March 24, 2018 (Craftsbury Common, VT) – Erik Bjornsen (APU) captured the men’s 15km FR mass start race on day one of the 2018 USSA SuperTour Finals as Simi Hamilton (SMST2) battled to second place followed by Tad Elliott (Ski Club Vail) in third.

Conditions were great with sunshine and lots of fans on hand at the Craftsbury Outdoor Centre. Patrick Caldwell (APU) finished 4th, Brian Gregg (CXC/Team Gregg/LNR) was 5th and Patterson, Scott Patterson (APU) rounded out the men’s final podium.

“Super fun racing with the boys out there. The trails here are in great condition. They had a nice course lined out for us with a few solid climbs. I broke a pole on the second lap and all the guys in the lead group were super helpful in getting me a new one,” said Bjornsen. “Simi actually grabbed one for me at one point. I was able to put a little gap in on the last big climb about a kilometer from the finish and then just stayed in the lead from there. I was happy to not have to sprint to the finish against Simi because there is a chance it would have played out differently.”

Hamilton took home his first distance podium for a superb end to his season. “It was a fun race…mass starts always keep my attention much better than individual starts. The pace was pretty high the first lap, and then we kind of settled into a more comfortable pace on the 2nd and 3rd laps. I was skiing towards the back of the group mostly, and I had to close down some gaps that opened up occasionally in the lead pack, but I felt like I was skiing pretty well within my zone the whole time. If you don’t count prologues that we used to have at the SuperTour finals a few years ago, that is my distance first podium.

“The skiing is awesome and the whole Craftsbury crew is doing an incredible job with the course prep. As always, it has a very professional vibe to it here. Erik was able to open up a small gap, probably about 2 or 3 seconds with about one km to go. I was still in the very back of our pack of six chasers at that point, so on the last significant climb with about .5 km to go I made a move to the front of our chase pack with Tad Elliott, and then on the final hill was able to put a small gap on Tad before the finish stretch. Erik basically held his gap the whole time, but maybe I clawed back a second or two by the time we crossed the line.

“It’s always awesome racing at home, especially in Vermont where there is such a great buzz around XC skiing and we have some many family, friends, and fans cheering us on. Our relay team is really psyched going in to tomorrow. Even though we’re the defending champs, we still consider ourselves the underdogs a bit because APU always puts together an incredible team. However it plays out, it will be an incredibly fun race,” commented Hamilton.

Men’s results