March 22, 2005 – Rossignol’s Brooke Baughman and James Southam raced the end of the season as they started with stellar-podium-finish performances, each winning bronze at the 50 Kilometer US National Championships race.
The first day of Spring in sunny California was announced by a ferocious Sierra storm dropping two feet of snow overnight at Royal Gorge, site of the US National Championship and final race of the American Ski Marathon series.
Competitors awoke to blustery white-out conditions race day. Severe Sierra
weather and snow accumulations forced race organizers to reconfigure the course and shorten the race (for the first time in the races history) to a distance of 42 kilometers. The normal 25 kilometer plus loop was reduced to a tree-protected seven and a half kilometer course, which racers chasing the National Championship title attacked six times.
In the men’s race, a pack of 10-12, quickly formed off the front,
which included Rossignol’s James Southam and Tobias Schwoerer – comfortably.