Elm Creek Series Results

Conditions: Air temp. 20F; very little wind; man-made snow mixed with some new natural snow fell in the morning; great racing condition.

Race course: 5K for skate and classic races (Valley Trail, Thicket Trail and Northern Light Trail). The skating lanes are packed solid with some loose fresh snow on top; classic tracks are set very nicely with only very few washed-away spots (by skiers) on the entire 5K distance.

Race distance: 5K skate; 5K classic, mass start.

Commentary: John Wessling dominated tonight’s races by a wide margin in both the skate race and the classic race from start to finish. The chase pack of 6 skiers tried to work together to bridge the gap. The pack then broke into two packs of 3 skiers each. Chip Tabor hammered at the end and edged Laszlo Alberto by a couple of seconds, and Craig Stolen rounded the top chase pack and finished 4th in the skate race. The second chase pack skiers came in with 1 second apart between Erik Hendrickson, Clayton Keim, and Paul Ellis. In the classic race, besides John Wessling’s repeat winning and Chip Tabor’s run-up, the closer battle was between Erik Hendrickson and Karl Holmb, the classic race winner on Dec. 19, 2012. Halle Weisman put her efforts on the line and won both skate and classic races in the woman division. Without any warm-up due to tonight’s traffic delay, Ralph Bovard jumped in both races and skied 2 laps of the 2.5k Valley Trail loop for both the skate and classic races. The consistent Tim Hieb knew that if he would have used those wickedly fast expensive wax (he wanted to save it for his son for the upcoming JOQ races), Tim would shave at least 1 minute off his time!!! Tim, we know where your heart is!!! Also, special thanks to Beth Maus for helping race registration and timing the events, to Tim LaCroix and Steve Cirks for stepping in and helping spot racers’ bibs. Thanks.

Freestyle(F)/Classic(C) 
John Wessling                   12:11 (F)/14:04 (C) – male winner of both skate and classic races
Chip Tabor                      12:44 (F)/14:52 (C)
Laszto Alberti                  12:46 (F)
Craig Stolen                    12:48 (F)
Erik Hendrickson                13:13 (F)/15:24 (C)
Clayton Keim                    13:14 (F)
Paul Ellis                      13:15 (F)
Eric Lindquist                  13:36 (F)
Darren Halzel                   13:43 (F)
Ryan Wilson                      14:00(F)/17:58 (C)
Blaze Faqchar                    14:46 (F)
Darius Montazemi                 15:45 (F)
Michael Sandstedt                15:52 (F)/18:50 (C)
Halle Weisman                    15:55 (F)/20:22 (C) - female winner of both stake and classic races
Tim Hieb                         16:29 (F)
Ralph Bovard                     16:52 (F)/18:38 (C) - 2 laps of 2.5 lap Valley Trail loop
Tim Dietz                        17:07 (F)
Joel Benton                      17:17 (F)

--Amy Xu (Results), Beth Maus (Timer), Melinda Silbernick (Race Director)