Duelathon 08

The 8th Annual Jenex/Patagonia Duelathon is in the books. We had a good turnout - 45 racers, mostly from Bates, Colby, and Maine Coastal Nordic. Nat once again led the race on the pace bike - he wisely chose a mountain bike this year. Colby racers Wyatt Fereday and Matt Briggs quickly broke away from the back, joined by Sylvan Ellefson of Bates. Fereday came into the transition with a slight lead, but his slow rollerskis quickly took him out of contention, and the race turned into a duel between Briggs and Ellefson. After a few kilometers, they settled into an easy cruising pace and waited for the sprint (this was fortunate for Nat, whose bike was apparently was stuck in the granny gear or something - he struggled heroically to stay ahead of the leaders). Ellefson pulled away in the final uphill sprint to take the win, with Briggs close behind and Bates's Sam Evans-Brown moving on the rollerski leg to take 3rd.

The women's race was less contentious - Colby's Lucy Garrec entered the changeover just a few seconds ahead of teammate Kathleen Maynard and Kirsten Gill of Bates, but a quick transition and a blistering rollerski leg gave her the win by a wide margin, with Maynard cruising to a second place finish. Bates's Megan McClelland won a three-way sprint with teammates Natalie Ruppertsberger (skiing as a team with Ingrid Knowles) and Caitlin Curran to claim third.

Our team did a nice job of pulling the event together, and things went pretty smoothly. We were also lucky to have help from Bowdoin alumni Danielle and Ryan Triffitt '97 and ski team parents Sue Crawford and Betsey Shepard. Thanks to all of today's racers, and to NENSA for providing bibs. Thanks in particular to sponsors Patagonia and V2/Jenex, who donated great prizes for today's event. Without their support, this race wouldn't continue to exist.

Full results here.