Scintillating Night Series 5K

Wow, even at -4, that was a fast and furious 5K. Only 18 skiers showed up. I was hoping for a top 5, but when we lined up knew that might be tough. It was.

Wayne Peppler and Dave Arvey took command right from the start, and we had an immediate pack of 8 heading out of the stadium, double poling at sprint speed. I was surprised to be ahead of Dave Edic on Relay Loop and actually stepped aside to let him ahead, probably 800 m into the race. By then the train of six skiers was 30 m up on us. I hung with Dave, and it actually felt slow at times until we were half way up East Ramp (1.6K) and onto Tower. Mike Hajdukavich (What the heck!?, I'm always ahead of him) was flying on Tower and Dave set off after him. On the first switchback I tried to close the gap and got to within 10 meters of them, but my heart rate skyrocketed into 190s, I later learned, and I was effectively done.

That was a fun little ski, and reminds me of living in Bemidji MN in the 1990s when we'd have similar Tuesday night races also under the lights and with small but good group of skiers. Looking forward to the next three night races in February/March.

1. Wayne Peppler 14:50
2. Dave Arvey 14:50.5
3. Max Kaufman 15:44
4. Mike Kramer 15:59
5. Dave Edic 16:31 *1st Master
6. Jan Grzeda 16:35 * 1st Youth
7. Mike Hajdukovich 16:46
8. Roger Sayre 17:25
9. Ken Leary 17:45
10. Julia Pierson 18:29 * First Woman
11. Heather Best 20:28
12. Joel Pierson 21:01
13. Jane LeBlond 22:42
14. John McKinny 23:47
15. Zail Gavin 24.56
16. Tom Olendorff 24:57
18. Debbie Looney 25:23
**. Guest timer: Mark Ross