newsminer.com

It didn’t take long to figure out that a young couple from Norway — Sigrid Aas and Petter Eliassen — was going to win Saturday’s 21st Sonot Kkaazoot marathon ski race.

It took until the final few hundred meters, however, in a duel between Mike Kramer and Chris Clark, to decide the men’s runner-up.

And it took more than twice as long for Susan Sugai to reach the Birch Hill Recreation Area finish line and the reward waiting for her on the brilliantly sunny day.

The 42-kilometer cross-country ski marathon and 14K short race were moved off the Chena River and exclusively to Birch Hill due to sketchy ice conditions, but that hardly dampened the enthusiasm for Aas and Eliassen, who arrived in Fairbanks in advance of the Springs Series races that will include two U.S. national ski championship events.

“Fantastic,” Eliassen said of the trail system. “So broad and smooth.”

“It’s much better than the average European venues,” said Aas, a former Alaska Nanook. “Where I’m training (in Norway) is not half as good.”

Eliassen took charge after 11 kilometers by making a push on the hilly White Bear Loop to open a sizable margin on Kramer and Clark.

“I planned to not go so hard today because of the races next week, but once I got my (bib) number on I couldn’t hold back so much,” said Eliassen, who is shooting for the podium in the Spring Series races that include a 50K classic technique event.

Eliassen, 23, blazed the course in 1 hour, 57 minutes and 55 seconds.

Aas, meanwhile, started aggressively and quickly opened up a multi-minute lead on six-time champ Melissa Lewis of Fairbanks. Though Aas complained afterward of slow conditions (“It was like skiing on sandpaper,” she said) and was slowed by fatigue and cramps, she still won her third Sonot in 2:15:23, good for ninth overall. Lewis had an off day and took second in 2:22:24 while Karin Gillis placed third in 2:37:08.

“I was cramping in my legs from about halfway. I was a little worried I was going to bonk,” Aas said. “I just had to slow down. I didn’t want to totally deplete myself.”

Meanwhile, before Eliassen came out of the Norwegian woodwork, Kramer and Clark may have had visions of a sprint to the wire in pursuit of a first Sonot title. Instead, the young gun from Alaska’s largest city (Clark) and the wily local veteran (Kramer) were left to duke it out from start to finish for second place, with the 25-year-old Clark’s power and long stride matched up against the 40-year-old Kramer’s tireless engine and snappy turnover.

“He helped me out for sure,” said Clark, who raced at Birch Hill for the first time. “He kind of talked me through the back side with all the hills.”

While working together helped distance themselves from pursuers, Kramer’s assistance wasn’t entirely altruistic: He also attempted to break free in order to avoid a sprint finish.

“We just helped pace each other through the hard parts and I tried to shake him several times over the last 5K and couldn’t do it,” Kramer said.

Said Clark: “He did a number of pickups right towards the end there. I was hangin’ on for dear life.”

Kramer made one final unsuccessful effort, then essentially conceded.

“I tried going hard up the last hill but ran out of steam about 100 meters from the top and pretty much said goodbye to him then,” Kramer said. “But I’m not disappointed. It was a fun race.”

Clark then won the sprint Kramer had hoped to avoid, crossing the line 10 seconds before him in 2:03:13.

Jim Lokken, 48, and Roger Sayre, 50, similarly helped each other, reeling in Dave Edic and Aas in the later stages. Sayre, though, had little left for the stadium finish, crossing eighth in 2:14:27, less than 5 seconds behind Lokken.

“I was gearing up for the sprint and it never really happened,” Lokken told Sayre as they rehashed the race.

“That was a sprint for me!” Sayre countered.

As the temperature rose dramatically in the afternoon sun amidst Star Wars theme music — the finish line aid station arranged by North Pole High School was replete with a costumed Darth Vader and a cutout Chewbacca — the rest of the 96 marathon finishers straggled in. Among them were former Fairbanksan Peter Delamere and his 72-year-old father, Alan, of Boulder, Colo.

Then, after 4 hours and 39 minutes, the arrival of Sugai — the final woman and next-to-last finisher — created a buzz. Awaiting her were about 15 members of the men’s training group SCUM (Susan’s Class of Untrainable Men), who created a tunnel with raised ski poles for her to ski under on the homestretch.

Sugai, along with Ken Leary, has now completed every Sonot Kkaazoot.

Norris edges Hanneman

In the 14K event, which had 101 finishers, Lathrop’s High School’s David Norris edged his FAST teammate Reese Hanneman. Norris was credited with a time of 36:17.8; Hanneman came in at 36:18.6. Ian Wilkinson was third in 37:22. The pair separated from a group on the short Moilanen Meadows trail off White Bear Loop. Then Norris had a slight lead entering the stadium and Hanneman’s effort to skate past him came up just shy.

Susan Seitz was the fastest woman in 51:28 with Cathy Donaldson next 32 seconds later. Julie Morse was third in 56:16.

Six youngsters also did a 5K event, with Sam Button and Kelley Ragan the fastest.

Age-group winners

Age-group winners for the Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot were as follows:

42K — Men: 10-19, Cody Priest; 20-29, Petter Eliassen; 30-39, Mike Kramer; 40-49; Jim Lokken; 50-59, David Edic; 60-69, Ray Halderman; 70-79, Alan Delamere.

Women: 20-29, Sigrid Aas; 30-39, Melissa Lewis; 40-49, Karin Gillis; 50-59, Martha Raynolds.

20K — Girls/women: J5, Amber Lenze; J4, Jade Hajdukovich; J3, Ema Mayo; J2, Eliza Rorabaugh; J1, Marisa Rorabaugh; OJ, Erica Blake; 20-29, Anna Bryan; 30-39, Susan Seitz; 40-49, Cathy Donaldson; 50-59, Nancy Hanneman; 70-79, Sheila Delamare.

Boys/men: J3, Riley Troyer; J2, Logan Hanneman; OJ, David Norris; 20-29, William Coleman; 30-39, Matt Kasvinsky; 40-49, Jim Button; 50-59, Wes Graf; 60-69, Andrew Blossy.