THUNDER BAY -- It might have taken longer than he’s used to but Harry Seaton found himself in familiar territory at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.
Seaton stamped his third career Sleeping Giant Loppet men’s 50-kilometre skate title, crossing the line in a time of two hours and 31 minutes on Saturday.
An early morning snowfall softened up the course, which resulted in markedly slower times throughout the field. It took Seaton, who had claimed the crown in 2012 and 2013, nearly 20 minutes longer to complete his trek than it had in his previous two victories.
“It was a tough race out there with the fresh snow on the course so it made it a bit slower,” he said.
The Lakehead University and former National Development Centre skier was in his own class as he finished his trilogy, placing close to eight minutes ahead of runner-up Gerrit Garberich from Brainerd, Minn.
Seaton used the mass start in the region’s premier cross-country skiing race, which had him alongside competitors in the faster 20-kilometre sprint, to his advantage to stake the early edge.
“I stuck with (the 20-kilometre racers) for about the first 12 kilometres so I got a pretty good ride and there was a gap almost immediately and I was alone for the rest of the way,” Seaton said.
“As a racer you’re always worried about who’s coming from behind so you never really let off the gas.”
The women’s 50-kilometre freestyle was a much tighter affair, with a pair of collegiate teammates from Duluth nearly requiring a photo finish to declare a winner.
Elizabeth Peterson narrowly edged St. Scholastica College teammate Elizabeth Evans at the line for her first Loppet crown. Peterson previously competed in the event in 2013 when she placed seventh.
She and Evans had no idea where they stood until they crossed the threshold.
“We just started skiing and we took turns pulling. I didn’t know at one point during that race we were in the lead,” the 21-year-old Peterson said.
“Probably around 35 kilometres we picked up the pace a little bit.”
After two straight years where frigid temperatures resulted in delays, including the shortening of the 50-kilometre distances to 40 last year, participants were treated to sunny skies and warm temperatures.
Race coordinator Peter Gallagher said the only hiccup was the late snowfall, which started around 3 a.m. and gave course groomers an extra early start to the morning.
The favourable conditions resulted in a flurry of last minute registrations over the past week that put the number of participants at about 650, equal to last year but still down over past trends.
Gallagher attributes that drop to cold winters that have negatively impacted people’s training. He said organizers are seeing more people entering the shorter distances, rather than the marquee 50-kilometre race.
“I’ve talked to lots of people who have said because of the cold, cold winter they didn’t ski as much as they normally would,” he said. “They wanted to participate but they didn’t feel they were fit to do the longer distance.”
While the Loppet is well known in Thunder Bay and across the region, organizers are working to increase the profile of the race to attract more visitors.
“Our biggest challenge is to get the people who ski in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and there are a lot of them, to recognize what a good event it is,” Gallagher said. “We want to make the event a tourist attraction.”
Full results are available online.
