December 31, 2008 (Auburn Ski Center, California) – After over a week of blue hard wax skiing and lots of new snow, it was a Sierra racer’s fate to wake up on Sunday morning (Dec. 28) to find overcast skies, high humidity, warm temperatures, and, of course, the first diagonal stride technique event of the season – the Snowshoe Thompson Classic at the Auburn Ski Club Training Center. With warming snow, glazing tracks, and the usual panic of waxing, testing, covering the wax, trying out waxless, hairies, and then just simply racing, a very challenging yet fun race occurred on an incredibly fun course with great grooming and organization.

As this was also the first Junior Olympic Qualifier for the Far West Nordic young aspiring skiers, there was an extra element of tension in the air, so wax techs, parents, and racers scrambled to get everything prepped and ready to go. In the end, the winners of the race was no surprise – former Far West Junior, current U.S. Ski Team member and Colorado University skier Matthew Gelso cruised to an “easy” victory by over two minutes, finishing the 10km event in a time of 21 minutes and 13 seconds. Ian Case, another former Far West Junior (now returned from the east coast to train and race on the great trails of the Sierra Nevada), narrowly gained the second spot by just a second over current Far West Nordic Junior and Williams College racer Alex Taylor.

The women’s side winner in the 10km was also no surprise, as Beth Reid continued her dominance of the Far West circuit by finishing in 12th place overall with a time of 26:06. Her nearest competitor was fellow Master 4 racer Laura Stern of Palo Alto in 35th place overall with a time of 31:00, while Northstar XC Director Julie Young managed the 3rd place spot.

The junior girls and younger boys raced the 5 kilometer distance, with 2008 National Champion Joanne Reid of Palo Alto predictably taking the top spot over Truckee skiers Bernie Nelson and Annika Taylor. The top 5km boys results were snatched by Justin Ondry of Truckee, Andrew Cobourn of Minden, NV, and Jordan McElroy of Truckee. J4 skiers Sam Zabell and Hannah Halvorsen were the winners of the 3 kilometer kids race.

Full results and more photos are available via www.farwestnordic.org.