Western Washington has been hit with some interesting
weather in the last month, from record rains to record winds to record snow to
record cold, so we didn't have any idea what to expect for this year's Gunnar Hagen
race day. Amazingly enough, it
turned out to be an Extra Special Blue day, with temperatures in the teens (in
the teens!), bright blue skies, no wind, and crisp firm tracks that held up all
day. Nobody born since World War
II has seen a GH day like this, although Dave Newton says we had similar
conditions in 1936.
We had a total of 131 finishers in the 10k and 30k
races, including a number of day-of-race registrants who woke up, checked the
conditions, and decided it looked like a great day for a little ski. Sixty men tackled the 30k. Team XC Oregon sent their two toughest
young studs, Levi Hensel (who won last year's GH) and Hans Hansen, but they
were handed a whuppin' by Martin "the Swedish Stallion" Rosvall. Martin skied like a hot knife through
butter, according to one spectator, to finish in 1:20:23. Levi came in second, in 1:29:37, and
Hans was third in 1:30:22. Hot on
their heels, Vesa Suomalainen and Brad Bauer finished within four seconds of
Hans. (Psst É Martin's top secret
pre-race training strategy? The
day before the race he shoveled a mountain of snow off the ramp to the
snowmobile shed.)
Only five hardy women braved the cold to finish the 30k, and
each one was a winner in her own age group. Leah Kiviat took advantage of her only weekend this winter
not on call at the hospital to win in 2:06:35. Joy Blakeslee came in second, in 2:12:33, and Carey Gazis
was third in 2:20:05.
We had 66 contenders in the 10k. Cashmere's Steven Ettinger won the
men's race in 32:22, followed by Oliver Wood in 35:06 and Max Christian in
36:02. Kirsten Clarke held off
Sarah Hardee to win the women's 10k in 36:54, with Sarah only 24 seconds
behind. Jane Marshall was in
third, in 38:26. Full results are
posted on our website.
Race Director Jeff Hashimoto put his high school
teacher/cross country coach skills to work to create a finely tuned race
machine that allowed him the luxury of jumping in the race himself. He was ably assisted by Chief of Course
Joe McNulty, Race Secretary Val Karas and Volunteer Coordinator Elizabeth
Bailey. Many other race volunteers
helped to keep the machine running smoothly, including Aase and Kaare Gjolmesli
and Berit Lund, doing their usual bang-up job in the kitchen keeping all racers
well-fed and happy, and Angie Grieg and Keith Ritland, handling timing duties
smoothly and effortlessly. Glen
Tomchik, Anna Louise Waerness and Marlys Svensson managed the parking lot, and
Leslie Duffy, Dale Bohm , Susie Main and Shirley Newton manned the registration
desk. Many thanks to all of our
volunteers, especially those I have forgotten to name here, who do such a great
(and mostly invisible) job of putting on a race!
Thanks also to Jon Fewster, who coordinated with our
wonderful sponsors, Marmot Mountain Works, purveyors of fine outdoor wear and
equipment and sponsors of the great-looking hat in every racerÕs bag, and Nuun,
the yummy new electrolyte-replacement drink offered out on the course. In addition, Essential Baking Company
donated the delicious breads for the post-race chili feed. Many other generous sponsors donated
draw prizes, including Suunto, Nordic Ultratune, Nordic Saga Tours, Winthrop
Mountain Sports, Atomic, Toko, Second Ascent, and Einar Svensson. Thank you, sponsors! And thank you also to Ruben, the
world's greatest groomer, who set those perfect, knife-sharp tracks along the
course.
All in all, it was an excellent day of racing, with
skiers'-heaven conditions, lots of food and prizes at the finish, and no
injuries, outside of some minor bumps and falls. Jeff Hashimoto is the Race Director for our next race, the
15k and 5k free-style Stampede, on Sunday, February 18, and he promises
conditions just as perfect Ð see you here next month!