MADISON, Wis. — In the final match between Brian Bartow of Grants Pass, Ore., who is known for flying up the 65-foot pole as fast as any arachnid, and Wade Stewart of Parksville, B.C., who bails out so fast it looks like he is skydiving, went head-to-head Saturday in the high flying race.

Less than 14 seconds later, Wade Stewart earned a Speed Climbing gold medal and a new event record at the 2004 Great Outdoors Games presented by Dodge in Madison, Wis.

"I knew Brian Bartow would probably beat me to the top, but I felt I could make it down faster and possibly win the event," Stewart said after his 13.171ascent and drop.

The previous record for the event, 13.214 seconds, was set by Bartow in the 2003 Speed Climbing finals.

A crucial mistake from Bartow helped Stewart even more than his world-record speed. When Bartow was within 6 feet of the top, the Oregonian slipped on one of his speed climbing spurs and had to rebalance to reach the top of the pole before beginning his descent.

To add to Brian's difficulties, the left spur support on his leg gave way, forcing him to control his speed of descent by putting more tension of the rope going around the tree so he could use his remaining spur to assist his descent, which ran his time up to 27.228 seconds.

Stewart was disappointed by the means of his victory. "I wanted both of us to have a clean run to the top and down," he said. "But this game is not won by seconds, it's won by tenths of seconds or less. That's the time it takes one to respond to an error or mishap before your competitor gets an advantage."

Nebraska's Guy German won the bronze medal with a time of 18.41 seconds.

Speed Climbing Final Standings

1 WADE STEWART
2 BRIAN BARTOW
3 GUY GERMAN
4 BRIAN LINVILLE
5 SEAN DUFFY
6 BRYAN SCHULZ
7 DUSTIN BECKWITH
8 CASSIDY SCHEER

Results (By Round)

Final Round
Wade Stewart 13.171 def Brian Bartow 27.228

Consolation Round
Guy German 16.385 def Brian Linville 4:00.000

Semi-Final Round
Brian Bartow 14.285 def Guy German 18.414 Wade Stewart 13.820 def Brian Linville 13.985

Quarter-Final Round
Brian Bartow 14.216 def Dustin Beckwith 19.228 Guy German 16.185 def Bryan Schulz 16.857 Wade Stewart 13.928 def Sean Duffy 15.420 Brian Linville 15.725 def Cassidy Scheer 29.842