The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Seals deal with win at A Basin
Bryan Wickenhauser closed the 2010 COSMIC randonnee race season winning the Marmot Grind at Arapahoe Basin on Saturday, April 24 to take the overall points series title and bring home $500 in cash.
Young gun and Western State College student Scott Krankkala came in fourth, and Brown finished the day in eighth place.
Janelle Smiley of Crested Butte, who took second place at the race here in Crested Butte, won the women’s race in Arapahoe Basin, her second race of the entire season.
Wickenhauser committed to the COSMIC series in full, competing at every series stop along the way.
It all began back in January with the Heathen Challenge at Sunlight Mountain.
Wickenhauser had a dubious start to his season at Sunlight, missing the podium with a fourth-place finish, but he never missed out again the rest of the season.
After taking third place here in Crested Butte and then again at the Race the Divide at Monarch, he stepped to the top of the podium in Breckenridge, winning the men’s division of the Five Peaks race.
The Five Peaks was unique among the COSMIC races with teams of two competing, rather than solo racers.
Wickenhauser teamed up with Jon Brown for the win, setting him up for the overall points series title bid at Arapahoe Basin.
Well aware of what a win at Arapahoe Basin would mean, Wickenhauser set his sights on a first-place finish.
“I’m not gonna lie—I knew it was on the line and that $500 was on the line,” says Wickenhauser. “I knew if I won the race everything else would come together.”
But it wasn’t going to come easy, with a couple of notorious heavy hitters lining up for the final COSMIC race, including Mike Kloser and Max Taam and 18 to 20 inches of fresh snow blanketing the course.
Wickenhauser jumped in with the lead pack on the first climb from the base area to the top of the Pallavicini lift but Taam took the lead on the first downhill with Wickenhauser and company close behind.
The course took skiers back up over a ridge and then dropped 1,000 vertical feet into Montezuma Basin before climbing back up and doing it again.
“We skied maybe 20 inches of untracked powder back there,” says Wickenhauser. “Everyone was making straight lines with little wiggle turns.”
Wickenhauser had the lead going into the first lap in Montezuma Bowl and despite breaking trail for most of the way back out, held his lead through both laps.
“I had a generous enough lead at that point,” says Wickenhauser.
The course then came back down the front side to the finish line and after holding off the group up and down Montezuma, Wickenhauser knew the win was well within reach.
“All the positions were solidified by that point,” says Wickenhauser.
Wickenhauser summed up the successful day of racing saying, “First place, powder day, $500, beat old man Kloser.”
