March 27, 2011 (Sun Valley, ID) – Kikkan Randall was the winner at Sunday’s National 30km Classic Championship at the Lake Creek trails in Sun Valley. The field was somewhat smaller than for the prior day’s men’s 50km, and the field broke up earlier, but Randall’s performance was an illustration of fitness, skill and experience that no one in the field could match.

Sunday dawned colder and clearer than Saturday. A light snow had fallen overnight, but it fell early so the groomed course was quite free of fresh powder in the morning. About 6:30am the clouds started to disappear, and the temperature dropped rapidly into the teens. This was good for finding a wax at that time of day, but the clear skies had a few people worried that things might change after the sun had been on the course for an hour or so.

As the rays of the sun descended the hillside on the west edge of the trails and reached the stadium the warmth was palpable. It would be hard to think of a better day for a ski race than this: sunny, blue sky, comfortably warm, but not so warm that the conditions changed significantly.

The tracks were, however, considerably more abrasive than Saturday, as the snow that fell early in the evening had a lot of moisture in it. That, in combination with the dropping temperatures, made the floor of the tracks quite granular under a very thin layer of fresh snow.

Overall Randall was happy with the course and conditions and didn’t think the sun changed the wax conditions much during the race. “I think the steeper hills got a little slicker, but overall it was great conditions,” she told SkiTrax post-race.

Out of the start on a relatively flat “promenade” loop, about half the field was together. However, as they started up the first hills and headed out to the North End, things were already breaking up. Returning to the meadows from the North End there was a lead pack of 13 skiers.

That group broke up rapidly as they ascended the South Bench climb for the first time and the race turned into a fitness contest. Descending from South Bench on the high-speed downhill, it was Randall, Morgan Arritola, Maria Graefnings (U of Utah, NCAA Champion in skating), Jesse Diggins (USST/CXC), Sadie Bjornsen (APUNSC) then a short gap to Holly Brooks (APUNSC), Kate Fitzgerald (APUNSC) and Chelsea Holmes (Sugar Bowl Academy). Three chasing five.

Strung out off the back of the “Elite Eight” (hey, it’s NCAA basketball playoff season) were Canadian Brittany Webster (who would later drop out), then Becca Rorabaugh (APUNSC), Morgan Smythe (APUNSC), and Nicole Deyong (SVSEF ODT).

While the skiers were out of sight on the North End, Brooks realized that the train was leaving the station so she made a big effort to bridge to the leaders. When they came back into view it was six being chased by two, Brooks having closed the gap.

“I was too relaxed at the start and that lead pack skied away,” commented Brooks in an interview with SkiTrax. “All of a sudden there was a big gap. It was a lot of work to have do [bridge to the leaders] by myself. That was a tactical mistake.”

On the second lap, the South Bench strung things out again, with Arritola, Graefnings and Randall leading off the top, followed quite closely by Diggins then Brooks, with Fitzgerald and Bjornsen losing contact off the back.

Arritola lost contact on the North End during the third lap. Now it was down to four, still skiing in a relatively tight pack as they started up Coaches’ Climb, the first portion of the South Bench climb.

The pace of the leaders didn’t appear to pick up, but in short order Brooks, then Diggins, fell off, leaving Randall and Graefnings in front, with Arritola closing on Brooks. Brooks later recalled that the “third trip up the hill was really hard.”

Randall was clearly the class of the field when it came to descending. She was more stable, got into her tuck earlier after the last corner, and held a tighter tuck. Graefnings was more tentative on the descent, checking her speed a bit with a narrow snowplow.

While Randall looked smooth on the downhills we found out later things were more tentative. “I felt a little wobbly at times, but it felt good and (I took) good lines. I was happy to have that downhill (in the course).”

On this lap Diggins, in third place and trying desperately to keep the lead pair close, provided the fans at the bottom of the descent with a lot of excitement, performing several high-grade freestyle moves to avoid a crash.

Arritola had overtaken Brooks on the climb and led her down the hill, with her eyes lasering in on Diggins’ tails, seeking the final podium position.

“”I thought I was going to go face first like I have in practice a few times already,” Diggins confided to us post-race. “But I was able to stay on my feet.”

