January 21, 2013 (Minneapolis, MN) – Jennie Bender (CXC) and Torin Koos (Bridger Ski Foundation/Rossignol) scored the women’s and men’s wins, respectively, in the 15/20km Classic Mass start event, Stage 2 of round #4 of the 2013 USSA SuperTour’s Tour de Twin Cities at Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sunday.

Bender won by a healthy margin of 6.5s over her closest competitor, Rosie Brennan (APU), while APU’s Kate Fitzgerald rounded out the podium in third place, trailing by 8s. Raphaela Sieber (University of Alaska Fairbanks) was the top collegiate women.

Koos edged out Brian Gregg (Central Cross Country Team) for first place by 1.9s with Canada’s David Greer (Yukon Elite Squad) close behind at 2.4s in third. Top collegiate skier was Jonas Loeffler (University of Alaska Fairbanks).

The Stage 3 Classic Sprint scheduled for Monday, January 21 has been rescheduled to Friday, January 25 due to weather.

Full results HERE.

February 06, 2012 (Minneapolis, MN) – The City of Lakes Loppet on Sunday drew nearly 600 racers, despite an organizer’s nightmare that forced relocation of the event just one week before the date. Because recent snowfall weakened the ice resulting in puddles on the original Chain of Lakes route, the event was moved to a man-made snow loop in Theodore Wirth Park in north Minneapolis.

After snatching the men’s victory at the Boulder Mountain Tour in Idaho on Saturday, Matthew Liebsch (Team Strongheart/Team Birkie) continued his winning streak the following day in the freestyle discipline at the City of Lakes Loppet in Minneapolis, finishing the 17km race in a time of 37:06, with second place, Brian Gregg (CXC) right on his tail in second, only one second behind. Eric Wolcott placed third with a finishing time of 38:33.

Caitlin Gregg (CXC) took home the women’s title in a time of 40:32 with more than two minutes to spare over her teammate in second place, Jennie Bender. Natalia Yakimova picked up the final podium spot for third place.

Full results for all events HERE.

January 30, 2012 (Cable, WI) – Canada’s Mark Arendz came up just shy in his bid to win his fifth IPC Biathlon World Cup medal of the season after finishing fourth in the men’s 12.5-kilometre race on Sunday in Cable, Wisconsin, while Sean Halsted landed the top U.S. result with an eighth-place finish.

The 21-year-old Arendz, who snagged the bronze medal in Saturday’s 20-kilometre race, skied a consistent 12.5 kilometres and shot clean in each of his four stops on the range to finish one spot off the podium with a time of 38:55.0.

“It turned out to be a ‘What can you do’ kind of day,” said Arendz. Yesterday there were an number of mistakes that kept adding up but today everything was bang on. I was back in the proper mindset and had all cylinders burning and was ready to go. I was very happy with the skiing effort.”

Arendz, of Springton, P.E.I. had one of his best days ever on the range with shots hitting the target dead centre.

“The shooting felt as natural as a ski stride, it flowed harmoniously with the skiing,” said Arendz. “Nothing went wrong today, it just wasn’t my day. I was happier with my race today, finishing fourth, than I was of my race yesterday.”

Russian athletes grabbed the top-two spots on the podium. Kirill Mikhaylov finished on top with a time of 37:24.0, while Vladislav Lekomtev was second at 38:08.3. Norway’s Nils-Erik Ulset rounded out the podium in third at 38:40.7.

Ottawa’s Margarita Gorbounova and her guide of Brian Berry, of Thunder Bay, Ont., were the only other Canadians to suit up on Sunday, finishing seventh in the women’s 10-kilometre visually impaired category with a time of 55:37.4.

U.S. Athletes Crack Top 10 in Long-course
A sub-par performance Saturday during the biathlon short-course was all the motivation sit-skier and Air Force veteran Sean Halsted (Spokane, Wash.) needed to break into the top 10 finishers in the long-course biathlon today during the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Nordic Skiing World Cup at the Telemark Lodge in Cable, Wis.

“My performance yesterday wasn’t up to what I had hoped,” said Halsted, who had placed 13th with only 50 percent accuracy on the shooting range. Today he hit 17 of his 20 shots and covered the 12.5-kilometer course in 49 minutes, 47 seconds to finish eighth.

Navy SEAL Lt. Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kan.) rallied from misses during his first two rounds of shooting to shoot flawlessly the rest of the race and finish 10th in 50:15 in the sit-ski division. He connected on 18 of his 20 shots.

