Mt. Itasca; Coleraine, MN -- Minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit and a -30 F wind chill greeted competitors as they arrived at Mt. Itasca on Sunday morning. The races were delayed by four hours, but competitors from as far away as Alaska, Maine and Alberta rallied once the competitions began at 1:30pm.

The Men's 10km skate race was contested on 4 laps a 2.5km roller coaster loop. NorAm points leader David Chamberlain started 15 seconds behind Ivan Babikov and quickly took the offensive, chasing down yesterday's classic champion. Babikov took a fall early in the race and before long Chamberlain was on his heels. Unfortunately for Chamberlain, back spasms caused him to back off for the next 2 laps. Babikov regrouped and pulled ahead. Further ahead in the seed another battle was shaping up. Chris Cook of the U.S. Ski Team chased down Chad Giese of the Subaru Factory Team, making up the 15 second stagger. Cook and Giese skied much of the race together, with Cook slowly pulling away in the final lap. At the finish, it was Cook in first, with Babikov 20 seconds behind, and Giese in 3rd, 27 seconds out of the lead. Adam Kates of Sault Ste.Marie, Ontario finished in 4th, followed by Owen Hanley of Minneapolis, MN in 5th and Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse, Ontario in 6th.

In the Women's 5km skate race, Sigrid Aas of University of Alaska, Fairbanks redeemed herself by dominating today's race. After a disappointing third place in yesterday's classic race, Aas finished 51 seconds ahead of second place Madeleine Williams of Team Canada, and 53 seconds ahead of her Fairbanks teammate Johanna Turenen. Canadians Kerrie Fabius, Rebecca Laakso, and Sarah Peters of the Thunder Bay National Training Center took 4th, 5th, and 6th places. Due to the delayed start and harsh travel conditions, the Northern Michigan University team departed before the race start, leaving the women's field less competitive than was expected.

This weekend's Mt Itasca Super Tour was the saw the most competitive field of elite racers to compete in Minnesota since the 2001 NorAm Super Tour event at the Battle Creek Ski Games in St. Paul. The Super Tour will now move to Telemark, WI for the final 3 races of the series, Jan 21, 24, 25. Mt. Itasca will again be on the Super Tour schedule for January 2005.

After wrapping up the 2004 Super Tour series at Telemark, many of the top NorAm racers will come to the Twin Cities to compete in the Elite Sprints and 35km event of the City of Lakes Loppet, Jan. 30-31.

Complete results, including college and junior results, can be found at www.cxcskiing.org.