July 06, 2010 (Las Vegas, Nevada) – The Vegas heat abated a little today – good news for Peter Northug and Marcus Hellner, and for the media and fans who were out to catch their Vegas Rollerski Showdown. The race took place in a parking lot at the Palms Resort and Casino, just off of the Vegas Strip, and given the black tarmac and little wind, the slightly cooler temperatures were much appreciated.

Even so, nearly everyone including the two athletes, was drenched with sweat after the first 15 minutes in the morning sunshine. With bannered fencing and a finish line archway, the race had a distinctly competitive feel to it. There were even a surprising number of spectators present, giving the impression that the organizers must have rounded up all the Norwegians they could find in Sin City.

Vegas has certainly seen it’s share of the oddball and unusual, but Palms security and special events co-ordinator Ralph Rillos said he’s never seen anything like this before.

“We’ve had extreme sporting events here at the Palms, like our Kicker event which features motocross racers. Even [motocross superstar] Travis Pastrana has been here, but we’ve never seen a head-to-head showdown like this, and certainly not a winter sport one. Skiing in the desert…who would have known,” he said, with a slightly bewildered look.

The event itself was comprised of a qualification heat or warm up, and  there was no official clock to be seen – the first across the finish line would determine which skier was fastest. What followed was a best-of-three head-to-head series of sprint heats, each heat being two laps of a figure 8 course.

In true Vegas style, the racers rolled the dice to decide who would get the inside start lane. Northug was a little anxious jumping the gun in the first heat but with only two racers, there was little danger of anyone being disqualified.

After resetting, Hellner managed to get the jump on Northug, although he was overtaken quickly and lost the first round. Heat two saw Hellner regroup and take the win setting up the showdown in heat three.

For the final heat, the organizers decided to tinker with the start line a little, moving it back about 10 meters which favoured Northug but this didn’t seem to bother Hellner, who said, “It’s still fair. I had the best start, and if I’d had that twice it would have been easier to win.” Still, he said he’d much rather have had a 10km race – his specialty – instead of a sprint.

The skiers were then off on round three and Northug took the hole shot to take the final round holding off Hellner at the finish to win the best of three rollerski match. Check out our videos here.

Both skiers will be back at the poker table in the next few days, trying to make it as far as they can in the WSOP – only time will tell. If, by some stroke of luck and good bluffing one of them makes it to the final table, there will be some tough decisions to be made.

The final WSOP table won’t be played out until November, when these boys will be in the midst of early season World Cups. Still, with an 18-karat gold, diamond-encrusted bracelet and a literal mountain of cash going to the winner, there will be plenty of temptation to come back to Sin City.