“I knew if I didn’t bring it together, the race was going to go downhill fast,” he said.

Roman Petushkov of Russia, who won Saturday’s shot-course biathlon, repeated as sit-ski champion in 44:51, despite missing four shots on the day. For each missed target, athletes had to ski a 150-meter penalty loop, which added to their times.

Kelly Underkofler (St. Paul, Minn.) continued her strong showing in the shooting range, connecting on 19 of her 20 shots, just missing the podium with her fourth-place finish in the women’s standing division in 50:32. Finland’s Maija Jarvela claimed her second biathlon gold of the competition, finishing in 40:54 over the 10 km. women’s course.

“I felt good and shot well, so I’m happy with how I did today,” Underkofler said.

Sarah Edwards (Winter Park, Colo.) placed fifth in the women’s sit-ski division in 1:29:31. German Anja Wicker improved on her second-place finish from the day before to win in 50:18.

Russians continued to dominate the visually-impaired division. Lysova Mikhalina led a quartet of top Russian finishers in the women’s race, shooting flawlessly and finishing in 37:33. Russians claimed the top two spots on the men’s side, led by Nikolay Polukhin in 37:42. Visually-impaired athletes shoot with specialized guns fitted with lasers on their sites that emit audio feedback as the shooter’s aim closes in on a screen target.

Russian Kirill Mikhaylov won the men’s standing division in 37:24.

Athletes conclude the Wisconsin-portion of the competition Monday with middle distance races. Races start at 10 a.m. with sit-skiers skiing 5 km and standing and visually-impaired athletes skiing 10 km.

Competition concludes Feb. 1-2 at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, where athletes will compete in a sprint and middle distance race. Races begin at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 1 and 10 a.m. Feb. 2.

It’s the first time the United States has hosted a major Paralympic Nordic ski event in seven years.

Results HERE.

March 29, 2011 (Engadin, Switzerland) – I just returned home to Hayward after a week long adventure in St Moritz, Switzerland for the 2011 Engadin Ski Marathon. The crust cruising is at its finest right now and, after skiing all day, I am finally able to sit down and recap the events from Switzerland.

The 2011 Engadin was the inaugural CXC Masters Team Worldloppet trip. Originally, my plan was to compete in the Elite Wave and go for the win. That plan changed when I came down with appendicitis two days before the Birkie and ten days before leaving for Switzerland. Although it felt agonizingly slow at the time, my recovery was actually very swift and smooth thanks to the help of my friends and teammates (I had a cowbell in my room and, when I rang it, Caitlin (Compton) and Brian (Gregg) would bring me any food I requested-so long as it was liquid). The day before the trip, my doctor took out the stitches and gave me the go-ahead to fly to Switzerland. Instead of fighting for the win, I was fighting to simply make it through the airport with my luggage.

Now I was able to really enjoy the finer aspects of the trip and no worry as much about the racing. We ended up doing lots of easy skiing to check out the course, drank Rivella (the official sports drink of Switzerland) by the gallon–or liter, rather, while sitting out in the sun, and even spent an afternoon sledding in the Swiss Alps.

For the race itself, I followed the Toko wax recommendation and waxed up my best skis, along with the rest of the CXC Masters, with the straight-forward combination of an HF Red/Yellow mix, JetStream Red block, and topped it off with JetStream Red powder for good measure. The one thing I forgot was a riller, but the temps were supposed to stay cold and the snow dry.

On race morning, we toed the line. I had barely done any skiing, let alone intensity, in over two weeks since the surgery, so I decided to line up toward the back of the Elite Wave and start easy. Over 11,000 anxious skiers danced around in the gates while we waited for the gun to go off. Immediately after the start, I realized I was feeling great and decided to get up front with the leaders-passing about 500 people on the wide lake start and tucking into third place in the lead pack with the likes of Cristian Zorzi, Bjorn Lind, and Remo Fischer. The first 15km of the Engadin are totally flat as the trail goes across frozen lakes to the town of St Moritz and we were flying with a swift tailwind.

Before I left for the trip, I ran into Ben Husby at Junior Nationals on my home trails of Wirth Park in Minneapolis. When I told Ben I was going to the Engadin, he gave me some advice about “how to win the Engadin.” Specifically, “when you hit St Moritz, there will be a steep climb, wide enough for three lanes of skiers coming off the lakes. Make sure you are leading one of those lanes.” At the time, I thought, ‘Okay, Ben, I can barely ski right now, there’s no way I’ll be leading the Engadin at 15km next week.’

