Finally, we got a beautiful day for a race! It was sunny and warm for our Series finale but the snow stayed cold enough to be consistent and fast. There were lots of new faces and faces we haven't seen in a while to round out the crowd of regulars. Dave Aschwanden put an immediate gap on everyone and continued to increase it throughout the race winning handily by a four minute margin. Even more remarkable was that he skiied the exact same time as last year to the second! Weird. Dave was followed by a pack of three skiing together at the 13K turnaround mark that consisted of Mike Trecker, Christie Aschwanden and Christian Griffith. Natalie Trecker came through the turnaround a minute or so later. The pack spread out over the second half but Christie held on strong to be the first female to cross the finish and was third overall. Tom Suplizio again skied very well despite an admitted absence of training. He was the fifth male in, shortly behind Al Fournier. Tom's place in this race coupled with excellent high finishes in the previous three races earned him First Place in the 2007-2008 GMNC Point Series. Likewise, Helen Carlsen added a third place female finish in the Meltdown to a string of top finishes through the season to earn honors as First Place female in the Series. These two showed excellent skills encompassing classic and freestyle techniques and both speed and endurance. Impressive! Each won a very nice backpack from REI for being the best. Thanks REI!
The Meltdown 5K race was owned by the youngsters. 14-year old Gunnar Ohlson came in from Aspen and zipped through the course ahead of everyone. He was followed by 11-year old Gordon Gianniny of Durango. Both commented on what a fun course it was and thought Grand Mesa skiing was wonderful. Also skiing well in the 5K were up-and-coming young skiers Vikash and Nilam Hypio. The field was rounded out by some of us older regulars including Debbie Thomas, the first female finisher. Thanks as always to our sponsors who help make racing fun:
|
Place
|
Name
|
Age
|
Gender
|
City
|
State
|
RaceTime
|
| 1 | Dave Aschwanden | 39 | M | Cedaredge | CO | 1:09:32 |
| 2 | Mike Trecker | 42 | M | Aspen | CO | 1:13:41 |
| 3 | Christie Aschwanden | 35 | F | Cedaredge | CO | 1:14:57 |
| 4 | Christian Griffith | 43 | M | Boulder | CO | 1:15:19 |
| 5 | Natalie Trecker | 38 | F | Aspen | CO | 1:16:16 |
| 6 | Al Fournier | 54 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 1:22:00 |
| 7 | Tom Suplizio | 43 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 1:22:30 |
| 8 | Roger Carlsen | 51 | M | Basalt | CO | 1:24:21 |
| 9 | Jason Laflamme | 30? | M | Norwood | CO | 1:24:52 |
| 10 | Gary Gianniny | 48 | M | Durango | CO | 1:25:51 |
| 11 | Winslow Robertson | 53 | M | Palisade | CO | 1:25:58 |
| 12 | Helen Carlsen | 47 | F | Basalt | CO | 1:28:20 |
| 13 | Tom Hines | 60 | M | Aspen | CO | 1:33:46 |
| 14 | Brad Burritt | 48 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 1:34:49 |
| 15 | Kenton Shaw | 53 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 1:35:08 |
| 16 | Mark Feinsinger | 39 | M | Carbondale | CO | 1:36:47 |
| 17 | Richard Hypio | 52 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 1:37:23 |
| 18 | Greg Feinsinger | 66 | M | Carbondale | CO | 1:38:29 |
| 19 | Denny Hogan | 58 | M | Silt | CO | 1:38:49 |
| 20 | Dan Schultz-Ela | 52 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 1:54:25 |
| 21 | Dave Knutson | 59 | M | Paonia | CO | 1:54:41 |
| 22 | David Strong | 59 | M | Cedaredge | CO | 2:05:33 |
| 23 | Chris DePuy | 52 | M | Montrose | CO | 2:07:06 |
| 24 | Pam Hogan | 55 | F | Silt | CO | 2:20:15 |
| 25 | Heidi Nadiak | 45 | F | Montrose | CO | 2:32:33 |
| 26 | Beth Skelton | 41 | F | Crawford | CO | 2:44:30 |
| 27 | Anky Von Schnoplau | 53 | F | Hotchkiss | CO | 2:50:32 |
| Place | Name | Age | Gender | City | State | RaceTime |
| 1 | Gunnar Ohlson | 14 | M | Snowmass Village | CO | 21:23 |
| 2 | Gordon Gianniny | 11 | M | Durango | CO | 22:51 |
| 3 | Jon Thomas | 50 | M | Montrose | CO | 25:45 |
| 4 | Tom Lambert | 57 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 26:08 |
| 5 | Debbie Thomas | 43 | F | Montrose | CO | 26:30 |
| 6 | Tom Ela | 55 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 27:31 |
| 7 | Vikash Hypio | 14 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 28:20 |
| 8 | Bill Ela | 84 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 44:18 |
| 9 | Nilam Hypio | 12 | F | Hotchkiss | CO | 48:03 |