Gold Rush Lives Up To Its Reputation

Gold Rush Lives up to its Reputation

24" of new snow had fallen in the pre-race hours and the Sierra blizzard wasn’t letting up. At 5:00 AM the Far West Race Committee was forced to make some changes, and good changes they were. For safety and grooming reasons a new course was designed. The result: the best Gold Rush course ever. Royal Gorge stepped up to the plate with 3 machines and provided an excellent piste to race on. The course had a great flow to it and the steep/long climbs were taken out. The course was very similar to the Rendezvous marathon course. No need to say, looking at the times, the conditions were tough.

The race started off at a gentlemens pace, after about 5km Zach Violet moved to the front and launched the first attack. That splintered the front train and it was "Game On". On the second lap things settled down, partially because the sky opened up and you could hardly see the skier in front of you let alone the course. On the third lap the storm let up and it was full throttle for the last 15km.(if you had any gas left in the tank!)

Congrats to the winners, and many thanks to Auburn Ski Club, Royal Gorge, the Far West, and all the sponsors.

Rossignol, Toko and Truckee XC would like to make special thanks to Roger Chaney for "Being The Man"

46km Gold Rush Top Ten Men
:

1 GMM1 M Adam Swank 2:28:49

2 GMS2 M Nikolai Anikin 2:30:36 2

3 GMS2 M Ian Case 2:34:17

4 GMM5 M Jon Engen 2:38:04 Team Rossignol

5 GMM3 M Peter Hanson 2:39:50

6 GMM3 M Dan Packman 2:40:33

7 GMS2 M Zach Violett 2:43:55

8 GMM1 M Tav Streit 2:44:44

9 GMM5 M Rick Reynolds 2:44:57 Truckee XC

10 GMM3 M Barry Makarewicz 2:47:00

Gold Rush Women:

1 GFM1 Katerina Vinogradova 2:45:21

2 GFM1 Sarah Max 2:51:03

3 GFS2 Lenka Palanova 2:56:00

4 GFS1 Chelsey Holmes 3:02:29

5 GFM3 Julie Young 3:07:34 Team Rossignol

6 GFS2 Stephanie Howe 3:08:25

7 GFS2 Abbie Harris 3:09:25

8 GFM4 Carol Bennett 3:12:41

9 GFS1 Kara LaPoint 3:13:41

10 GFM2 Dayna Deuter 3:26:28

14 GFM4 Laura Stern 3:33:22 Truckee XC

30km Silver Rush
overall

1 SFM4 F Beth Reid 1:47:46

2 SFM3 F Cathy Howard 1:57:48

3 SMJO M Adam Wright 2:00:58

4 SMM6 M Glenn Jobe 2:01:21

5 SMM3 M Scott Fairman 2:01:30

6 SFM2 F Kari Rust 2:04:09

7 SMM2 M Ben Grasseschi 2:05:39

8 SMM3 M David Eastwood 2:06:56

9 SMM5 M Steve Miller 2:10:35

10 SFM5 F Debbie Hakansson 2:12:15 Truckee XC