Non-Binary 23K: Eik goes wire-to-wire in Tahoe's thin air

• David Eik led at every checkpoint and won in 2:34:18 (10:48/mi) — days after taking 2nd Non-Binary in the 3.5K Ascent
• Callie Dittmar (2:47:32) held off Skyler Dalziel (2:48:39) by just 1:07 for 2nd
• Defending champion Rocky West finished 4th in 3:07:15 — a full 7 minutes faster than the 3:14:27 that won this race in 2024
• Eight finishers took on a course topping out at 8,834 ft, under cool 57°F skies

David Eik came into this one already carrying hardware from the weekend — 2nd Non-Binary in the 3.5K Ascent — and then backed it up with a start-to-finish statement in the 23K. First at every checkpoint, Eik dropped the fastest split in the group on the KT 22→Siberia stretch and rolled home in 2:34:18 at 10:48/mi, more than 13 minutes clear. Two races, two podiums, one weekend at altitude: that's the story of the meet.

Behind, the battle for 2nd was the tightest thing on the mountain. Callie Dittmar and Skyler Dalziel ran locked in 2nd and 3rd the entire way, each with a signature move — Dittmar posting the group's fastest Snow King→KT 22 split, Dalziel answering with the 2nd-fastest climb from Siberia to High Camp. At the line it was Dittmar, 2:47:32 to 2:48:39, a margin of just 67 seconds after nearly three hours of racing.

Then there's Rocky West, last year's champion, who arrived with a title to defend and left with something arguably more satisfying: a 3:07:15 that beat their own 2024 winning time by seven minutes. It only bought 4th this year — a measure of how the front of this field has sharpened — but West raced it smartly, moving from 5th to 4th past Cal Calamia mid-race and holding it. Calamia took 5th in 3:19:45, with Abby Laskey 6th in 3:34:02. Ra Criscitiello, doubling back from a 5th-place Non-Binary run in the Ascent, finished 7th in 4:59:38, and Kit Vodehnal closed the group's day in 8th at 5:21:56 — every one of them earning it above 6,200 feet.