Mother Nature was actually the winner when the 2009 ConocoPhillips U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships got ready to kick off its competition slate Saturday, Jan. 3 at Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Ak.
Extreme cold conditions with temperatures dipping to -16 degrees Fahrenheit caused race organizers to postpone last weekend's classic sprints and shorten the courses for Monday's freestyle skates races.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) rules that cross country ski races can't be staged in temperatures below -4 F. It was well below -4 F when over 400 able-bodied and adaptive racers arrived in Anchorage for the weeklong event.
Nevertheless, Monday's men's 10k and women's 5k freestyle races took place for 371 racers—and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation racers posted some excellent results.
Earning U-23 podiums for their second- and third-place finishes were Alexa Turzian, 20, of the U.S. Ski Team and University of Colorado and Morgan Arritola, 22, of the USST and SVSEF ODT. Turzian was seventh overall in 15:29 and Arritola 10th in 15:41. The winner was Caitlin Compton, 28, of Central Cross Country Ski (CXC) in 14:48.
Second-year J1 (ages 16-17) Max Durtschi finished 35th overall and second among all J1s with a time of 27:05, less than three minutes off the winning 24:17 pace of U.S. Nordic Ski Team racer Kris Freeman, 28. And SVSEF Olympic Development Team member Noah Hoffman, 19, won the Older Junior class with a 26:07 clocking, good for 11th overall.
It was a good step up for highly regarded bicycle racer Durtschi, who placed 15th in J1 10k freestyle and 11th in J1 10k classic during last March's Anchorage Junior Nationals.
Here are local placings:
Men's 10k skate: 1—Kris Freeman (USST) 24:17. 11—Noah Hoffman (USST/SVSEF) 26:07. 22—Michael Sinnott (Saab Salomon/SVSEF) 26:34. 24—Colin Rodgers (Fischer Craft/SVSEF) 26:38. 35—Max Durtschi (SVSEF) 27:05. 49—Reid Pletcher (Colorado) 27:33. 61—Miles Havlick (SVSEF) 27:59. 112—Willie Neal (SVSEF) 29:27. 185—Chris Holmquist (MSU) 33:03. 189—Scotty Phelan (SVSEF) 33:39. DNF—Travis Job (197 finishers).
Women's 5k skate: 1—Caitlin Compton (CXC Elite) 14:48. 7—Alexa Turzian (USST/CU) 15:29. 10—Morgan Arritola (USST/SVSEF) 15:41. 12—Nicole DeYong (Fischer Craft/SVSEF) 15:46. 19—Kate Whitcomb (Fischer Craft/SVSEF) 16:03. 52—Kaelin Kiesel (MSU) 16:51. 102—Mali Noyes (Middlebury) 17:55.0. 103—Makayla Cappel (SVSEF) 17:55.8. 137—Julia Bowman (SVSEF) 18:53 (169 finishers).
