What a day for a ski race! Perfect blue skies, cold morning temperatures and a large colorful field of racers to run the fast 40k course from Mazama to Sun Mountain! Thanks to Methow Trails for putting on another terrific event. I have lots of pictures of racers and also pictures of volunteers too. It takes over 100 volunteers to put on a race like this. You can find out more about the race and find a link to the results here.
I started photographing before sunrise and moonset at Mazama. There were four starts beginning with the classic skiers at 8:15 followed 30 minutes later with the first wave of freestyle skiers and then another wave of freestyle and then the para skiers who went 10.5k. After that, I drove to the finish area at Sun Mountain where volunteers were readying the food and drinks and setting up the finish line. Just a few minutes later, the first racer crossed the line, a classic skier in a little over two hours. Shortly, the freestylers started coming in at less than two hours! Such a great bunch of athletes! I congratulate all the participants in the Ski to the Sun race!