January 22, 2016 (Valdez, AK) – Elite racer Rosie Frankowski of APUNSC took the win in the women’s overall at the second annual Qaniq challenge, besting Olympian Holly Brooks by nearly a minute and a half, while her teammate Lex Treinen won for the second straight year over Tyler Kornfield. Frankowski, who made a last minute decision to fly to Anchorage from Minneapolis and try to win the $3,000 payout as the top finisher, said the decision was worth it not just because of the money.

“Valdez reminds me of Minnesota” she said, “All the trees and the water remind me of the lakes at home-minus a few big mountains.” The Qaniq Challenge, in its second year, has the highest payout of any race in North America except for the American Birkebeiner.

Unlike last year, when unusually low snowfall forced race organizers to shorten the first day’s interval start classic race, this year’s 2016 course included the steep and technical Skyline Loop hills on Mineral Creek trail system, right outside of Valdez. Men’s third place finisher Paul “PK” Kovacs compared the descent to “Redbull Crashed Ice” events because of the winding, crowded, ice-covered corners, and women’s third place finisher Lauren Fritz called it an “emotional rollercoaster”. The descent saw men’s second place finisher Tyler Kornfield crash twice while Frankowski, on the other hand, had no problems with the downhills. “Snow plowing is one of my strengths,” she said. Treinen won the first day by only 15 seconds, while Frankowski dominated the women’s by 1:21.

The 20-kilometer race ended with about 10 km of high speed double poling that hair-pinned at an isthmus overlooking the Valdez port. “It was one of the few times in a race where I looked up and looked around,” said Kovacs of the scenic view.

The second day’s Mass Start freestyle races were held just outside of Valdez. Frankowski led a group of men and Brooks, her main rival in the overall standings, for much of the flat, narrow course. “My aerodynamics would have been helped by being behind somebody,” she admitted. Nonetheless, she was just narrowly beaten by Brooks on day 2, and maintained her overall lead. Last year’s runner up Lauren Fritz, who, like Brooks returned from the Tour of China three days before the first Qaniq race credited her Chinese banana chips with giving her the energy needed to hold on to third. When asked whether the $3,000 was the largest payout for and hour and a half of work, Frankowski said, “It depends if you are talking about legal or illegal work.”

Treinen for his part stayed behind Kornfield most of the race, making a few long pulls at the front because, in his words, “I didn’t want it to be too boring.” The lead pack of Treinen, Kornfield, Kovacs, and Dylan Watts, stayed together until the last 500 meters, when Treinen overcame Kornfield for the win. “Tyler didn’t really have many options,” said Treinen of his tactics on the second day, “It was very easy to draft.” Treinen finished the race with a mere 17-second lead of Kornfield, while Frankowski finished 1:17 ahead of Brooks.

This year for the first time awards were given to the top local male and female racers, with $500 in local gift certificates going to Ben Stolen and Sarah Histand. A total of just 35 racers started, some of whom were non-paying highschool athletes.