March 16, 2005 – Banknorth Eastern Championships Black Mountain Ski Area in Rumford, ME was the site of this year’s Banknorth Eastern Championships. The redesigned trail system and the new post and beam construction lodge made for an ideal venue for this year’s races. The weekend’s events started with a classic event and a two-person team relay on Saturday followed by a pursuit race on Sunday. In the classic event it was Anna McLoon of the ME Winter Sports Center who tied with Dorcus Wonsavage of the Holderness Ski Club in a time of 19:08. Close behind in third place was Team Rossignol’s Kate Whitcomb in 19:29 followed by her teammate Trina Hosmer in 20:57. Kate also trains out of the MWSC along with Anna McLoon. In the two-person relay, it was the teamwork of Rossignol’s Nick Mahood and Bill Farrell who captured the Master title and placed sixth overall in the competitive field but the real excitement of the Championships was Sunday’s pursuit event.

The mass start race was underway with a 7.5 km classic race, a quick change of the skis and then off for another 7.5 kms for the skate portion of the race. In the men’s pursuit, it was 10km of each technique. With warming temperaturesdifficult waxing conditions, both Kate Whitcomb and Trina Hosmer made a clear choice to race on the Rossignol X-ium no wax classic skis for the first technique event of the pursuit. “It wasn’t hard to make the decision after testing how well the no wax skis kicked but I really wasn’t ready for how fast they glided, I flew by everyone” quoted Hosmer. After the first leg of the pursuit it was Kate Whitcomb and Trina Hosmer with a good lead going into the skate leg. Whitcomb held onto her lead by winning in 51:10 followed by the two other former Olympians. Dorcus Wonsavage out-sprinted Trina Hosmer by four seconds in the final 400 meters to take second with a time of 53:08.
and in the men’s pursuit it was the Maine Winter Sports dual of Brayton Osgood 56:07 and Colin Rodgers 56:15 who took the top two spots ahead of Team Rossignol’s Nick Mahood. Nick 58:17 who was the top master in the Championships. Nick also used the Rossignol X-ium no wax skis.