Presque Isle, ME (March 25): After battling illness through the World Championships, LLBean/Maine Winter Sports Center's David Chamberlain came back to win the final race of the season and the $1000 prize, the Men's 30km classic race at the Nordic Heritage Spring Series. Chamberlain skied all but the final kilometer with Team Atomic's Patrick Weaver, and Rossignol/USST's Justin Freeman. In the final meters Chamberlain pulled ahead to win by 3 seconds ahead of Weaver, with Freeman just 2 seconds behind him. From Dartmouth College, Brayton Osgood put together a terrific race, finishing fourth, while Rossignol/Sleepy Hollow's Eli Enman took fifth. The men's field was strong at the top, but also included wonderful performances from the junior boys of the Maine Winter Sports Center, who skied their first-ever 30k. Russell Currier, Blake Sherwood, Newt Rogers, Cale Dubay, and Ben McQuade showed their mettle on the world class, 4×7.5km course.
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It must be something in the water in Farmington, Maine – that's where men's 30k winner Chamberlain grew up and where the Women's 15km winner now lives. Dorcas Wonsavage, skiing for Team Atomic/Salomon, led the women's field from the start, to finish with a time of 48:54, 47 seconds ahead of the field and $1000 richer. Behind her Sarah Peters, from Carleton College in Ottawa, Natalie Cartright of Alpina/Madshus, and Tracey Cote of Team Atomic battled it out for 10kms. Cartright then led Peters through the final 4 kilometers until Peters pulled ahead to get second, six seconds ahead of Cartright in third. Cote took fourth, and biathlete, Annelies Cook, skiing for the New York Ski Education Foundation, was fifth. The women's field was only seven strong. Kaitlyn McElroy from Gould Academy was one of the few women who stuck out the season to the end and finished the 15k course in sixth, with Putney Ski Club's Heidi Henkel in seventh.
