The Super Tour finals concluded yesterday with the 5/6k hill climb. The format for the finals this weekend included a 5/10k classic race on Friday, a classic sprint on Saturday and a 5/6k skate hill climb on Sunday. To add to the fun, preems, both in the form of cash and time, were given to racers who crossed preem lines first in the classic race and racers who finished in the top 30 of the classic sprint. Depending on your finish time and the possible preems that were acquired, each racer lined up pursuit style for the final hill climb. This meant that since Kikkan had won all the races and preems the previous two days, she had a starting time of 1 min 23 sec ahead of the next racer, Rebecca Dussault.
I started with bib 10, a few places further back than I anticipated. I had a unfortunate mishap in the classic sprint, resulting in a low placing and a 1 minute penalty. After skiing a strong qualifying round that put me in 6th place, I entered the quarterfinals feeling good and ready to ski fast. As I was approaching an icy corner, with a little bit of a lead, my ski slipped from underneath me and I fell on my pole. I quickly got back up, after everyone had passed and realized that my left pole was broken in half. I did my best to ski up the long climb with one pole but I quickly lost more and more ground. Once I finally got a pole, at the top of the hill, it was too late to make up lost time. I ended up 6th in my quarterfinal, which put me in 26th place overall. Bummer!!!!
I went into Sundays hill climb fired up and ready to ski fast! After the first kilometer, I had already passed three girls…I was on a mission. Once I reached the 1000 meter climb straight up the alpine area, I did my best to catch the next girls in front of me. Whoa, it was a tough climb but I managed to catch another racer. With only 1k to the finish I gave it everything. I ended up 6th!
For some reason, 6th place was MY number for the week! I finished 6th in the 30k skate, 5k classic, sprint qualifier, and in the overall supertour final…all I can say is, at least I was consistent.
The season is officially over and I am already excited for next season…after a little break of course. I am headed back to Sun Valley where I will enjoy some R&R and will resume my work at the YMCA.
