Sports

Dueling Hanneman brothers kick off SuperTour ski series in impressive fashion

The Hanneman brothers of Fairbanks turned the first national cross-country ski race of the season into a family affair over the weekend.

They finished 1-2 in the freestyle sprint race that kicked off the SuperTour series Friday in West Yellowstone, Montana.

Logan, 22, zipped past Reese, 25, at the end of the 1.3-kilometer final to snatch victory from is older brother.

"I think I may need to stop giving him all my good hand-me-down skis," Reese joked in an interview with fasterskier.com.

Both men ski for the Alaska Pacific University ski program, which enjoyed some strong results on the season-opening weekend of the domestic race season.

Chelsea Holmes of Girdwood grabbed second place in the women's 10-K skate race Saturday and fourth in Friday's sprint. In the 10-K, she was 1.8 seconds behind winner Katharine Ogden of Stratton Mountain, Vermont.

Two other Alaskans joined Holmes in the top 10 of the 10-K race – Caitlin Patterson, who was sixth, and Rosie Frankowski, who was seventh. Patterson skis for a club in Vermont and Frankowski is an APU skier.

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APU's Scott Patterson, who battled an injury last season, got off to a good start by placing third in the men's 15-K skate race Saturday. APU's Lex Treinen placed 10th.

But the highlight of the weekend was the brother-vs.-brother duel in the men's sprint final.

"I attacked hard on the final uphill and created a little gap between myself and the other four men, my brother right behind me," Reese Hanneman wrote in an email. "Then he and I went full throttle drag race down the fast finishing straight, and he nipped me."

The SuperTour moves to Sun Valley, Idaho, for races this weekend.

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