Elm Creek Series Results

by Amy Xu
February 14, 2013

Conditions: Air temp. 33F with little wind; snow falling through the race events; solid snow base; great racing condition.

Race course: 5K skate and classic races (5K lit trails including Valley Trail, Thicket Trail, and Northern Light Trail). The skating lanes and tracks were well groomed and transformed to a layer of crystal ice on top due to the afternoon warmer temp reaching nearly 38F, and then started to snow right about the start of the skate race.

Commentary: Looking into Dennis Curran’s eyes at the start line, one will know he is going to make tonight’s race a special night. As he delivered his efforts from the beginning, Dennis led the pack up the “Wall” and kept his lead all the way to the finish. The chase pack was led by Erik Hendrickson and Darren Halzel who rounded up the 2nd and 3rd places in the skate race. The Park Center duo, Nathaniel Johnson and Kirk Heisterkamp, worked hard to chase down the skiers one by one as they had a late start of the race. Andrea Potyondy-Smith posted the top women’s skate and classic race results, and Erik Hendrickson dominated the men’s classic race. It was tricky to find the right kick wax tonight due to the new falling snow during the race. The word of the night was from Tim Hieb, “I need hills!!!” There are plenty of hilly-course races left in the next few weeks (Snow Flakes/Inga Lami at Baker, Finlandia in Bemidji, Woodland race in Elk River, Birkie, Rainbow Rendezvous at Rainbow Resort, and Pepsi Challenge at Giant’s Ridge), check www.skinnyski.com under Racing and Racing Calendar.

Freestyle(F)/Classic(C) 
Dennis Curran                   14:08 (F) – male winner of skate race
Erik Hendrickson                14:15 (F)/16:37 (C) – male winner of classic race
Darren Halzle                   14:17 (F)
Peter Aggen                     14:46 (F)
John Hopkins                    14:58 (F)
Adam Johnson                    15:27 (F)/16:57 (C)
Paul Ellis                      15:35 (F)
Nathaniel Johnson               16:00 (F)/17:17 (C)
Tim Hieb                        17:40 (F)
Nathan Olsen                    17:48 (F)
Noah Arel                       17:53 (F)
Andrea Potyondy-Smith           20:16 (F)/23:50 (C) – female winner of both skate and classic races
Nicolle Fisher                  21:18 (F) 
Kirk Heisterkamp                         /18:17 (C)
Christopher Smith                        /22:26 (C)
Mark Winholtz                            /23:52 (C)

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