RESULTS: Holmes and Oppllger take Black Mountain Classic

Mon, Mar  6, 2017 - By John Gravlin

[UPDATE: Result times that were mangled when coverting from Excel to HTML have been fixed.]

Black Mountain race weekend has had its share of mother nature's tricks over the years and this year was no exception. The largest snow fall of the season, the coldest night of the season,  temps rose 30 degrees from double digits below-zero readings to mid-teens by race time), not enough ice on the lake start/finish area, frozen gas lines on one of the groomers on race day, but the end result was perhaps the most spectacular race conditions in the history of the event. Eighteen degrees at the start with blue skies and sunshine, no wind...a PERFECT classic ski day! Kudos to groomers Jim, Meyer, Al Kozlowski, and Denny Paull for 3 straight days of grooming the nearly 20 inches of new snow.

The Black Mountain Classic race started and finished in the DNR parking area directly across Doriva road from The Bluffs restaurant. The usual 31 km course was still the race course but the hill climbs and descents were now challenging skiers at different points in their race than what they had been used to with the traditional lake start/finish.

Women's winner Ruth Oppllger (10) leads Robin Luce 65) and John Britton (83)
Photo: Abby Lynn Johnson. More photos!

Sam Holmes, Denny Paull, and Ryan Harris broke from the field early in the race with Paul and Holmes staying in close contact until Sam Holmes was able to make a move at the 27km mark and finish 1 minute ahead of Paull to win the overall title with a time 1:47:29. Denny Paull's 2nd place time was 1:48 :38. John Gravlin finished 3rd in 1:55:54.

In the women's race Ruth Opplinger and Tracy Hardin traded places throughout the race and Opplinger would finish strong to take the women's title in a time of 2:18:19 while Hardin finished in 2:20:03 for 2nd place. Daniella Gephardt finished 3rd in 2:25:06.