The race started with seven mile duckie paddle on the Colorado River from Gold Bar to Potash.

 

The team from Boulder Performance Network, led by world-class paddler Mike Freeburn, set the pace and reached the take-out for the paddling leg about a minute ahead of Nike. The teams then transitioned to their mountain bikes, for the long, steep climb to Gemini Bridges via Longs Canyon. Nike’s strength on their bikes helped them quickly catch up to the Boulder team and pass them on the climb.

 
At Gemini Bridges, the teams dropped their bikes and set off on an hour run to the top of the arch, where they roped in for the rappel.

The highlight of the race was definitely the ≈300 foot rappel from the top of Gemini Bridges.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The teams then mounted their bikes again for the descent back to Gold Bar. Team Nike finished with a comfortable margin over the Boulder team, and then sat back to enjoy some cold beers at the finish line while cheering on the other 400+ racers who raced on Saturday.

The race was neck and neck for the two top teams from start to finish. For the first time this year, both the Nike team and the CB team choose to wear lightweight AT skis and boots instead of nordic gear. On the rolling terrain atop Richmond Ridge, just a few miles from the top of Aspen Mountain, Mike and Jay kept their skins on while Jimmy and Pat skied the downhills and bootpacked the uphills, gaining time and eventually passing Mike and Jay. Cresting the final hill to the top of Aspen, Mike and Jay stripped their skins and skated back into the lead, while Jimmy and Pat had to click back into their skis. Mike and Jay skied down Aspen Mountain through several inches of new, wet, heavy snow all the way to the finish line at the base of the gondola, three and half minutes ahead of the CB team.

Jay, a ten year veteran of the pro mountain bike circuit, said it was one of the hardest races he’s ever done. Mike now has a won the Grand Traverse a record four times.

The Aspen Times has a full account of the race here.

And Scott Willoughby from the Denver Post wrote a great story as well.

Mike K. and I are finishing up our training for the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse, the epic ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen, which starts next Friday at midnight in CB. Mike has won the Traverse twice with Dan Weiland and then last year he won it with Stephen White. This year Mike is racing with our buddy and pro mountain biker Jay Henry, who helped the team win an adventure race in China last year. Jay is a strong nordic skier and together with Mike, they’ll definitely be the team to beat.

I’ll be racing with veteran adventure racer Billy Mattison, a member of the original Team Vail that won the Eco Challenge in Morroco. Billy and I hope to win the co-ed division.

In the weeks leading up to this race we’ve all been debating whether to use nordic ski gear or randonnee gear. Brian Smith and Jon Brown from Crested Butte raised a lot of eyebrows with their strong performance at last year’s race. They were in the lead for much of the race wearing lightweight rando gear. Although Mike and Stephen ended up passing them for the win, many of us are now wondering if rando gear is the way to go.

At this point, we’ll be waiting to see what the weather and snow conditions are like on Friday afternoon and making the gear decision then.

The America’s Uphill race begins at the base of Aspen Mountain and climbs 3,267 punishing feet up to the finish line at the Sundeck Restaurant, which sits at an elevation of 11,212 feet. Racers can wear whatever they want to get up the mountain: snowshoes, nordic skis, tele skis, AT skis, running shoes, etc. This year, Mike and Sari chose to wear lightweight Nike flats modified with metal cleats screwed under the forefoot for uphill traction in the snow.

Team Beaver Creek brought a strong contingent of local athletes over to defend their team title, but the competition from the Ute Mountaineer team proved to be too tough this year. Mike finished in second place behind 2007 Mountain Runner of the Year, Ricky Gates, while Sari finished behind legendary mountain runner Anita Ortiz. Full Results here.

“This was an incredibly exciting win and comeback for me,” stated Anderson, who gave birth to her baby girl Juniper just eight months ago. “It was a terrific course and the competition was world-class.”

The XTerra Winter World Championships multi-sport competition began with a 10km mountain bike ride in the snow, followed by a 5km snowshoe race, a 5km snow run and an 8km ski mountaineering race.

Rebecca Dussalt, an eight-time U.S. National XC Ski Champion and 2006 Winter Olympian, jumped to an early lead in the race, putting a four minute lead on Anderson after the mountain bike leg. Anderson held onto second place through the snowshoe leg, but on the snow run Kerri Nelson, the North American Snowshoe and Winter Triathlon National Champion last year, overtook her. At the beginning of the ski mountaineering leg, Dussault had a three-minute lead over Nelson, who left the transition just a few seconds ahead of Anderson.

Anderson, who has had several podium finishes in regional randonnée races this winter, used her lightweight gear and experience to stage an impressive comeback in the ski mountaineering leg, jumping from third to first place with a winning time of 2:29:47, two minutes ahead of Dussault.

“Both Rebecca and Kerri are terrific competitors,” said Anderson. “I knew that if I could keep them in striking distance through the first three legs that I could make my move in the ski leg.”

In the men’s race, Brian Smith of Gunnison, Colo. sneaked past Josiah Middaugh of Vail just 20 yards from the finish line to win. Two-time Winter Triathlon World Champion and 2005 XTERRA World Champ, Nicolas Lebrun, finished third. Mike Kloser finished in fourth place, less than two minutes back and Michael Tobin, racing in his first ski-mountaineering competition, finished fifth. Jenny Tobin, Michael’s wife finished in fourth place among the women.

Glenwood Springs Post Independent Story

XTerra Website News Story 

Video clip of XTerra Winter World Championships