December 18, 2010 (Rossland, BC) – Alaska Pacific University’s ski team seems to like racing in Canada as two of their skiers were on the podium once again topping field in the 5/10km freestyle races at round two of the Haywood NorAm race in Rossland, BC.

Under overcast skies and mild temperatures, Lars Flora took the men’s win in a blistering time of 21 minutes, 53 seconds, just barely holding off hard-charging local skier, George Grey (CAN), who finished less than three seconds behind. Haywood NorAm leader Drew Goldsack placed third.

The course was incredibly fast, with prefect conditions.

“10k’s are always hard, especially when the course is so fast,” said Flora after the race. “I was worried that I might have gone out too hard, and George actually did ski faster on his last lap than I did, but I managed to hang on.”

Flora said he’s excited about tomorrow’s pursuit start, and mini-tours in general. “They’re great. I wish we’d had them through my whole career. I’m a pretty good all-rounder, and can recover really well day to day, so they suit me.”

In the women’s race, APU’s Holly Brooks took the 5km win in 12 minutes and 6 seconds over CXC’s Jessica Diggins and her teammate Caitlin Compton. The top Canadian was NST skier Perianne Jones from Nakkertok in 6th followed by fellow Canuck, Brooke Gosling (CXC) in 7th.

“It’s such a short race,” said Brooks. “It’s basically half a step up from a sprint – 12 minutes for a 5k? That’s fast.”

She said she’s not too surprised by the reintroduction of shorter races, especially given that the Tour de Ski has an important prologue.

“I might like it a little bit longer, but they’re still pretty fun.”

Full women’s results HERE.
Full men’s results HERE.