November 22, 2010 – Tyler Kornfield came out on top of a three-way sprint for the podium steps in the men’s race, and Raphaela Sieber came from 10 seconds behind teammate Theresia Schnurr to win going away in the first Goldstream Sports Tour de Ski/Fairbanks, the first “Tour de Ski” format event held in Alaska.

The two Alaska Nanook sophomores contributed toward a dominating win in the Alaska Nordic Cup, the annual ski competition between UAA and UAF. The Nanooks outscored the Seawolves 24-18 today, for a three-day total of 79 points, to 47 for the visiting UAA squad.

The women’s 5Km classic pursuit start race started the day. Nanook Theresia Schnuur, the leader after two days, started with 10 seconds in hand over Sieber, and five K’s with three good climbs over which she would try to keep her teammate at bay. She was not able to do so. Sieber caught Schnuur in the mid-portion of the race, then skied away up the final climb to the stadium to win by 8.5 seconds.

Third overall, 1:22 back, was Stephanie Hiemer of the UAA Seawolves. Kinsey Loan of APUNSC was fourth at 1:42, and UAF’s Rebecca Konieczny (a West Yellowstone native) rounded out a super weekend of results with a fifth-place finish.

Including both the USSA and club division, 35 women finished Sunday’s race, but some of them did not race all three stages.

Sieber had the fastest stage 3 time, 16:34, eighteen seconds faster than Hiemer an Schnuur. UAA’s Marit Ulsund was fourth-fastest on Sunday, and local high school skier Hannah Boyer of FXC was the fastest junior on Sunday, only 26 seconds slower than Sieber.

The men’s race offered a little more drama. Alaska Nanook Lex Treinen started eight seconds ahead of UAF’s Kornfield, with UAA’s Bjornsen starting just one second later. Kornfield and Bjornsen reeled in Treinen on the first lap and the three settled into a steady pace.

Alaska Winter Star Eric Packer, taking a break from school at Dartmouth, started 27 seconds after Treinen, and made up half of the difference in the first lap. On the second lap he continued to close the gap. Heading up the second climb on the second lap of the Three Hills course it looked like he would make contact.

He may have done so, but by the time the skiers had descended from the course’s high point he was still just a little bit back from the lead trio. The course then descended to its low point before beginning the final climb of the day, a steady 30m (vertical) grind from the Biathlon Range back to the stadium.

Upon entering the stadium, Treinen was in the left set of tracks, with Kornfield in the middle and Bjornsen behind Korfield. As the three began their sprint, Bjornsen hopped out from behind Kornfield and into the empty third lane. Then the battle began in earnest.

All three were going flat out for the victory. The effort was apparent to the spectators who were really making some noise. Treinen, while staying close (in the same second), slowly faded from contention for the win while Bjornsen accelerated and pulled even, and maybe slightly ahead of Kornfield.

Even four or five meters from the line the outcome was uncertain. In that final distance Kornfield found something extra, drove his foot forward toward the line, and scored a close, but clear, victory.

Treinen finished in the same second as the first two, and Packer came in third at 12 seconds. After that, it was a one minute wait for John Parry (Alaska Nanooks) and Dylan Watts (APUNSC) to arrive, with Parry pulling away over the last 20m to nip Watts, who had started 33 seconds behind Parry and caught him after one lap.

Watts was the fastest for the day with 10Km time of 29:40. Packer was next (29:44), followed by Bjornsen (first in the NCAA race), Kornfield and Treinen. Parry, after a lackluster first go-round, hooked a ride with Watts — no mean feat — and was sixth-fastest. The top local junior was FXC’s Vanya Rybkin, who was 18th-fastest for the day.

The race was a big hit with athletes, coaches and spectators. Over the three-day weekend including the USSA NRL events and the club events, there were more than 600 starts in three events in less than 48 hours. In addition to the local skiers and the UA Fairbanks and UA Anchorage teams, there were large groups from several anchorage programs, including APU Nordic Ski Center, Alaska Winter Stars and Alaska Nordic Racing.

The racing was high-quality and deep. USSA penalties for the men were in the neighborhood of 60 every day, while women’s penalties were in the 90-100 range.

Goldstream Sports Tour de Ski Stage 3 Results HERE.

Goldstream Sports Tour de Ski Stage Overall HERE.