Conditions were snowy and in some places soft, with temps in the 20's.
In the women's race, Caitlin Compton secured her place at the top of the SuperTour overall standings with another victory in today's 15k free mass start. She was five seconds ahead of Morgan Arritola, and fifteen seconds ahead of Tazlina Mannix.
In the men's 30k mass start race, the starting pace was surprisingly relaxed for a mass start, with Southam setting the early pace. The pace got harder heading into lap 2 (5km mark), with Flora and Freeman heading up the front of the pack. From there things began to spread apart and by mid-way through the race the lead pack was down to Dan Roycroft (CAN), Kris Freeman, James Southam, and Lars Flora, with another Canadian just off the back in 5th. Eventually Freeman and Roycroft broke off the front leaving Southam and Flora to battle for third. Roycroft was pushing the pace hard with 1.5km to go and it looked like Freeman was having to work hard to stay on him. Coming off the final corner and into the gradual uphill finish Freeman had the power to outsprint Roycroft for the win. When Flora and Southam came in awhile later it was surprisingly Flora who was able to beat recent Bozeman sprint winner Southam to the line. Flora had looked to be fading and barely hanging onto Southam towards the end of the second to last lap.
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Photos by Ian Case except where noted.
