FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Twin Ports Champs Race Report
Power and Grace came to Snowflake Today
As I was grooming last night, I had the feeling that today would be a great day of racing. The forecast was for below freezing at night and then sunny and in the 40's for Sunday. The forecasters had it right. We had a beautiful day. I arrived at Snowflake about 9:00 am and as soon as I could headed out to ski the 10k. The trail was fast and firm with a perfect Ginzu corduroy. It was so fast and effortless that I felt like I was 26 years old instead of 46 years old! I had only planned on skiing the 10k but the course was so great I decided to preview the 5k race course. By the time I came in from the ski we already had over 20 skiers signed up. By Race time we had over 40 skiers ready to go! An excellent turn out with some top notch skiers for the last race of the season! The mass start classic went off without a hitch with skiers self seeding themselves. At about 3.5 k Ben Byrne and Owen Hanley were almost 40 seconds up on Matt Liesch.
George Hovland said at that point that he was very impressed with the level and expertise of the classic skiing. I was as well. It looked like almost everyone had waxed correctly and were getting great kick in the wet, semi-soft conditions.
First in was Ben Byrne and with Owen Hanley just two seconds behind. We were using a new format called the Modified Iditarod. Skiers had a mandatory 10 minute rest period in which to change their boots and skis, grab a drink and then head back out on the course. For the most part this worked very well. At times it was a little crazy on the finish line as skiers were finishing as others were starting. A few folks were late to their skate start...those 10 minutes went by fast!
The first skater in was Owen Hanley with about a 40 second lead over Ben Byrne. As I understand it they had a great race with Ben leading for the first 2-3k and then Owen feeling strong and passing for the lead.
The first woman in both classic and skate was Brynden Manbeck. Her time placed her 19th overall in a very strong field.
We ended the racing with a kids race. I was most impressed by the number of Richards from Maplelag that came to race. I would say that things look very bright for the future of the high school ski team that those kids will attend.
For awards we had merchandise from Midnight Sun and Carmel Apples from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It was a great day of racing! A big thank you to all who attended, helped, skied and raced. You brought power and grace to Snowflake. We enjoyed sharing the day with you.
Dave