West Itasca Xmas-New Year Time Trial II Results

December 28, 2010

Conditions: Temperature: 21F, sunny and blue sky, very little wind; excellent 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, 5K/5K pusuit, 15K race events. The trails were newly groomed, firm base, hard-packed, both skating lanes and classic tracks felt faster than TT I. 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/10K/15K, both classic and freestyle, mass start for the skate race, interval start for classic race.

Freestyle(F)/Classic(C) 
5K Freestyle/Classic
Cody Call 17:50 (F)/19:46 (C) - men's 5K freestyle winner and men's 5K classic winner
Julia Sieling 20:09 (F) - women's 5K freestyle winner
Hailey Haugen 26:35 (F)
Natalie Watkins 27:06 (F)
Luke Erickson 32:24 (F)
Adrianne Wensman 35:59 (F)
Jimmy Lovrien /22:10 (C) - men's 5K classic winner
Pat Flynn /23:08 (C)
Melissa Gromatka /24:22 (C) - women's 5K classic winner
Megan Bristow /25:07 (C)
Lauren Hagstrom /26:01 (C)
Katie Lovrien /26:26 (C)
Rachel Hansberry /36:15 (C)

15K Freestyle:
Steven Gromatka 44:40 (F) - (splits: 14:38; 14:58; 15:04) -- men's 15K freestyle winner
Luke Winger 46:59 (F) - (splits: 14:57; 16:06;15:56)
Todd Johnson 52:22 (F) - (splits: 16:55; 17:49; 17:38)
Tyler Johnson 33:23 (F) - (2 laps only - splits: 16:34; 16:49)

5K/5K Pursuit (Classic 5K/Freestyle 5K):
Jeremy Rapp 45:28 (C/F) - (splits: 22:47; 22:41) -- men's 5K/5K C/F pursuit winner
Skiers from Banner Elk (NC), Alexandria, and Twin Cities raced the West Itasca Xmas-New Year Ski Fest Time Trial under the bright sun, warm temp, spring like ski condition in the mid morning. Rainbow Resort re-groomed its race course overnight. Though this time trial is a low key event, the trails were groomed just as the same as when they were used for the Rainow JOQ races and the other conference races. Thanks to the event volunteers (Ann Blood and Keith Schumann) and the resort owner/groomer Doug Schumann, everyone enjoyed the great skiing event.

--Amy Xu, Race Director