Minneapolis, Minnesota – THe City of Lakes Loppet is likely one of the few urban ski marathons in the world. The race starts in Theodore Wirth Park in Minneaoplois, and winds approximately 35km through woods, over parkways and across lakes to a grand finish before cheering crowds on the streets of Uptown.
The weekend consists of 12 different events, six of them races. The premier event is the 35km freestyle on Sunday. In the women’s event, Caitlin Compton (CXC Elite) cruised to a 4:36 victory over Mary Beth Tuttle. Tuttle battled Sara Morse for the second position, out-skiing her by 4 seconds.
Compton finished an impressive 11th overall.
In an exciting sprint finish, Bjorn Batdorf (Rossignol) took the win over Anders Osthus in the men’s 35km freestyle. Batdorf’s time of 1:22:19 was two seconds faster than Osthus’ Nikolai Annikin was another 30 seconds back in third. Zack Simons (Rossignol) was 4th and Chad Giese (Saab Salomon Factory Team) 5th.
A total of 675 men competed and 164 women. Over 1500 people participated in the weekend’s events.
Lots of photos at http://www.skinnyski.com
