Drew Moore and Eric O'Hearn alphas at Winter Wolf Skiathlon

Sun, Jan  4, 2026 - By Mike Muha

Fourth time's the charm! Justin Andre, Manager of Hanson Hills Recreation Area in Grayling, MI has been trying for four years to hold a Michigan Cup Skiathlon. The first two years...not enough snow. Year three...move it to Forbush Corner because - again - not enough snow at Hanson Hills.

Year four? GLORIOUS SNOW! Hanson Hills finally had stellar conditions for the Winter Wolf Skiathlon,, a 5K Classic + 5K Freestyle Michigan Cup race. Firm tracks and skate lane made for great racing for the wolf pack.

Race day was also the first full moon of 2026, the "Wolf Moon" - in reference to the hungry predators that have been known to howl during the long winter nights.

Predators where aplenty at the Skiathlon. Drew Moore and Erica O'Hearn easily clawed their way to the top. O'Hearn finished first in 33:50, 2:16 faster than second place Rebecca Davis (36:06). Mariah Frye was third in 38:40.

Drew Moore took an early lead for the men, winning in 28:24. Local favorite Jorden Wakeley took second in 29:59, followed by Eric Parrott in 32:18.

Lulu Cole and Traverse O'Hearn were the top junior pups in a small field.

Full results are below.

The 5k loop started with a 1 kilometer climb from the "Novice loop". The first part of the climb is very shallow - deceptively so - and gradually steepens to the first of the M93 hills. The first hill was ruff if you missed your kick wax or have less than perfect diagonal stride technique. A grade peaking at 15% toward the top of the first hill (and the 19% grade on a later hill) forced many racers out to the track and into a herringbone. Even some of the leaders had trouble with kick. Overall, the course featured around 770 feet of climbing.

After the M93 hills (marker 7), the course turned right on the Blue Trail, a more gradually rolling section of trail. At marker 8, the race turned left on Shelly's Return / Green Trail for a long descent to marker 2 and a gradual descent back to the beginning and the transition area

Vertical profile of the Winter Wolf Skiathlon course

Trail map of Hanson Hills. The race loop was essentially Novice Loop to markers 1, 7, 8, 2, 1, Novice loop.

The well organized and roomy transition area featured four rows. Racers skied down an aisle to their spot, exchanged skis and poles, and exited at an angle into the next aisle to continue the race. Some skiers had yoga or other mats to mark their area or provide a stable platform for ski exchange.

Transition area. Photo by Blair Zordell

After transition, racers skied through the start line to begin the skate leg of the race. Getting used to longer poles after 5km of classic poles was a bit of adjustment for some skiers!

Doug Cornell video: "The start and first downhill of today's (Jan 3, 2026) Winter Wolf Skiathlon at Hanson Hills Recreation Area in Grayling, MI. We did a 5k classic loop followed immediately with a 5k skate loop."

