Randall, Southam take classic distance titles at 2010 US Cross-Country Ski Championships

Randall, Southam take classic distance ski titles

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A pair of Anchorage skiers overcame a storm of new-fallen snow to win classic distance titles Wednesday at the 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships.

Olympian Kikkan Randall solidified her reputation as America’s best female cross-country skier with her third victory in five days, winning the women’s 20-kilometer race in 1:14.19, her 13th national title.

James Southam enhanced his chances for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, winning by more than a minute over Kris Freeman of Andover, N.H. It was Southam’s fifth national title.

Randall on Saturday finished first in the freestyle sprints, a four-heat race over 1.4 kilometers. She also won the 10-kilometer freestyle Wednesday and has a chance to sweep the championships with a victory Friday in the 1.4-kilometer classic sprint.

“I was just happy to feel really good even after two days of racing already,” Randall said. “I still had a pretty good feeling in my body.”

Skiers had to contend with thick snow that began falling two and a half hours before the mass start of the women’s race. The fresh snow sent skiers and waxers to test tracks in the Kincaid Park stadium to find the right combinations of kick and glide wax. Many were adjusting wax until minutes before the start.

Forerunners ski the tracks ahead of racers, but the first racer through faces the obstacle of skiing over new snow that they smooth for competitors.

“With the snow falling in the tracks, there was definitely a disadvantage to leading, so we had to work together and take turns out there,” Randall said.

By the start of the third lap and final lap, Randall and Holly Brooks, who trains with Randall at Alaska Pacific University, held a 20-second lead on the next group of skiers. But up a hill just outside the stadium, Randall took a turn in the lead and slowly pulled ahead.

“I really just focused on keeping a good tempo,” Randall said. “I felt my muscles begin to cramp in my arms a bit so I knew I needed to keep a good rhythm going to keep those muscles from shutting down.

“It wasn’t a real decisive point and I don’t have eyes in the back of my head but I was concerned that Holly was there the whole way. I guess I just got a little bit of a gap with two K to go.”

The gap was 10 seconds by the finish line.

“She just had a little more pep to her step and my technique was starting to get a little sloppy, and I slipped a few times,” Brooks said.

Brooks is hoping to be chosen for the Olympic team.

“Hopefully this was one of the races where the coaches were looking to see who could classic ski and who could classic ski for a long time,” she said.

Brooks finished in 1:14.29. Caitlin Compton of Minneapolis was third in 1:15.04.

Another Olympic hopeful is Southam, who was disappointed with his third-place finish Monday in the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle. He went out fast in that race, held the lead after one lap, then watched Freeman take over during the second and third laps.

“I knew that I needed to do something today if I wanted to show I should be on the Olympic team,” he said.

On Wednesday, he controlled his nerves early and hung behind Freeman. They were in a group of five at the head of the pack after the first lap. By the end of the second, it had become a two-man race until junior racer David Norris, who skis for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, ran them down. Southam answered on a hill.

“I didn’t put on a real move. I just kind of surged a bit just to try and get rid of David because I knew he probably killed himself to catch us. I looked back once we got to the top and I was alone.”

He found himself 21 seconds ahead of Freeman near the end of the third lap. Freeman closed to within 10 seconds, then fell back.

He finished more than a minute behind in 1:33.18. Bryan Cook of Rhinelander, Wis., caught Norris to finish third in 1:33.43. Norris finished fourth in 1:33.57.