However, I surprised even myself (pretty hard to do) and found myself in third place going into the St Moritz climb! Sure enough, the skier in first went right, the skier in second went left and I found myself leading the middle train up the steep climb. Remo Fischer punched it over the top and I hopped in close behind him. We skied together down into the Expo Area at St Moritz and Remo kept the throttle wide open-we were flying! Shortly after St Moritz, he backed off the pace a little bit and I looked behind me, expecting to see hundreds of skiers over my shoulder. To my surprise, there was no one; I’d just made the two-man break off the front of the Engadin-thanks Ben!

I was feeling great. Unfortunately, as we got into the woods, the snow changed from dry and wind-blown, to wet and soggy. We soon hit a downhill and Remo pulled away effortlessly. I was in no-man’s-land doing my best to earn time back on the climbs, but on every descent, he’d pull away more. Soon, the pack we’d dropped had caught me and I was losing even more ground on the descents. I’m not sure how much of it was the fact that I hadn’t skied for the two weeks prior to the race (maybe that’s what got me into trouble-feeling so fresh) or how much was the fact that I had forgotten to add structure (my cold skis had a cold grind: faster than ever in the windblown snow, but way too much suction in the wet snow). At any rate, I slogged it out for the final 20km of the race and still finished much better than I’d expected going into the race. I was satisfied with the race and happy that I didn’t bust my gut in the process. Remo ended up capitalizing on our breakaway and winning by over two minutes.

In the Engadin, I learned an important lesson about the value of structure. Now that the weather is getting warm and the snow is getting soft, it is more important than ever to have the right structure. Go out and enjoy the spring crust cruising, but don’t forget to rill. And have fun!

Muffy Ritz Commentary from Masters WC
I had a very successful Master’s up in Silver Star. Despite being very sick with bronchitis for the 2 weeks prior and even into the racing week, I somehow managed to ski myself into a Gold in the 10 km FS, a Gold in the Relay, and a silver in the 15 KM CL race. I have to make a very interesting remark about the TOKO wax. We ended up using Blue all the way- for every race ( LF Moly, HF Blue, Jet Stream Blue, blue structurite tool) It didn’t matter the temperature, blue always ran the fastest. The temps were very consistent throughout the week- with only about 5 degrees of warm-up during the days. Lows would be around 21 and highs around 26 degrees F. Every night or during the day, a little bit of new snow would fall. What would appear as a red/blue mix – according to the thermometer- blue was always faster. In the rockies, with new snow, blue seems to be the best choice despite the temps. However, if snow temps went upwards of 32- blue would probably not be the fastest choice. I think all winter long in Sun Valley and other nearby races, I never strayed from Moly, HF Blue, JS Blue all season!

Thanks to the Toko Tech Team of their efforts and wax tips at the Masters.

Muffy:)

www.tokous.com.

March 15, 2011 (Midway, UT) – On Saturday, I started my last Junior National race. And it was my favorite – a relay! Five years ago, in Soldier’s Hollow, I raced my first Junior National relay ever, on a team with Libby Ellis and Lynn Duijndam. Libby scrambled, Lynn went second and I anchored. We started a lot of traditions that year, including racing in facepaint and glitter for the relay.

Every year since then, we’ve continued “bedazzling” ourselves come race day. Now I had an opportunity to close out JO’s with Libby scrambling again, and Elizabeth Simak skiing 2nd leg. And you know what? I still got nervous, just like the first time!

The conditions were quite tricky on Saturday, as the tracks were slower yet still glazed, and the outside of the track was icy and fast. We went on klister, and we had just enough kick for 3km but still had to work hard to close the wax pocket down. Because it was so icy, we stayed out of the track as much as possible and did a TON of double-poling.

Libby and Elizabeth did a fantastic job keeping us in the top 3, and staying within contact of the leaders. Because we started right alongside the J1 teams, it was sometimes hard to figure out which place you were in while racing. So we just hammered.

When I got the tag off from Simak, we were within sight of the leader – just far enough to have a fun chase. I started a little frantically, pretty much abandoning technique as I scrambled around the icy corners. How embarrassing. But once I got going, I calmed down (slightly) and got into a rhythm. The hometown crowd cheering was fantastic, and it helped enormously on the long grinding climb.