At the start of the final lap the lead pair had about nine seconds on Diggins, then Arritola and Brooks came by 23 seconds back. Now it was off to the North End. Randall and Graefnings were still together, with Randall continuing to do most of the work.

Diggins had closed to within five seconds. Arritola was 27 seconds behind Diggins, and Brooks a further five seconds in arrears, but more than a minute-and-a-half ahead of the next skier.

Everyone was looking at the trees at the north end of the meadow in anticipation of the skiers’ return. Randall had looked strong, but Graefnings was hanging tough. Diggins had been seen slipping a little, and Arritola was on a mission.

It all came down to the last trip up the South Bench. Randall and Graefnings were still together over Coaches’ Climb, with Randall controlling the pace at the front. Graefnings was glued to Randall’s tails nearly two-thirds of the way up the hill.

As they hit the herringbone climb about 100m from the top, Randall kept her pace, but Graefnings couldn’t maintain contact. “I just couldn’t go in the same speed [as Kikkan]. I was sooooo tired,” the Swedish skier told SkiTrax.

Randall wasn’t looking back and made for the finish up the last climb. “I didn’t feel very fast. I was just trying to keep my body moving,” the winner explained. “I couldn’t tell what was going on behind me, I just wanted to give it everything over the top.”

Meanwhile, Diggins, who had lost 10 seconds to the leaders on the North End, looked really beat as she topped out on Coaches’ Climb, leaning way forward and slipping a bit. When Arritola passed the same point she looked very strong.

Arritola was closing fast on the upper portion of South Bench, especially on the herringbone pitch. Diggins description of this critical moment.

“I thought for sure she had me,” Diggins commented in a post-race interview. “She’s strong and a great climber and great skier. I was just trying to hang on as long as I could and not fall down (on the downhill).”

As they descended to the stadium and the finish for the final time, Randall’s superior descending skills provided an additional cushion to the five-second gap that she held at the summit, and she was able to cruise fairly comfortably for the last half kilometer – although she wasn’t far enough ahead to completely relax.

Describing her last trip down the hill, Graefnings told us, “I was so tired, my legs were just wobbling, I was saying to myself ‘Come on, stand on your legs.’ “

At the finish Randall looked like she’d skied 30K, but a comfortable 30K. Graefnings crossed the line and fell in a heap, completely shattered. She lay there for quite a while, and on her first attempt to stand fell back to the snow and lay there for several more seconds.

Meanwhile, Diggins, showing some serious competitive chops, had made a solid, (if nervous after some falls in training) trip down the hill, and was able to hold off Arritola by several seconds for third overall, and the USSA silver medal (Graefnings is Swedish and ineligible for a US medal). Arritola takes home the bronze and Holly Brooks crossed the line in fifth – the fourth USA skier.

How was Randall feeling after a very long season in Europe? “It was nice to have [had] a good week here and a chance to acclimatize,” she told SkiTrax at the finish. “It’s the end of the season. All the money’s in the bank, so I might as well spend it.” There may yet be a little more money in that account by the end of the week.

Graefnings was clearly pleased with her runner-up position. Mere moments after she had lain prone on the snow, and been unable to stand up on her first attempt, she bubbled, “It was a pretty even pace I think. I felt strong and I could stay with (the pace) pretty easy. I’m super, super happy (with my performance). The course and everything was so awesome and it’s so fun to race against those good girls . . . and I had a super good day.”

Diggins was really pumped about her skis. “Our coaches were fantastic. The skis were so fast it was unbelievable.”

Brooks skied a solid, but unspectacular race to just miss the US podium. After her first season spending a lot of time on the World Cup circuit, she summed up her season to SkiTrax this way.

“I definitely [have] more experience. We raced in some tough conditions – klister, bad snow, lots of snow, not much snow. The conditions here were more consistent, but it’s a lot higher (elevation) and it’s a different (from World Cup) field.

“It’s a different feeling to be competing for the win versus just doing whatever you can and hoping for a top 30. I need to do a mental re-set and hope I can reach the podium over the next couple of days.”

Full results HERE.