A small but competitive field gathered at Telemark Resort on Wednesday for the CXC Super Tour Freestyle Sprint. The course wound up and down the base of Mt. Telemark on a mixture of natural and manmade snow with the top eight qualifying for the heats.
Laura Valaas (CXC), the Super Tour Sprint Leader won her ninth Super Tour title of the season on her home course. Amazingly the results of the heats looked to be exactly the same as the qualifier, until Valaas came from fourth with 300 meters remaining in the A final to take the win. Teammate Caitlin Compton (CXC) finished a close second, ahead of Martina Stursova (Rossignol) and Kate Whitcomb (FSx/Sun Valley). Kate Underwood (Subaru/Sun Valley) won the B final.
Lars Flora (Subaru) regained the SuperTour Sprint Leaders bib with his 12th career Super Tour victory by winning the opening event of the CXC/Telemark Super Tour. Anders Haugen (Rossignol/APU) was second. The battle for third was a photo finish between Kevin Hochtl (Rossignol/Axel’s) and Marshall Greene (xcOregon), with the win going to Hochtl. Eric Strabel (APU) won the B final in a close finish with Garrott Kuzzy (CXC).
The Central Grand Prix continues this weekend at Telemark Resort with a 5/10km Freestyle on Saturday and a 10/15km Classical on Sunday. Both races will be interval start; schedule information is available at www.cxcskiing.org
Quotes:
“The many hills on the course made it a good test of fitness. It was exciting to finally ski at Telemark for the first time after training here all summer.†—Laura Valaas
” It is really a privilege to run races for the dedicated group of professional athletes that raced here today. We look forward to the greater ski community; Masters, Citizens, Collegiate, High School, Middle School, Junior, J3/J4 and Youth that will join us for the weekend. The snow is thin, but with an ambitious group of experienced volunteers, we expect a great weekend.” -Scott Wilson, Chief of Competition
For full results check out http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults.php
