4th annual roller ski races see record number compete

A record number of athletes were in action for the fourth annual roller ski races held Friday and Saturday in Rice Lake.

A total of 51 men and 28 women competed in the Shoreline Sprints Saturday on Lakeshore Drive, as the 79 in action topped last year’s total by nearly 30. During the distance races on Friday east of Rice Lake on Highway W, a total of 45 roller skiers competed.

Athletes came from seven states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Maine and New Hampshire) and two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec).

Zak Ketterson of Minneapolis and Mariel Merlii Pulles of Fairbanks, Alaska, swept the men’s and women’s distance and sprint events, respectively.

Ketterson is now a two-time winner of the Shoreline Sprints after he also won in the event’s first race in 2021. Saturday he finished with a time of 2 minutes, and 44.94 seconds on the 1.3-kilometer race to edge Julian Smith of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, by just 0.07 seconds. In Friday’s 15-kilometer distance event held on Highway W east of Rice Lake, Ketterson finished in 39:05.44, defeating Smith by about 7 seconds.

Pulles had the longest distance to travel to Rice Lake from Alaska, yet she easily won the distance event and then added the sprint victory a day later. In the distance race Pulles won in 45:52.57, a 41-second gap between her and second finishing Clara Hegan of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Pulles won the sprint in 2:49.12, to also beat Hegan by 0.2.

Barron’s Fran Peterson was the only Barron County athlete competing. In the sprint races the 2023 Barron graduate had the 10th fastest qualifying time to start the day but she didn’t advance into the semifinals after taking third in her quarterfinal heat.

Others competing from northwestern Wisconsin were 17-year-old Jack Dahlby from Chippewa Falls and 18-year-old Kristian Hudacek of Fall Creek.