I was super excited to have such a great team; one that really topped off a great JO experience. And I don’t just mean my relay team – all the athletes, coaches, wax techs, family and friends that made this possible. Thanks guys!

The awards banquet was really well done (thanks to all the volunteers and organizers) but the best part was sharing it with my family and grandparents who came to cheer.

March 13, 2011 (Minneapolis, MN) – Winter returned to Minneapolis in the form of temperatures in the low twenties, strong winds, and a trace of new snow.  The course was firm-to-icy and the tracks were filled with the fresh drifting snow.  Given the abrasive conditions, coaches tested a variety of klister or binder bases covered with waxes slightly warmer than the temperature.  The savvy athletes double-poled out of the tracks and strided in the tracks. Coaches tried to find the balance between wax that wouldn’t shear off on the ice and wax that offered good glide on the dry snow that filled the tracks.

Given the very short racing length – 3×3 kilometers – speeds were very high and aggressiveness played a big role in the scramble leg. The course had one long and one short very fast downhill, each with a corner at the bottom.  The athletes who were both fearless and skilled on their feet had the advantage.

In the first race of the day, the J2 boys relay, New England’s scramble leg, Hamish McEwen, set the tone by taking an aggressive lead from the gun. McEwen and the other top skiers in the field double-poled out of the stadium between the many tracks. The remainder of the boys quickly caught on and also exited the tracks. Most then remembered to get back into the tracks for the climbs, but some forgot and were dropped instantly as they slipped.

McEwen gained an 8-second lead over the course of his leg and tagged off to Ben Hegman. Hegman lost two seconds to the Midwest team, but still held the lead when tagging off to Tyler Foulkes. To the delight of the hometown crowd, the Midwest’s Harris Dirnberger skied an aggressive anchor leg, passing Foulkes and skiing the Midwest to a six-second win.

Matthew Berntston, second leg for the Midwest, said the team had thought that they had a chance to win.  “The goal of the first and second legs was just to keep up with the leaders.  We hoped that Harris would beat out anyone.”

Unlike many Junior Olympic winners, Dirnberger has not been thinking about this day for a long time.  “My first JO qualifying race was this winter.  I went because I thought it would be fun to race the JOQ with my teammates.  I did pretty well in the classic, so I kept going to the JOQs. I made the team, so here I am.”

Dirnberger’s success isn’t surprising to his coach Piotr Bednarski of Go! Training, who first saw his talent this summer. “He first came to practices this summer.  He surprised me by staying with an elite CXC skier in rollerski sprints.”

J2 Boys
1.    Midwest (Nick Proell, Matthew Berntson, Harris Dirnberger)
2.    New England (Hamish McEwen, Ben Hegman, Tyler Foulkes)
3.    Intermountain (Noah Anderson, Karsten Hokanson, Marc Jackson)

The J2 girls relay was also won on the last leg, when Alaska’s Marion Woods erased a 23-second deficit to pass New England for the win.  Wood’s teammates were motivated by her successes this week. Sarrissa Lammers, the team’s scramble leg explained, “We really wanted to get Marion her four golds.”

Woods, for her part, still seems surprised by how well she finished this week. “I didn’t know what to expect coming down here.  I knew a lot of people had been training a lot. I just planned to come to JOs and do my best.”

J2 Girls:
1.    Alaska (Sarrissa Lammers, Mackenzie Flynn, Marion Woods)
2.    New England 1 (Brooke Mooney, Cate Brams, Heidi Halvorsen)
3.    New England 2 (Halie Lange, Zoe Snow, Hannah Benson)

The J1s and OJs raced together, even though they were scored separately.

The New England OJ’s scramble leg, Skyler Davis, posted the fastest time of the first leg, but Intermountain’s J1 team scramble, Cole Morgan, remained in touch, five seconds behind and in second place.

Strong second legs were put in by Intermountain’s Sawyer Kesselheim and Midwest’s Dylan McGarthwaite, who were the only two skiers in the second leg to dip under nine minutes. Kesselheim caught New England OJ Peter Hegman and passed him on the long climb, going through the lap in the overall lead by one second.  McGarthwaite’s strong leg pulled the team into second for J1s and fourth overall.

