Gunnar Sloggin'

Wow, that was one for the books, wasn't it? When you hear comments at the finish line like, "That was the toughest 30k ever," or "That 30k felt like 70k," or "That was brutal," you know it's been an interesting day. The Gunnar Hagen is known for challenging skiing conditions, and this year's delivered.

The forecast leading up to race day was not inspiring, but race day itself looked like a lucky break in the weather:

With minimal snow in the weeks leading up to the race (thank you, El Nino), and with heavy rain saturating the snow we did have, then "heavy wet sticky" snow falling the day before, the groomer knew it was going to be tricky and he really came through for us, as he does! Turns out the soggy packed snow was too fragile to support the grooming machine and allow real grooming on the trails, so he used the Kongsberger snowmobile and tracking sled to set two skiable tracks around the course, and the race was on! The race could not have been held without his skill and expertise, and we are deeply grateful.

Here are the stats. One para-skier, Nate Higgins, sit-skied 5k in 20:54. There were 90 7.5k skiers (including one non-binary racer), almost evenly split between male and female (50 vs 39), with Kian Reed winning the male division and the race overall in 24:56 and Kirstin Jarmin winning the female in 29:33. Both of them are juniors from Plain Valley Nordic Team, where the groomers also have been doing heroic work with the snow they have. There were 41 30k skiers, with six females (led by Montana Tucker in 2:37) and 35 males (overall winner, Chris Pappathopoulos in 1:38).

Even with the tough conditions, the event came through with the usual Kongsberger race vibe of worthy competition, good humor, spirited music, great food, excellent prizes, families competing together, encouraging shout-outs, and fun stories to share at the end. Everyone survived, and hey, we did a race, which is saying a lot right now! If you came and participated, either as a racer or a volunteer, thank you!