West Itasca Xmas-New Year Time Trial I Results

Conditions: Temperature: 11F, very light wind in the woods; very nice skiing condition. The race course was set on the Rainbow JOQ 5K loop including Eagles Run, Badger Hill, Pine Hill, Crows Hill, Eagles Dive, Brush Cat, and Balck Bear trails. Different laps/splits were counted for 5K, 15K, and 30K race events. The trails were firm, hard-packed and very well groomed with a dust of crystal snow flakes on top of the very firm base, making it nice and fast for skating, but a bit slower for the classic tracks (particularly for the first lap). The Rainbow JOQ course starts with a series of HILLS, and each hill eats one up, but the hills are definitely good training for Pepsi Challenge, Finlandia, and American Birkebiner types of distances and terrains.

Race distance: 5K/15K/30K, both classic and freestyle, mass start.

Freestyle(F)/Classic(C) 
5K Freestyle:
    Jon Arntson           21:41 (F) - men's freestyle winner
    Erin Arntson          23:51 (F) - women's freestyle winner
 
15K Classic:
    Steven Gromatka       50:37 (C) - (splits: 17:11, 16:53, 16:33) -- men's classic winner 
 
30K Freestyle:
    Amy Xu                2:19:28 (F) - (splits: 23:15, 23:17, 23:30, 23:31, 23:16, 23:10)

A few skiers from Alexandria, Grand Rapids, Hawley, and Twin Cities drove up in the morning and raced the West Itasca Xmas-New Year Ski Fest TT I, the day after the Xmas. While the time trial has been a low key event, Rainbow Resort groomed its trails just as the same as when they had groomed for the Rainow JOQ races and the other conference races. Thanks to the resort owner and groomer Doug Schumann for his tiredless and perfectionism, everyone enjoyed a couple of hours of serious yet very enjoyable event.

Reminder: The Time Trial II will be held on Dec. 28, 2010, 5K/15K/30K race events start at 9am, and registration starts at 8am and closes at 8:55am.

--Amy Xu, Race Director