Marc Gilbertson and Natalie Cartwirght win at the Lake Placid Loppet
The American marathon Series Champions Cup began on Saturday with the running of the Lake Placid Loppet. The cold snap which had been settling over the Northeast apparently unnerved the race organizers somewhat, and they chose to delay the start of the race by one hour to ensure warmer temperatures. As it was, the race was held with temperatures around 20. About 530 skiers competed in the eight events that are part of the Lake Placid Loppet (25 and 50 km distances in both skate and classic techniques for both men and women). And, unlike many parts of the country this year, there was plenty of snow on the Mount VanHovenburg trails at the Verizon Sports Complex.
Gilbertson won the 50 km skate race in a time of 2:17:17, over two minutes ahead of a chasing pack of three. Pat Weaver came out on top in the sprint (2:19:44.3), finishing just ahead of Eli Enman (2:19:45.5), who was followed closely by Scott Loomis (2:19:46.5). Natalie Cartwright won the women’s 50 km race with a time of 2:51:18, nearly a half minute in front of Irene Edner. Biathlete Deborah Nordyke was third, with a time of 3:00:07.
Full results can be found online at
<http://www.orda.org/results.htm
