The 9th race in the 2010 American Ski Marathon Series took place on Saturday February 20 with the 50 km freestyle Minnesota Finlandia. This was the 29th running of the event, held in Bemidji, Minnesota at the Buena Vista Ski Area. The weekend of racing featured close to 200 athletes in four events vying for the coveted big axe.
The men’s race was incredibly tight, with Andy Liebner (Anchorage, AK) taking the win with a time of 2:10:30.2. Zack Simons (Park City, UT), the 2009 and 2010 Boulder Mountain Tour winner, finished just a little over a second later, followed closely by his Steinbock Racing teammate Andrew Johnson in third. This marked Liebner’s 4th win at 2010 American Ski Marathon Champion’s Cup races.
Only four women entered the 50 km race. Diana Liu Munger (Minneapolis, MN) won with a time of 3:09:11.3, while Montana Foulke (Laramie, WY) repeated her second place finish from last year. Hometown racer Muriel Gilman grabbed third place. 2009 winner Anne Ellefson (Park Rapids, MN) won this year’s 25 km skate race with a time of 1:18:51.7.
Full results from the weekend can be found here.
American Ski Marathon Champion’s Cup standings can be found here.
