February 06, 2011 (Sun Valley, Idaho) – Sylvan Ellefson, member of the Vail Ski and Snowboard Club and a Fischer athlete, made a daring break-away move with 7km to go and outlasted Bozeman, Montana’s Leif Zimmerman (BSF) to the finish line. Skiing strong the whole race, Ellefson took all three sprint preems on the course and set a fast pace for the lead pack.

“I really felt good today,” said Ellefson. “My skis were great and after the last preem, I had a gap of about 15 meters, so I punched it.  The last 2K were pretty tough and I knew that Leif, Bryan [Fletcher], Billy [Demong] and the rest were chasing hard, but when I came around the corner into the finishing straight, I was really psyched to have held everyone off and to cross the line first.”

The race unfolded with a pack of 10 to 12 skiers all the way through Baker Creek. By the time the leaders hit the final sprint preem at the bottom of Phantom Hill, the pack was down to nine, but soon broke apart after the attack by Ellefson.

Both Zimmerman and Park City’s Fletcher chased hard and were gaining back some time, but the gap was too big and Ellefson was able to coast across the line in 1:06:43, a very fast time considering the weather and snow conditions leading up to the race.

Evelyn Dong from Bend, Oregon was the top women in 23rd overall with a time of 1:12:39.5 followed by Chelsea Holmes from Truckee, CA in 24th. Nicole De Yong from Ketchum, Idaho claimed the 3rd spot on the women’s podium.

Complete results can be found HERE.