Norwegian rockets Sigrid Aas and Petter Eliassen were victorious in Tuesday evening's Tour of the Golden Heart Spring Series opener.
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/oldsitearchive/upload/080326-104530-10k1BF.jpg width=450 height=337.5 border=1><br />
<font size=1 face=verdana>CXC coach Brian Fish takes a turn at racing.</font></center></p>
<p>Conditions were firm, fast, and not terribly cold. Interval-start 5k and 10k skate races were on the agenda, giving local juniors a chance to race with a number of top elite seniors. The courses at Birch Hill are very well-designed, featuring a lot of climbs and corners which are all very skiable. With no excessively steep, long v1 climbs on the course, the biggest challenge was maintaining high speed on some of the medium-gradual uphills, where one could either v2 strongly or fall into a tired v1 with not enough glide and lose a lot of time. </p>
<p>The women's 5Km free technique interval start race was a four-way battle between Aas, runner-up Anna Coulter of the UAF team, third place finisher Laura Valaas of Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center, and Team Rossignol's Martina Stursova. Small time gaps opened up between these skiers early in the race, and gradually expanded, although the race was reasonably tight all the way to the end.</p>
<p>Aas' time was 14:40.6, 8.4 seconds ahead of Coulter, who was, in turn, 11.4 seconds ahead of Valaas. Stursova missed a position on the podium by 13 seconds. UAF Assistant Ski Coach Ingrid Olsen rounded out the top five, 1:16 back.</p>
<p>Heather Edic, Marisa Rorabaugh and Kate Bennett were the three top juniors, in 7th-8th-9th. </p>
<p>The racing started at 6:00PM under sunny skies with comfortable temperatures. Sixteen women were entered in the race, but a number of scratches, including former Fairbanks skiers Kate (Pearson) Arduser and Becca Rorabaugh, brought the field down to 11. However it was a very strong field, and the junior skiers who competed in the race were able to measure themselves against the very best. </p>
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<p>Sources: Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks, Ian Case</p>
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Norwegian rockets Sigrid Aas and Petter Eliassen were victorious in Tuesday evening's Tour of the Golden Heart Spring Series opener.