Tuesday Rundown: Classic Mass Starts in SoHo

U.S. Cross Country Championships (Soldier Hollow): 20/30 k classic mass starts

After a day of rest, racers returned to the Soldier Hollow (SoHo) trails on Tuesday for the men’s 30-kilometer and women’s 20 k classic mass start competitions.

Two laps into the the men’s eight-lap event, a front group began to form, with Kris Freeman of Team Freebird, Ben Lustgarten of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), Scott Patterson of Alaska Pacific University (APU) and his APU teammate David Norris among those leading the charge. Lustgarten soon took over the lead and with three laps to go, it was he and Norris pushing the pace.

Lustgarten continued his drive from the front, eventually crossing first in a time of 1:26.06 for the win. Norris crossed second (+38.0), while Freeman took the final men’s podium spot in third (+1:43).

Rounding out the men’s top five finishers were Patterson in fourth (+1:56) and Brian Gregg of Team Gregg in fifth (+2:04.0).

In the women’s 20 k event, it didn’t take long for a lead pack to break free, with Katharine Ogden of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) and U.S. Ski Team D-Team, APU’s Chelsea Holmes and Caitlin Patterson of the CGRP commanding the front. A chasing group led by SMS Elite Team’s Anne Hart and Erika Flowers, along with APU’s Rosie Frankowski, followed a little less than a minute behind.

Ultimately, it was Holmes who hammered home to a decisive win, crossing first in a time of 1:01:33.5. Second place went to Ogden (+49.2), while Patterson rounded out the women’s podium in third (+1:10.4).

Also finishing in the women’s top five were Frankowski in fourth (+2:13.9) and Canada’s Emily Nishikawa in fifth (+2:26.6).

Stay tuned for complete race recaps and results. Only men’s live results were available at the time of publication.

Results: Men | Women