Racers launch into the wind at the start of the Mesa “not-so-melty” Meltdown!

Kevin Koch and Egor Gavrilov celebrate with prizes after the Mesa Meltdown. Kevin placed 5th, Egor 2nd and they took the top two spots in the Race Series standings with Egor the season Champ. Both won Age Group awards and prefect attendance awards as well.

Well, it’s Colorado so on any given day in March you have to expect any kind of weather. For this year’s Meltdown the roll of the dice brought us cold and windy with no new snow. Challenging conditions but 42 happy skiers took the challenge. 41 of those took the big challenge of 20K while Sage Wilson opted for the reasonable distance of 5K and turned in an excellent time. Several skiers decided the challenge was too daunting and opted to exit the course before completing the full distance but the rest had a fun time out there.

Andrew Weinstein and Egor Gavrilov completed the first 10K lap together in just over 26 minutes but Andrew managed to pull ahead the second time around and won with a very fast time. Joanne Reid came in fresh from competing in the Biathlon in the Cortina Olympics and finished ahead of all the women and most of the men in 4th place overall. Old friend Ella DeWolf came down from Laramie to claim 2nd for the women.

The Meltdown wrapped up the Empowered Energy Systems Race Series for another successful season. A fabulous crew of volunteers once again kept it all running smoothly and prize sponsors added motivation.Thanks to Loki Outerwear, Palisade Pizza and Pourhouse, Peach Street Distillers, Chill Switch Wines, Ela Family Farms and Basecamp Brewing! See you all in December when we start it all over again!