Nearly 900 skiers turn out for return of Tour of Anchorage

After three years of cancellations and reconfigurations, the Tour of Anchorage returned in full glory to the city's cross-country ski trails on Sunday.

Nearly 900 skiers enjoyed perfect conditions for the events, which offered races of 50, 40 and 25 kilometers. It was the first time since 2013 that trail conditions were good enough to hold the two longer races.

Twenty-year-old Thomas O'Harra of Anchorage topped a quality field in the men's 50K. He beat several of his Alaska Pacific University training mates to win in a time of 2 hours, 10 minutes, 49.2 seconds.

O'Harra finished more than two minutes ahead of second-place Reese Hanneman and was three minutes ahead of third-place Tyler Kornfield. Jack Novak placed fourth to give APU the top four finishers.

Fifth place also went to an APU skier. Rosie Frankowski set a torrid pace for the women — her time of 2:23:42 placed her first among women and fifth overall among the 201 skiers who took on the 50K cross-town race from Service High to Kincaid Park.

Frankowski was more than nine minutes faster than the second-place woman, Shalane Frost of Fairbanks.

In the 40K freestyle, wins went to Chip Schoff and Jaime Bronga. Kai Meyers and Jasmine Maurer claimed the 25K freestyle titles, and Erik Helm and Sadie Fox won the 25K classic races. Helm's 34-second win over Paul Kari was the closest of the day.

Full results are available at anchoragenordicski.com.

Men's 25K classic — 1) Erik Helm 1:31:42.6; 2) Paul Kari 1:32:16.6; 3) Karl Volz 1:32:52.6; 4) Clem Taylor-Roth 1:35:27.3; 5) Avi Johnson 1:36:55.1,

Women's 25K classic — 1) Sadie Fox 1:30:28.1; 2) Alison Arians 1:40:57.3; 3) Anna Rix 1:48:55.8; 4) Liz Butera 1:49:23.1; 5) Kellie Arthur 1:51:17.9.

Men's 25K freestyle — 1) Kai Meyers 1:12:22.6; 2) Kevin Donley 1:15:43.9; 3) Dale Baurick 1:19:08.9; 4) Jordan Laker-Morris 1:22:51.9; 5) David Knopp 1:24:10.4.

Women's 25K freestyle — 1) Jasmine Maurer 1:32:52.9; 2) Clare Ross 1:38:59.4; 3) Mallory Conger 1:39:28.5; 4) Ashlinn Tuning 1:39:54.5; 5) Maggie Whitaker 1:40:05.7.

Men's 40K freestyle — 1) Chip Schoff 1:48:16.3; 2) Trent Fritzel 1:49:02.5; 3) Hans Personius 1:57:36.5; 4) David Apperson 2:01:03.3; 5) Richard Gordon-Rein 2:01:24.3.

Women's 40K freestyle — 1) Jaime Bronga 2:05:15.1; 2) Christina Pohl 2:08:13.8; 3) Melina Park 2:12:16.8; 4) Cathelyne Powers 2:18:00.6; 5) Germaine Thomas 2:20:03.6.

Men's 50K freestyle — 1) Thomas O'Harra 2:10:49.2; 2) Reese Hanneman 2:13:00.2; 3) Tyler Kornfield 2:13:44.0; 4) Jack Novak 2:18:11.0; 5) Peter Brewer 2:21:39.7; 6) Galen Johnston 2:24:40.0; 7) Dylan Watts 2:24:42.0; 8) Allen Spangler 2:24:46.8; 8) Rob Whitney 2:25:21.2; 10) Tor Christopherson 2:25:44.3.

Women's 50K freestyle — 1) Rosie Frankowski 2:23:42.0; 2) Shalane Frost 2:37:58.5; 3) Nicole DeYong 2:41:10.3; 4) Stephanie Arnold 2:44:26.0; 5) Sarah Freistone 2:46:16.8; 6) Melissa Lewis 2:51:18.3; 7) Rachelle Kanady 3:00:05.3; 8) Shannon Brockman 3:06:20.3; 9) Caroline Van Hemert 3:06:55.3; 10) Stacey Buckelew 3:08:04.6.