GUNNAR HAGEN RACE REPORT-2008

To all of you skiers who have been beseeching whatever snow deities you worship for good Gunnar
Hagen snow conditions, thank you for your efforts; they really paid off! The week leading up to the race
saw icy-cold, sparkling-clear weather that chilled and solidified the snow pack, followed by an incredible
downpour of snow all day Saturday that stopped in the middle of the night and didn’t start again until
after the race. Perfect timing! The temperature at race time was in the low 20’s and skies were gray,
with a shy sun threatening to peek out but never quite making it. Chief of Course Gil Lund woke up
early early early to ride around the course with our new groomer; they set some nice sharp tracks that
had time to set up before race time, and then held up well through all three laps. Times were slower
than last year’s, reflecting the sluggish conditions, and the lead skiers reported that the tracks were a
little soft and slow the first time around but faster once they got skied in in the second and third laps.
Blue wax was the order of the day, which is not something we get to say very often at the Gunnar
Hagen, and people reported good results with VR40 and VR45.

A good turnout of racers took advantage of these great conditions. Fifty five men and seven women
lined up for interval starts in the 30k. Martin “the Swedish Cyclone” Rosvall put a good old fashioned
Swedish whuppin’ on the rest of the pack, winning in 1:28:56, just under 12 minutes ahead of second
place Rune Harkestad, no mean classic skier himself. Vesa Suomalainen was in third, Brad Bauer in
fourth, and Scott Tucker in fifth. With only seven women in the 30k, everyone won a medal; it’s fun to
win, but it’s more fun when there are lots of women to compete with! Ginny Price dominated the race,
finishing in 2:01:53, a good ten minutes ahead of Bend’s Jeanne Wadsworth. Marlene Farrell was in
third place.

There were 24 men and 20 women in the 10k. Wenatchee’s Max Christman won in 35:54, followed by
Torin Tucker from Portland and Brad Kirkpatrick from Redmond. Sarah Hardee brought her smiling face
and fast skis down from Bellingham to win the women’s race in 39:25, with Torill Owen from Wenatchee
and Heli Suokko from Bellevue finishing second and third.

Kongsberger Ski Club warmly thanks our fantastic sponsors for making the awards ceremony and door
prize drawing such a fun time! Marmot Mountain Works and Second Ascent supplied us with a box of
great prizes, and we also were able to hand out good schwag from Nordic Ultratune, Winthrop
Mountain Sports, Suunto, Bridgedale Socks, and Einar Svensson. Pro Bar and Nuun took care of the
much appreciated on course nutrition, and Essential Baking Company provided the delicious bread for
the post race chili feast. Kudos to Race Director Jeff Hashimoto, for an excellently organized event that
went off without a hitch, and to all the many hard working volunteers without whom this race would
only be a fun idea. A big thank you also to the Nordic Ski Patrol, for monitoring the course and keeping
us safe, and to R&R Lind for grooming the trails.

Next up: the 15k and 5k freestyle Stampede, February 17!