Happy New Year! We got the year started right with some vigorous exercise and friendly competition under great conditions. The snow was a little cold but the excellent grooming made for good times on a challenging course that featured lots of climbs and descents. Dave Aschwanden and Joseph Szekely put a gap on everyone per ususal but Dave took home the bottle of champagne for prevailing at the end. Both were well ahead of everyone else. Mike Neste had thoughts of challenging them but snapped a pole early on and skied the remaining 7K pole-less. Tough on that course! He still finished a very respectable 9th place. Annie Richardson looked smooth finishing ahead of all the women for an excellent 5th place overall and her own bottle of champagne.
Another participant of note was Tom Borschel who made the trip from Idaho Falls, ID to show off his excellent ski skills. He's known locally as a runner, a past winner of the Rim Rock Run and still holder of the Master's Record for that run. It was good to see Greg Randall jumping into the fray again. He had just sent his son Glenn off to Anchorage Alaska after some altitude training on Grand Mesa to compete for the Dartmouth College team at the NCAA Nationals. Glenn was the 10K Classic national champ last year. Here's hoping he and his team find success again this year. And. of course, there was the remarkable Bill Ela who put a huge gap on everyone in the age category and, at 85, added another finish to the long string of finishes on his resume. At the other end of the spectrum was Artur Marra, 17, who thought the weather and altitude were pretty different from his home in Brazil. Good work to these and everyone else!
Red Robin Restaurant and Board and Buckle provided door prizes for the race. Everyone got samples of a variety of Clif energy products, snack mixes from Woodstock Farms and granola from Kingslake and Crane. Yum! Our volunteers Shirley Ela and Bill Ela made it all happen along with these sponsors:
| Place | Name | Age | Gender | City | State | RaceTime |
| 1 | Dave Aschwanden | 40 | M | Cedaredge | CO | 30:03 |
| 2 | Joseph Szekely | 40 | M | Farmington | NM | 30:11 |
| 3 | Al Fournier | 55 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 34:55 |
| 4 | Tim Sewell | 43 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 35:55 |
| 5 | Annie Richardson | 43 | F | Grand Junction | CO | 36:21 |
| 6 | Tom Borschel | 51 | M | Idaho Falls | ID | 36:30 |
| 7 | Ken Pill | 47 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 36:53 |
| 8 | Sam Thornhill | 50 | M | Fruita | CO | 37:19 |
| 9 | Mike Neste | 41 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 37:44 |
| 10 | Jerry Evans | 55 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 38:19 |
| 11 | Suzi Evans | 52 | F | Grand Junction | CO | 38:29 |
| 12 | Brad Burritt | 47 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 39:13 |
| 13 | Helen Carlsen | 48 | F | Basalt | CO | 39:24 |
| 14 | Greg Randall | 47 | M | Collbran | CO | 39:37 |
| 15 | Denny Hogan | 59 | M | Silt | CO | 39:55 |
| 16 | Kenton Shaw | 53 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 40:38 |
| 17 | Tom Lambert | 57 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 40:43 |
| 18 | Denis Reich | 35 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 40:49 |
| 19 | Ann Hopkinson | 57 | F | Glenwood Spgs | CO | 41:20 |
| 20 | Marilyn Kastens | 52 | F | Grand Junction | CO | 42:20 |
| 21 | Patrick Aschwanden | 22 | M | Boulder | CO | 42:41 |
| 22 | Brad McMillan | 48 | M | Ridgway | CO | 42:52 |
| 23 | Chris Murphy | 0 | M | Palisade | CO | 43:13 |
| 24 | Susy Ellison | 53 | F | Carbondale | CO | 43:19 |
| 25 | Richard Hypio | 53 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 43:45 |
| 26 | Tim Waugh | 49 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 43:55 |
| 27 | Chuck Bodie | 55 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 43:57 |
| 28 | Annie Deprey | 30 | F | Mesa | CO | 44:28 |
| 29 | Dave Knutson | 59 | M | Paonia | CO | 44:30 |
| 30 | Ben Fay | 37 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 45:27 |
| 31 | Chris DePuy | 53 | M | Montrose | CO | 46:22 |
| 32 | Zach Heuscher | 27 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 46:23 |
| 33 | Dan Schultz-Ela | 52 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 51:38 |
| 34 | Steve Ela | 45 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 56:25 |
| 35 | Mary Gilbert | 59 | F | Fort Collins | CO | 56:48 |
| 36 | Pam Hogan | 56 | F | Silt | CO | 56:57 |
| 37 | Jon Thomas | 51 | M | Montrose | CO | 62:03 |
| 38 | Debbie Thomas | 44 | F | Montrose | CO | 62:12 |
| 39 | Karen Pinnt | 53 | F | Mesa | CO | 67:52 |
| 40 | Sarah Shaw | 49 | F | Grand Junction | CO | 71:31 |
| 41 | Anky Von Schnoplau | 54 | F | Hotchkiss | CO | 72:23 |
| 42 | D Plunkett | 44 | F | Grand Junction | CO | 73:51 |
| 43 | Virgil Carnage | 47 | M | Grand Junction | CO | 76:22 |
| 44 | Thomas Cameron | 57 | M | Palisade | CO | 79:11 |
| 45 | Nan Lichty | 53 | F | Grand Junction | CO | 79:16 |
| 46 | Artur Marra | 17 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 79:36 |
| 47 | Alice Bell | 46 | F | Palisade | CO | 80:02 |
| 48 | Bill Ela | 85 | M | Hotchkiss | CO | 85:59 |