The anchor for Intermountain, Akeo Maifeld-Carucci, faced the daunting prospect of trying to keep up with David Sinclair, the winner in this week’s mens OJ classic.  “Sinclair caught me early on, so I tried to stay with him as long as I could.”  Maifeld-Carucci held on bravely, staying within five seconds Sinclair (New England OJ team) and bringing Intermountain in for the J1 victory with a 24-second margin over the Midwest J1 team.  Carucci summed up his experience:  “I had really good skis and super-strong teammates.  It all came together for us.”

J1 Boys:
1. Intermountain (Cole Morgan, Sawyer Kesselheim, Akeo Maifeld-Carucci)
2. Midwest: (Andy Dodds, Dylan McGarthwaite, Ben Saxton)
3. Alaska (Forrest Mahlen, Isaac Lammers, Logan Hanneman)

OJ Boys:
1. New England 1 (Skyler Davis, Peter Hegman, David Sinclair)
2. New England 2 (Austin Cobb, Chris Stock, Bridger Tyler)
3. Alaska (Jack Novak, Silas Talbot, Peter Mamrol)

The Minneapolis crowd looked forward to the finale of the weekend, the OJ/J1s girls race, knowing the Jessie Diggins would anchor the Midwest OJ team.

Diggins and her team did not disappoint.  First and second legs, Libby Ellis and Elizabeth Simak, accomplished their plan of staying within reach of the leaders.  Simak tagged off to Diggins in 2nd among OJs and 4th overall.  As expected, Diggins made up the slack. She roared by the three teams in front of her, bringing the team in first overall, 23 seconds in front of the New England J1s.

Teammates Ellis and Simak were confident that if they held their own on the first legs, Diggins would make up any deficit.  “Jessie is the most motivated person we have ever met.  If she wants something, she goes out and gets it.”

Victory was especially sweet for this close-knit team. Ellis and Diggins have been skiing together for five years, while Simak been with them for four.  The team raced the course with gold-glitter face decoration, a tradition the Midwest girls started at the 2006 Soldier Hollow JOs.  Ellis explains that this is the perfect end for her and Diggins, who are both in their last year as older juniors.  “It’s even better that this race is here in Minneapolis.  I love the fans and appreciate all the hard work the organizers did to put this together.”

The New England OJ team of Heather Mooney, Cambria McDermott, and Corey Stock won the J1 relay, although they were pushed by the team from Rocky Mountain.  Heather Mooney and Michaela Frias were neck-and-neck at the front of the pack throughout the scramble leg; Mooney had a 1-second lead at the tag.  Mary O’Connell put the hammer down on her leg, and tagged off to Emily Hannah with an 11-second lead.  The speed of Corey Stock, who was likely motivated by being passed by Diggins, was just too much for Rocky Mountain.  Stock brought the team in for the J1 win and second-place overall.

Second-place in the J1s was a good result for team Rocky Mountain.  They followed their race plan perfectly.  For Frias, that plan was to “get the team in a good a position.”  O’Connell’s role was to “push the pace high.”  Hannah was determined “to try to stick with their position.”  All three skiers are from Steamboat Springs High School, the public high school in the community of Steamboat Springs.

J1 Girls
1.    New England (Heather Mooney, Cambria McDermott, Corey Stock)
2.    Rocky Mountain (Michaela Frias, Mary O’Connell, Emily Hannah)
3.    Alaska (Celia Haering, Tristan Ramey, Teagan Yutrzenka)

OJ Girls
1.    Midwest (Elizabeth Ellis, Elizabeth Simak, Jessie Diggins)
2.    Alaska (Mackenzie Kanady, Alyson McPhetres, Kinsey Loan)
3.    New England (Anne Hart, Mary Cirelli, Isabel Caldwell)

Look for final Alaska Cup results and high school and club team standings to be posted HERE.

March 08, 2011 (Minneapolis, MN) – The 2011 Junior Olympics are underway in Minneapolis, running March 7-12. The event venue, Theodore Wirth Regional Park, highlights the vibrancy of skiing in a large metropolitan area for the first time in the history of the Nordic Junior Olympics. The week-long event provides opportunities for athletes, coaches and spectators to enjoy exciting race events, to socialize at spectacular venues, and to spend time together cheering along the courses.

The state of Nordic skiing in the Twin Cities and out-state regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin is alive and well with thousands of Nordic skiers in the communities. Minnesota’s Youth Ski League is one of the nation’s premier youth skiing programs with over 1,290 young skiers and the Minnesota State High School League state championship race is the largest state competition in the nation.

