January 21, 2009 (Owl Creek, Colorado) – The Owl Creek Chase January 16-18 has long been a favorite of the Colorado Nordic community as it connects the towns of Snowmass Village and Aspen. This year’s race was sanctioned by the USSA and is part of the USSA SuperTour series, the FIS Marathon Cup series and the Colorado Cup. The Owl Creek Chase is the 6th venue of 14 Supertour events in the winter of 2008-2009. It is also part of the FIS Marathon Cup Series.

The featured event, the 21km race on January 18 – SuperTour #6 – was won by Matt Gelso of the (USST/CU) in a time of 53:38.8. In second, 43 seconds back was Tad Elliot (Saab Salmon Factory Team) and Josh Smullin of Rossignal took third after a hard fought battle to the line with Rossi team mate Zach Simons and Andrey Golovko (Saab/Salomon).

Rebecca Dussault, a 2006 US Ski Team Olympian and member of the Saab/Salomon Factory Team, was the first woman across the line in in a time of 1:00:33.7. In second was Maria Grevsgaard (CU) over 42 seconds back off Dussault, and 24 seconds ahead of third place finisher Kristina Strandberg (Saab/Salomon).

Complete results here.

SuperTour #5

On January 16th, the first of the two SuperTour events held as part of the Aspen Nordic Festival took place. Grevsgaard won the women’s mass start 5km classic event, just 0.6 seconds ahead of Strandberg. In third 28 seconds back was Denver University’s Antje Maempel. In the men’s 10km mass start classic race Vegard Kjoelhamar (CU) won in a time of 27:24.1. In second was Andrey Golovko (Saab/Salomon) just 2.2 seconds back. In third was Gelso 29 seconds off the lead pace.

Complete women’s results here
Complete men’s results here