foot strings of logs laid end-to-end pitched and rolled as competitors raced from one dock to another and back again.

Salzman stayed dry in the gold medal round where he met Carl Rick of Onalaska, Wis. Rick, a student at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville who found himself in medal contention in his first outing at the Games.

In their final footrace, Salzman kept even with Rick out of the starting gate and onto the turning dock, but the boom was rocking heavily from the strides he took to chew up the distance. Rick began to pull ahead on the return trip but, with two logs left to traverse, Salzman poured on the power and all but dove for the dock. His momentum carried him across the dock and flipped him over a waist-high wall and into the crowded grandstands.

Judges took a few tense minutes to review the photo finish, during which the two contenders paced the start dock, flexing their hands and scuffing their toes, before ruling for Salzman.

"I'm kind of used to finishes like that with Jamie (Fischer), just diving for the finish," Salzman said.

Even though he wasn't running in the finals, Fischer of Stillwater, Minn., haunted the gold medal round. Fischer, whose dominant running earned Boom Running gold in 2002 and 2003, lost to eventual silver medalist Rick in the semifinal round when he took a hard fall, landing crosswise on the fifth log of eight on his return trip down the boom.

He got his revenge in the consolation round with a clean and leaping run in which he soared past Cassidy Scheer of Hayward, Wis., with the skimming, airborne style familiar to his fans in the crowd.

Women's Boom Run
Erdmann Reclaims Crown

Mandy Erdmann of LaCrosse, Wis., jumped out to a quick start in the Women's Boom Run at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.

She landed at the top of the medal podium with a new record for the event.

Erdmann, who already owned two Boom Run golds from 2001 and 2002, made up for a fall in last year's event by edging Abby Hoeschler of LaCrosse, Wis., to claim her third gold medal in the event.

Erdmann's time, 14.95 seconds, eclipsed her previous Great Outdoor Games record by nearly a second. Erdmann also holds the world record for the Boom Run at the Lumberjack World Championships, where the boom is about 10 feet longer than the 106-foot chain of logs used in the Great Outdoor Games.

"I'm really happy to redeem myself and get the gold again," Erdmann said. "I needed this."

Erdmann advanced to the final by using a lightning-fast start to get a quick lead on each of her opponents. She seemed to be anticipating the starting signal, dangerously flirting with a potential false start.

"I was a little worried about that," Erdmann said. "I just had to remind myself to make sure I heard the third beep."

Getting another quick jump off the starting line in the final, Erdmann turned in a near flawless run to break the 15.939 record she set in the final round of the 2002 Boom Run competition.

"Her start was so fast," Abby Hoeschler said. "Seeing her go off in front of me right off the bat was a little disappointing."

Tanya Fischer of Hudson, Wis., defeated Lizzie Hoeschler, Abby's older sister, to win the bronze medal. It was Fischer's first medal in the women's boom run.

"Any medal works for me right now," Fischer said.

Superweave
Ransom Nets Gold

Thanks to consistency in her times through four rounds, 4-year-old Ransom won the Agility Superweave gold medal in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge at the Alliant Energy Center Saturday.

Bred and trained by handler Sherry Kluever of Romeoville, Ill., Ransom got off to a great start in the championship race against Luz, also a Border collie. Luz upset 2003 gold medalist Echo in the semifinals with a photo finish that had to be reviewed by judges before a final decision was issued.

Sixteen dogs began the competition, working their way through an obstacle course consisting of hurdles, tubes and stakes. Time penalties are issued for faults, such as knocking down a hurdle on a jump, and dogs must return to complete any missed stakes on the weave for the run to be official.

In the championship race, Luz knocked off the bar on the third hurdle yet maintained a good pace. The weave was almost nose-to-nose, with Ransom winning by a half-second in 20.98 to Luz's 21.64.

"I had no idea about the fault," said Kluever, whose back was turned to Luz and her handler, Olga Chaiko of North Hollywood, Calif., when the fault occurred. "I was so concentrated on Ransom that I didn't even know about it until they told me during the television interview."

In the consolation round, Dilemma and Lisa Flowers knocked off Kendall Fairchild and Echo despite both dogs missing stakes in the weave. Dilemma missed at the start, regrouped and then won the bronze by about four seconds after Echo returned to complete the weave after missing one of the final stakes.

Fly Fishing
Egan First to Earn Second Gold Medal

Lance Egan appeared as "Superfly" in a promotional campaign for the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge. The angler from Sandy, Utah, lived up that moniker in the Fly Fishing competition Friday.

Egan hauled a 13 3/4-inch rainbow trout out of Silver Creek on Friday to win the Fly Fishing gold medal at the Great Outdoor Games, making him the only angler to repeat as a gold medalist in the one-fish competition.

Last year, Egan took the Fly Fishing gold on the Truckee River near Reno, Nev. "It feels absolutely awesome," the 26-year-old said. "That was my dream and my goal -- to become the first person to be a two-time gold medalist in fly fishing." Jim Hickey of Jackson, Wyo., took the silver with an 8-inch brook trout, and Ryan Barnes of Salt Lake City won the bronze with a 7 3/4-inch brook.

"Points on the board are always better than not having them," Hickey said. "It just so happened that everybody had tough fishing."

Admission to the Great Outdoor Games is free. The Games will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC from July 14 through July 19.