Day 1 Sprints
Monday’s Junior Olympic sprint competition at Wirth Park was a staggering success. After the noon qualifiers and early afternoon quarters, a select 72 skiers earned the right to compete under the lights in the evening’s semis and finals.

The night racing was uniquely special, as athletes competed on a lit course accented by luminaries and with a view of the Minneapolis skyline. In his post-race interview, boy’s J1 winner Logan Hanneman, called the venue, “Sick!” (a complement!). Hanneman, who has been around the world as a ski racer (Scando Cup team the last two years), especially wanted to praise the course and the volunteers, “It sounds cliché to complement the race, but in this case it’s legitimate. It’s sweet racing in a city environment.”

By the event’s 8:00 pm conclusion, six athletes had earned themselves the right to call themselves national champions. Not only did they win their final race of the night, but they also endured the pressure and fatigue of a long day at the venue, demonstrating more than just speed.

J2 boy’s winner, New England’s Hamish McEwen felt right at home at Wirth Park. McEwen, who took the overall win after qualifying in first position in the morning, calls the Weston Ski Track in Cambridge, Massachusetts home. Weston, located just outside of Boston, is a golf course with 15 kilometers of ski trails. Wirth Park, McEwen says, is “a lot like Weston.”

McEwen reports that he has done the training to back up his win. As he puts it, “I ski a lot” and estimated his training volume as being 450-500 hours last year.

Like McEwen, the other medalists in the boy’s J2 race, showed consistency through out the heats. Second place Thomas O’Harra (Alaska’s East HS) and third place Haakon Sigurslid (Rocky Mountain’s Durango HS) qualified in third and second respectively in the morning.

On paper, Marion Woods (Alaska’s Dimond HS) was a clear favorite in the girls J2 field. Though only a J2, she participated in this year’s Scando Cup J1 Trip, and was recently runner-up in the notoriously difficult Alaska State Championships. Nevertheless, after she crossed the line for the win in the final, she appeared delighted by what she had accomplished, and called JOs, “the ultimate in scale.” Behind Woods, New England scored critical points by putting two on the podium: Brooke Mooney (Stratton Mountain School) finished second after winning the morning’s qualification, and Heidi Halvorsen (Green Mountain Valley School) took third.

In the J1 boy’s field, Logan Hanneman (Lathrop HS) added another win to a successful season. Logan’s win, two weeks after his dominating win at the Alaska State Championships, is especially sweet given his health at this time last year. In 2010, he was unable to fulfill his end of season goals after he was diagnosed with mono around State Championships time. This year, his season started slowly (he had additional health problems in the fall), but now he finds himself peaking at the end of the season, in his words, “getting better and better” each day. Behind Hanneman were three Midwest skiers successfully representing their home region (second: Andy Dodds of Apple Valley HS, third: Kevin Bolger of Lakeland HS in Wisconsin, and fourth: Ben Saxton of Lakeville North HS.)

The girls J1 final was a show of dominance by New England. Heather Mooney (Stratton Mountain School) won by a decisive ten or so meters, and teammates Corey Stock (Cambridge Sports Union), Cambria McDermott (Stratton Mountain School), Tara Geraghty-Moats, and Rachel Hall (Stratton Mountain School) filled positions two through five. The group would not quite acknowledge that a sweep was their plan for the day, they said, “We knew we had the potential to do it. We woke up this morning ready to make the A-Final.”

Junior World Championships teammates and good friends Skylar Davis (Stratton Mountain School) and George Cartwright (High Plains, Northern Michigan University) knew it was likely to come down to one of the two of them for the win. Skylar acknowledged coming into the final really psyched; right before the final, he ate a Powerbar gel blast (cola), which “really got him going.” He made his move on the hill, gaining a few critical seconds on Cartwright and then held him off, although he was “completely spent in the lanes” and could hear people yelling for George, who finished second. Third went to the Midwest’s Ben Hugus, a Northern Michigan University skier, who won the Korteloppet two weeks ago.

For the hometown audience, the best race came last as Afton, Minnesota’s Jessie Diggins, recently returned home from the World Championships, lived up to her billing with a decisive win. Diggins was completely humble despite the triumphs of her 2011 season. She said that she had to “go all out,” and that she was happy to be competing against “such great girls. It’s a great privilege to race against them.” When asked to compare her experience at the Minneapolis Junior Olympics to her recent adventures at the Holmenkollen World Championships, she said, “Holmenkollen is cool, but a hometown crowd is even cooler.”

Full results HERE.