Windchills as low as 38 degrees below zero Sunday prompted organizers of the Mora Vasaloppet cross-country ski races to shorten three of the events and start one an hour late in Mora, Minn.
Subzero weather fails to halt Mora Vasaloppet
By STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
February 11, 2008 at 5:46AM
The 58K, 58K relay and 42K classic races were all shortened to 35 kilometers, and the 42K race was moved from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. to allow extra time for temperatures to rise. Skiers who had registered for the 58K and 42K events but skied the shortened races were tracked separately from entrants in the official 35K race.
In the scheduled 58K freestyle race, Nikolai Anikin, 27, of Duluth, finished first with a time of 1 hour, 34 minutes and 44 seconds on the 35K course, edging Adam Swank, 32, of Duluth, by one second. The women's winner was Diane Trembley, 38, of Hayward, Wis., in 1:48:58.
The top finisher among the men's 42K classic entrants was Michael Meyers, 42, of Missoula, Mont., in 1:48:47. He won the 42K in 2001 and the 35K in 1994. The top woman in the shortened race was Kerrie Fabius, 28, of Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 2:05:31.
Andrew Schakel, 33, of Minneapolis, won the men's 35K in 1:41:10. He won the same race in 1998. Angie Robinson, 40, of Roseville, won the women's 35K in 1:55:19. She also won that event in 1994.
Lars Ellefson, 18, of Park Rapids, won the men's 13K in 38:04 and Summer Ellefson, 14, of Park Rapids, won the women's 13K in 44:29.
Elite skiers were prepared for the cold temperatures, and many said they were actually too warm by the end of their races. A total of 1,615 skiers registered.
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STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
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