Sibley

Results from last weekends Sibley 20k and 50k Skate races.

Men's 20k:

FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME

1 1/15 16-19 53:42.85 2:42 666 Luke Viljakainen
2 2/15 16-19 53:43.65 2:42 550 Michael Sumppi
3 1/17 20-29 53:45.35 2:42 549 Phil Wood
4 3/15 16-19 53:47.20 2:42 548 Thomsen D'Hont
5 4/15 16-19 55:38.00 2:47 321 Christopher Hamilton

Men's 50k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME

1 1/18 20-29 2:19:03.40 2:47 231 Stephen Hart
2 2/18 20-29 2:19:49.45 2:48 143 Murray Carter
3 3/18 20-29 2:24:29.55 2:54 134 Nikolai Anikin
4 1/37 40-49 2:24:37.70 2:54 190 Bernie Lacourciere
5 2/37 40-49 2:27:08.30 2:57 96 Werner Schwar

Women's 50k:
FINAL Place FINAL BIB
PLACE Division Div TIME PACE NO. NAME

1 1/11 30-39 2:43:18.05 3:16 209 Brook Latimer
2 1/13 20-29 2:48:01.75 3:22 47 Kerrie Fabius
3 2/13 20-29 2:52:12.60 3:27 144 Erin Carter
4 1/18 40-49 2:54:34.30 3:30 150 Janet Findlay
5 2/18 40-49 2:55:25.10 3:31 125 Deborah Sussex

It was a perfect day, hard track temperatures around -5C. The pace was pretty comfortable for the first 10k with the group working together. Then after the 20k’ers turned off the fun began. Chris Hamilton pulled the grouped a little then stood up waiting a break. I hadn’t led up till that point, so it was my turn. We passed the 14k mark, 6 to go. I didn’t want it to come down to a sprint finish so I’d thought I’d try to push the pace a little and see if I could break away to avoid being outsprinted. The course coming into the final few kilometers are rolling with no climbs, so more or less flat. We had a punishing one-skate going and I thought I was dropping them, after the 18k marker I turned around hoping to only see Sompii, who I could hear. Unfortunately the group of Luke, Thomsen, and Somppi were all still in toe. I thought I can’t hold this pace till the end and still have a sprint, so I let up, and tried to draft to keep some energy till the finish. With a few hundred meters to go, everyone skiing on a hair trigger, wondering when the attack would happen, Luke pulled up beside me, Somppi leading around a slower skier doing the 10k race. Somppi goes right, Luke gets an edge on me left, and that relegated me to third, coming into the final stretch. My sprint finish held off Thomsen, but couldn’t gain anytime on Luke or Somppi.

It was a fun race, and it was good pushing the pace and seeing how my body handled skiing out front and the tactics involved. I’ve learned that to break away on a group on a flat course, you have to hammer, and hammer hard, and long to really break it up. A little more undulation in the course may have created what I needed to break off the front. Good experience. Good times, Good race.

Special thanks to Peter Crooks grooming into the wee hours of the night to make Sibley’s grooming absolutely perfect. Well done to the organizing staff, with nearly 1000 participants.

Cheers