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Mammoth Marathon 2007: The Return of the King: Benes Defends his 2006 Title |
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Written by Mark Nadell -Swix Racing Service
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 In a long and arduous cross country ski racing season, there are always a few �bellwether� races that stand out throughout the winter, either because of their uniqueness, their popularity, or their place in the Far West Nordic schedule. The Snowshoe Thompson Classic at Auburn Ski Club is one, as the first �important� race in some of the various race series competitions (Fischer Cup, Masters Team, Junior Olympic qualifier, etc.) and as the first local Classic-style race. The Great Race and the Gold Rush always stand out as well, the former because of its overwhelming local popularity, the latter because of its national-caliber stature and 50 kilometer distance. The Mammoth Marathon has become one of those events, allowing local racers to �wrap up� the season in a beautifully scenic, slightly out-of-the-way race venue. Sure, there are a couple more races on the schedule, such as the popular Billy Dutton Uphill at Squaw Valley next Sunday, noted for its novelty and great cause (a major fundraiser for the local Junior Nordic teams). But as the ultimate wind-up of the regular Nordic season, the Mammoth Marathon�with its incredibly fun course, great volunteers and scrumptious post-race banquet�can�t be beat.
And there�s one local racer who has developed quite an affinity for racing the trails at Tamarack Lodge XC. Jakub Benes, a Team FsX (Fischer-Swix) racer from Oakland & Soda Springs, made a triumphant return this year to defend his title from 2006, cruising away from a strong field to win the 2007 event. Even more impressively, Benes has won his last FOUR races he�s competed in Mammoth Lakes, notching wins in the Allan Bard Memorial Classic the past two years to go along with his Marathon victories. �I guess I just like racing down here,� said a tired but exultant Benes. �I really like the courses down here, I seem to always ski well on them.�
Benes was content to let the pack take the pace out slow on the initial climb up to the beautiful Lakes Basin, where racers doing the 42 kilometer distance would perform 3 winding, figure-8 laps. Though the conditions at the start were firm and fast, the warm sun would take its toll throughout the race, softening up the snow and slowing it down significantly by the final lap. For the waxing conditions, the biggest concern was the question of how MUCH the course would warm up during the morning. The safe bet was to wax with a combination of HF8 and FC8, making sure that the wax layers were hard enough to survive the icy, crusty start conditions, but still putting enough fluorination in the wax to glide over the warmer, slushier conditions. Some added a corked-in layer of FC1 to add a small bit of colder fluoro over the top, combined with a little BD additive to repel the dirt. Structure was a major factor as well, with a 2mm rill followed by a narrower .75mm ensuring that suction would be minimized.
Benes bided his time in the lead pack of 5, and then 3 racers, before turning on the jets and cruising away to a convincing 1 hour, 56 minutes and 15 seconds victory, a 2+ minute edge over his next competitor, Rossignol skier Chris McGovern of Nevada City (1:58:34). FsX teammate August Brautigam of Truckee managed to stay out in front of the rest of the pack, taking third place with a time of 2:00:16. All in all, it was an excellent day for team FsX, taking an impressive 5 out of the top 10 spots in the overall field.
In a somewhat small women�s field, Julie Young of Auburn (Rossignol) easily outdistanced her competition to cruise to a win in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 19 seconds, comfortably ahead of Truckee�s Cherie Kopytko (2:33:05) and Bishop�s Carolyn Tiernan (2:35:41).
In the 21 kilometer Half-Marathon event, it was Truckee�s own Junior Olympian Russell Kennedy taking top honors with a time of 1:03:48, edging out 2-time U.S. Olympic athlete Nancy Fiddler of Crowley Lake (1:05:58) and Far West teammate Bryce Tiernan of Bishop (1:08:25). The Junior 10K division was won by Truckee athletes Justin Ondry (32:02) and Annika Taylor (33:41).
The Far West Nordic race schedule wraps up for real next weekend with two events, the 10 kilometer Tom�s Classic Race in Bear Valley on Saturday, April 7th, and the afore-mentioned Billy Dutton Uphill at Squaw Valley on Sunday, April 8.
As usual, all the results and information is online at www. farwestnordic.org.
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Demong, Newell honored with top USSA Awards |
 PARK CITY, Utah (May 18) - U.S. Ski Team World Championship medalist Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY), two-time Olympian and former U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Chairman Chuck Ferries, and the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club were among the top honorees in the USSA's annual awards recognition dinner May 17 at Deer Valley Resort in Park City during USSA Congress 2007.
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 SKAGWAY, (AK)This ski race is on the list of �49 things to do in the 49th State�, although, the race is actually in British Columbia, and Yukon Territory, but the race is organized by Alaskans.
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Mammoth Marathon 2007: The Return of the King: Benes Defends his 2006 Title |
In a long and arduous cross country ski racing season, there are always a few �bellwether� races that stand out throughout the winter, either because of their uniqueness, their popularity, or their place in the Far West Nordic schedule. The Snowshoe Thompson Classic at Auburn Ski Club is one, as the first �important� race in some of the various race series competitions (Fischer Cup, Masters Team, Junior Olympic qualifier, etc.) and as the first local Classic-style race. The Great Race and the Gold Rush always stand out as well, the former because of its overwhelming local popularity, the latter because of its national-caliber stature and 50 kilometer distance. The Mammoth Marathon has become one of those events, allowing local racers to �wrap up� the season in a beautifully scenic, slightly out-of-the-way race venue. Sure, there are a couple more races on the schedule, such as the popular Billy Dutton Uphill at Squaw Valley next Sunday, noted for its novelty and great cause (a major fundraiser for the local Junior Nordic teams). But as the ultimate wind-up of the regular Nordic season, the Mammoth Marathon�with its incredibly fun course, great volunteers and scrumptious post-race banquet�can�t be beat.
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Freeman, Mannix Repeat Titles |
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (April 1) - Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) and Taz Mannix (Anchorage, AK) each collected their second U.S. titles in 48 hours Sunday, winning the gold medal in the ski marathon - the men's 50K and women's 30K classic technique, mass-start races - as the U.S. Cross Country Championships concluded.
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Freeman, Mannix Win U.S. Pursuit Titles |
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (March 30) - Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) earned his third U.S. title of the season Friday - and his ninth overall - while Taz Mannix (Anchorage, AK) collected the first of her career in the pursuit races opening the last phase of the U.S. Cross Country Championships.
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