By Pasha Kahn, special to Nordic Insights
DULUTH, Minnesota — Spring Series kicked off earlier Thursday with a 10-kilometer individual start classic race at the Grand Avenue Nordic Center in Duluth, Minnesota. Despite a record warm and nearly snowless winter thus far in the Upper Midwest the races moved forward as planned thanks to a concerted effort by race organizers and Spirit Mountain to harvest snow from the nearby alpine runs. Organizers were able to serve up a superb course on a sunny bluebird day with temperatures in the mid- to upper twenties.
The early start — the women began at 9:00 a.m. — was possibly to the advantage of a largely jetlagged field that was freshly returned from the recent World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. “We raced the 20km [on Sunday] and then left that night at 1:00 a.m. and got here after 19-plus hours of traveling,” said Sydney Palmer-Leger.
Erin Bianco of BSF held the lead as a relative early starter in the women’s field, catching SMS T2’s Lauren Jortberg after the first of three laps. Bianco debuted on the World Cup in Goms, Switzerland, in late January and has been on the circuit since, primarily racing in sprints.
“I haven’t done an individual start since U.S. Nationals in Soho,” Bianco said. “It was fun to just ski my own race and do a lot of power striding which I feel like is one of my strengths. Nice to have a firm track and just use my strengths out there today; it just felt really good.”
Bianco, racing in bib 19, set the time to beat at 26:56 and would have to wait at the finish for the later starters to cross the line.
“It was just a waiting game at the finish line to see who would pass me,” said Bianco, adding, “but Novie and Sydney had such great races — so fun to be out there with them.”
Novie McCabe, fresh off a career-best 11th-place World Cup finish on Sunday in Falun, took command of the race from the gun — putting time on the field on each of the three laps.
“It was honestly kind of a sneaky tough course because there were a lot of working doublepole sections,” said McCabe of APU. “It was really good skiing out there, a very solid track and nice classic skiing.”
Challenging McCabe’s time was later starter Sydney Palmer-Leger of the University of Utah, who gained speed throughout the race but not enough to unseat McCabe’s victory. Palmer-Leger would finish in second, 17 seconds back of McCabe.
“It was a tough race; it was hard to push really hard,” said Palmer-Leger. “It was kind of the first intensity since [Falun] so hard to push, but it felt good. So I’m just enjoying the cold weather before going back to 65 [degrees] in Utah.”
Rounding out the top-six podium for today’s SuperTour race were Margie Freed (Craftsbury) in fourth, Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) in fifth, and Ava Thurston (Dartmouth) in sixth.
On the men’s side, the stacked field included the majority of the U.S. men’s national team, and one Antoine Cyr of Canada — the clear favorite of the day after ending the World Cup season tenth in the overall standings and posting an 11th-place finish in the 10km classic in Falun last Saturday.
Cyr opened the race with a lightning pace — taking 15 seconds out of previous race leader Zanden McMullen after the first 3.3km lap and holding that time gap through the second lap. Cyr would finish in 22:39, a decisive victory on a fast day in straightforward conditions.
“Awesome to be here, racing domestically and close to home,” said Cyr, adding, “Amazing what they did with the course here in Duluth, I’ve got only good things to say, so big thank you to the staff and volunteers that made this race happen.”
The race for second place was tightly contested through the first lap with John Steel Hagenbuch (Dartmouth), Zanden McMullen (APU), and Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) all within a second of each other. From there, the race began to separate. Hagenbuch had a strong second lap, clawing back 4.6 seconds on McMullen and holding it to finish in second place, +11.7 seconds to Cyr and 5.6 seconds ahead of McMullen.
“I was really happy with my race personally,” said Steel Hagenbuch, fresh off a freestyle victory at the NCAA Championships. “I thought that was my strongest classic race of the season. It’s nice to put it together at the end [of the season].”
McMullen would finish third, +17.3. He said he was “a little tired, just from the season and the jet lag,” but added, “The course was great, ripping fast, a little different from what we’re used to — a little flatter, a lot more working sections, a lot of twists and turns, you gotta be on your feet the whole time. It was exciting to change it up.”
Steel Hagenbuch praised Cyr’s victory, saying that there were “a lot of really strong skiers out there today and Tony Cyr put down a super fast pace that none of us could touch. But it’s nice to know that’s a guy that’s a consistent lock on the top ten in the World Cup — so a super high level of competition. It’s great to have him down here.”
Cyr acknowledged his position as the race favorite but said, “I’m getting really tired. I did most of the races on the World Cup and had international travel a few days ago, so I’m kind of jetlagged pretty bad, and this season needs to end soon. But I’m here for the grind and I love racing, so that’s why I’m here, and I’m happy to come out on top today.”
Also winning prize money were Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) in fourth, Joe Davies (University of Utah) in fifth, and Scott Patterson (APU) in sixth.
“I kinda felt the season might be over after NCAA’s, but here I am,” said the University of Utah’s Joe Davies, who races internationally for Great Britain. “The track was in super good shape, which was awesome. It felt like skiing in Minneapolis at the World Cup.”
Patterson is closing out his professional ski career at Spring Series and said that his main objective was the 40km next Tuesday, adding, “I hope it snows a lot and is really hard.”
He may get his wish: The current forecast suggests the long distance championship race could be held in 14″ to 16″ of fresh snow.
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