WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Ski to Sea has come to a close for yet another year. Pacific North Sports team won in a neck and neck race, coming in first after overtaking Marr’s Heating in the kayak leg of the race. Pacific had been hot on Marr’s heels for much of the race.

Pacific North’s kayaker Ian Sawyer rang the bell just 30 seconds before Marr’s, noting how it was beneficial the event organizers chose the longer sea kayak route for Sawyer to overtake Marr’s in the final leg.

“The wind was coming down, so we were happy that they went back to the long course,” Sawyer told My Bellingham Now just minutes after winning the race for his team. “I knew with that big of a gap, at least I didn’t see what it was coming into the transition, but I knew from the canoe it was going to be a solid gap, so short course would have been hard to make up that much time.”

Marr’s Heating had a replacement kayaker according to the man who competed: Esteban Juranovics. He told KGMI that Greg Redman, the scheduled kayaker, was injured in a car accident two days prior to the race on Sunday, May 24.

Regular name on the podium for Ski to Sea Boomer’s Drive-in came in third nearly eight minutes after Marr’s. Nelson’s Market that featured Olympiad kayaker Jonas Ecker came in fourth and Yeager’s Sporting Goods rounded out the top five.

The race had some changes from previous years. The cross-country ski route was shortened on account of a lack of snow according to organizers, leading to an average 10-minute increase in speed for the top two teams. Concerns about snowmelt impacted the speed of finishing the first two legs of the race.

The top two teams held familiar faces from four-peater Birch Equipment, the team that elected not to compete together this year.

Ski to Sea is a 93-mile, seven-leg relay race featuring zany clothes, Olympic athletes, car-free competitors and numerous emotional highs and lows as the athletes traverse Whatcom County.