Elm Creek Series Results

Conditions: Air temp. 28 dropped quickly to 23F; very strong wind with wind-chill 9F (felt colder); newly arrived 4-5”of natural thick snow blown on top of man-made snow base; tough race!!!

While one had thought the weather factor might make tonight’s Elm Creek Time Trial Race Series Opener a very quiet one, 18 strong-willed skiers (and their friends and families) made this season Opener the strongest ECTT Opener participation in recent years. In the skate race, Lucas Hieb quickly pulled away from the pack after a few crashed at the first downhill. But, Craig Stolen gradually passed all skiers in the lead pack one by one, caught up on Lucas and finally Craig passed Lucas right at the downhill corner before the finish line. Lucas skied very strong, and with that his teammates was elated. Madeline (Maddie) McKeefery skied against the men’s lead pack and won the woman’s skate race. In the classic race, Plymouth’s Kasey Bacso led the field the entire way. At the post-race hand-shakes, the run-up skier greats Craig Stolen invited Kasey to come back in another day to give him an opportunity to do the match. Everyone put out their season opener best effort (Tim, Mark, Chris, welcome back!). Congratulations to Gretchen Hinchley on her first skate race and to Taylor Lundquist on her first classic race. Tonight’s race reminded all of us the blizzard condition in one Mora Vasaloppet race in recent years. Special thanks to our race volunteer Steve Cirks.

Race course: 2 laps of 2.1K (shortened Valley Trail loop). The race course was groomed but covered by several inches of natural snow being blown onto the skate deck, and most of the classic tracks were covered by the blown snow.

Race distance: 4.2K, both classic and freestyle, mass start.

Freestyle(F)/Classic(C) 
  
Craig Stolen                 12:34 (F)/14:26 (C) – male winner of the skate race
Lucas Hieb                   12:35 (F)
Cory Ellertson               13:02 (F)
Ian Mead                     13:11 (F)
Sam Anderson                 13:26 (F)
Nathaniel Johnson            13:46 (F)
Madeline McKeefery           13:49 (F) – female winner of the skate race
Kasey Bacso                           /14:02 (C) – male winner of the classic race
Bean Larson                  14:58 (F)
Tim Hieb                     15:33 (F)
Jon Andersson                16:14 (F)
Christopher Smith            16:15 (F)
Taylor Lundquist                      /17:32 (C) -- 1 lap – female winner of the classic race (Congratulations on your first ever xc ski race)
Joshua Drivdahl              17:38 (F)
Joshua Nordstrom             18:29 (F)
Mark Winholtz                18:32 (F)/24:27 (C)
Gretchen Hinchley            19:45 (F) – 1 lap (Congratulations on your first ever xc ski race)

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