CXC Team exels at Telemark SuperTour

Wed, Feb  4, 2009 - By Johanna Winters

CXC Elite athlete Johanna Winters reports on the just completed three days of CXC SuperTour at Telemark Resort

Hayward, WI (February 2 2009)

This week Central Cross Country Skiing was host to the SuperTour race series held on the legendary Telemark Resort World Cup ski trails in Cable, WI. CXC Team athletes enjoyed the chance to race on their ski training stomping grounds. 
 
The races kicked off mid-week with a technical and grueling 1.3 kilometer course, designed by CXC’s own Scott Wilson. Kristina Trygstad-Saari of the Saab Salomon Factory Team narrowly out-sprinted Katie Ronsse of the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center for the women’s title. Maria Stuber was the top CXC Elite female finisher in 7th place, with Johanna Winters in 9th and Kristina Owen in 10th. On the men’s side, Leif Zimmerman of the US Ski Team/Bridger Ski Foundation placed first, followed by Fischer/Sun Valley athlete Colin Rodgers. Rounding out the podium was Garrott Kuzzy of the CXC Elite/US Ski Team.

Saturday marked the beginning of the distance competitions with classic races held on the infamous steep twisting Sven Wiik designed World Cup courses. Overnight lows in the low teens, rising through the twenties in the morning with excellent best line tracks made for a perfect day of racing. In the men’s 10k classic Bryan Cook of the CXC Elite team had a career-best finish with his first SuperTour victory, nearly fifteen seconds ahead of second place. The top ten finishers placed within less than a minute of one another, including CXC Elite athletes Andre Watt in 5th, Garrott Kuzzy in 6th, Brian Gregg in 7th, and Matt Liebsch in 8th. Sweden’s Kristina Strandberg of the Saab/Salomon Factory Team took the women’s 5k classic title, with Lindsey Dehlin of the US Ski Team in second, and Katie Ronsse of APUNSC in third. CXC Elite skier Johanna Winters was close behind in fourth, with teammates Kristina Owen and Maria Stuber in 8th and 9th respectively.

Sunday’s mass-start skate races were thrilling events to spectate. The top three finishers of the men’s 15 kilometer race came down the final stretch within two seconds of each other. US Ski Team’s Leif Zimmerman edged out Lars Flora for the win, followed closely by CXC’s Brian Gregg. Matt Liebsch came in 5th, Bryan Cook 6th, and Garrott Kuzzy, who had to deal with a broken pole coming into the stadium, finished 9th. Top 13 men finished within 13 seconds of each other. The women’s 10k mass-start skate race was equally exciting. Kristina Strandberg claimed victory again. Chasing her down was Fischer/Sun Valley athlete Nicole DeYong in 2nd place. Completing the podium finish was CXC Elite skier Johanna Winters in third place. Maria Stuber of the CXC Elite team secured an impressive 6th place finish despite a tangle-up on the race course with another racer. Teammate Kristina Owen raced to an 8th place finish.

After the races were complete and the day was winding down, skiers, spectators, and volunteers alike were eager to hurry home to catch the start of Super Bowl XLIII!

Complete results are available at www.pttiming.com .