February 12, 2011 (Aspen, Colorado) – Fresh off his recent BMT victory, Sylvan Ellefson of the Vail Ski and Snowboard Club who skis for Fischer, along with surprise women’s winner Joanne Reid, a junior from the University of Colorado, won the 5/10km classic races today as the USSA SuperTour touched down in Aspen, Colorado for the Owl Creek Chase, round #6 of the series.

Skiers raced into thin air as Aspen’s high altitude put the hurt to athletes while spectators cheered under sunny skies. “It was a classic, blue bird Colorado day. Everybody was sunburned by the end of the day,” Ellefson told us post race.

Reid, in Aspen for the first time, echoed Ellefson on the conditions. “The weather was absolutely gorgeous- it was warm and sunny but somehow the snow was still cold enough for hardwax (which is, of course, ESPECIALLY cool when you go to clean your skis),” Reid told SkiTrax.

Ellefsson, a Colorado native, posted a time of 27:15.6 to win the men’s 10km classic race. Glenn Randall (BSF) came in second 8.3 seconds behind while Reid Pletcher (CU) rounded out the podium, 26.7 seconds back. Fourth and fifth place finishers Miles Havlich (UU) and Tor-haakon Hellebostad (UNM) followed closely at 32.3 seconds and 36.5 seconds respectively.

“It would be a difficult course at sea level but to add in the 8,000ft factor placed the burn right in the lungs,” Ellefson told SkiTrax. “Going into the race I had a main goal of staying technically strong, and maintain a big, long glide through the entirety of the first lap. Depending on where I was sitting, I was either going to ramp it up or keep it the same for the next lap.

“This was definitely a course that required you to stay a little conservative on the first lap. But don’t tell that to Glenn Randall who claims he “put the pedal to the metal,” right out of the start for the whole race.”

In the women’s 5km classic, junior skier Reid stormed the course in a time of 15:35.3, edging out Terese Andersson (UNM) to take the win by 3.1 seconds. Morgan Smyth (APU) claimed the final step of the podium at 9.5 seconds behind Reid. Chelsea Holmes, Eliska Hajkova (CU), and Sofie Jonsson (UNM) placed 4th, 5th, and 6th, and were all within one second of each other, down some 21 seconds from Reid.

“The course was awesome, it had hills that were steep enough to be difficult, but at the same time you could stride up them without doing a running herringbone,” the winner explained as she described her race. “I’ve never been to Aspen, so it was really sweet for me to see the courses and the town.  I think it was amazing, what with everyone there for all the races, the JOQ, the Supertour, the college race, and the citizen races. They even had a live DJ rocking out on his table. Epically cool.

So how did the junior Reid take the win over the strong field with the likes of Smyth and Hajkova…?

“I just raced the way I usually do, which is basically to just start out strong and then see how I feel.  Of course, when you’re at this high of altitude, you just feel tired. But it was pretty similar to the skiing in Truckee, so I just tried to relax and ski fast and accept the fact that there was a very limited supply of oxygen going in and out of my lungs,” said Reid.

Vail’s Ellefsson had nothing but praise for the organizers….”The conditions were great and AVSC did a great job organizing the whole race. Always a good time when I come to Aspen even though I am from rival town, Vail, and probably not supposed to say that.”

Women’s results HERE.
Men’s results HERE.