2026 Winter Wolf Skiathlon Results

Hanson Hills Recreation Area, Grayling, MI
Sat. Jan 3, 2026

PDF download of the 2026 Winter Wolf Skiathlon Results

Women
Bib	Gender Place	Overall (Men & Women)	Age Group Place	Name	Age	Finish Time
7283	1	12		Erica O'Hearn	42	33:50
7253	2	19	1	Rebecca Davis	36	36:06
7259	3	24	2	Mariah Frye	39	38:40
7249	4	31	1	Heather Compton	50	41:34
7298	5	33	2	Deanna Spencer	56	42:01
7280	6	35	1	Sarah Newmister	43	42:14
7292	7	37	3	Mary Schlimmer-Willoughby	34	42:24
7242	8	42	1	Wendy Anderson	64	44:32
7265	9	43	2	Frances Hiscox	41	44:58
7502	10	49	4	Erica Thomas	39	49:36
7257	11	58	3	Phoebe Fisher	45	52:33
7289	12	59	2	Lavinia Raffoul	60	53:38
7508	13	65	1	Linda Weeks-Kaleita	71	57:14
7270	14	69	3	Leslie Maclin	67	1:08:00
7510	15	70	4	Robin Whitney	62	1:18:38
Men
Bib	Gender Place	Overall (Men & Women)	Age Group Place	Name	Age	Finish Time
7276	1	1		Drew Moore	20	28:24
7507	2	2	1	Jorden Wakeley	35	29:59
7285	3	3	2	Eric Parrott	33	32:18
7286	4	4	1	Dennis Paull	61	32:48
7284	5	5	1	John O'Hearn	45	32:49
7252	6	6	3	Michael Davis	34	33:11
7511	7	7	4	Weston Willoughby	34	33:16
7243	8	8	1	Milan Baic	66	33:17
7261	9	9	1	Glenn Goodman	59	33:17
7291	10	10	5	Michael Schlimmer	39	33:24
7255	11	11	2	Yvon Dufour	62	33:48
7281	12	13	2	Sean Newmister	40	33:53
7272	13	14	6	Danny Medina	31	34:04
7294	14	15	2	Stephen Smigiel	59	34:20
7505	15	16	1	Dane Trudgeon	18	34:53
7506	16	17	1	Jackson Tucker	29	34:55
7273	17	18	3	Matt Meersman	49	35:50
7262	18	20	1	John Gravlin	71	36:49
7297	19	21	3	Allen Sorgenfrei	61	36:54
7254	20	22	2	Ken Dawson	75	37:30
7277	21	23	4	Jonathan Morgan	61	38:08
7245	22	25	2	James Beebe	65	38:42
7296	23	26	1	Robert Smith	52	39:57
7250	24	27	3	Douglas Cornell	66	40:02
7278	25	28	4	Michael Muha	68	40:22
7275	26	29	7	Andrew Miller	34	40:55
7514	27	30	5	Blair Zordell	65	41:29
7300	28	32	5	Steve Steffke	63	41:55
7503	29	34	2	Owen Triebold	20	42:10
7287	30	36	6	Jukka Pietila	61	42:17
7241	31	38	3	James Anderson	71	42:57
7512	32	39	4	Gregory Worsnop	71	43:08
7248	33	40	5	Don Camp	73	43:19
7504	34	41	7	Robert Triebold	63	43:45
7247	35	44	2	Tony Brownell	52	47:03
7256	36	45	3	Michael Fehrenbach	57	47:41
7246	37	46	8	John Britton	63	48:10
7295	38	47	9	Mark Smith	62	48:58
7263	39	48	6	Cyril Grum	73	49:14
7279	40	50	6	Rick Neier	68	49:45
7299	41	51	4	Timothy Spencer	56	49:55
7501	42	52	7	Devan Thielfoldt	69	49:56
7268	43	53	7	Fred Koehler	71	50:14
7267	44	54	8	Gregory Kil	66	50:23
7251	45	55	4	Jesse Crandall	47	51:02
7269	46	56	5	John Kusku	41	51:04
7513	47	57	8	Zbigy Zlobicki	75	51:23
7288	48	60	10	Khalil Raffoul	60	55:19
7282	49	61	9	Daniel Nolan	74	56:04
7290	50	62	6	Joe Schlimmer	40	56:09
7260	51	63	8	Anders Gillis	39	56:50
7293	52	64	5	Todd Sheperd	55	57:09
7271	53	66	9	John Mckeon	65	59:50
7509	54	67	1	Richard Wells	80	1:03:26
7244	55	68	10	Douglas Ball	67	1:05:55
7258	56	71	10	Bruce Freeburger	74	1:29:07
Girls
Bib	Gender Place	Overall (Men & Women)	Age Group Place	Name	Age	Finish Time
7523	1	2		Lulu Cole	15	39:36
7524	2	3	1	Jemma Cole	17	42:18
7515	3	5	2	Kinley Gillis	14	56:46
Boys
Bib	Gender Place	Overall (Men & Women)	Age Group Place	Name	Age	Finish Time
7517	1	1		Traverse O'Hearn	14	31:46
7516	2	4	1	Rayne Newmister	13	48:04

Results by: RUNHIGH.COM