NB Podium 18K: Barsten Leads Wire to Wire at Broken Arrow

• Kira Barsten won the NB Podium field in 3:32:34 (19:00/mi), holding the top spot at every checkpoint from start to finish.
• Casey Wei closed in 2nd with the 2nd-fastest High Camp→Finish split among the women, crossing in 3:41:17 — 8:43 back.
• Noah Nelson was the fastest on the Siberia→High Camp segment among the women, a surge that secured 3rd place in 3:48:59.
• The three-woman NB Podium field was separated by just 16:25 from first to third across a course that climbs through air topping out near 8,820 feet.

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Kira Barsten made the NB Podium race look almost simple — she sat at the front from the opening checkpoint and never relinquished it, finishing in 3:32:34 at a 19:00/mi average over terrain that gains and loses thousands of feet between 6,200 and 8,820 feet above sea level. Her sharpest moment came on the KT 22→Siberia segment, where she posted the fastest split among the women — a stretch that likely sealed any remaining questions about the outcome.

Casey Wei spent the first two checkpoints in 3rd before moving up to 2nd by High Camp and holding that position to the line. Her 3:41:17 finish was backed by the 2nd-fastest High Camp→Finish split in the women's field — meaning she was still accelerating when it mattered most, closing the final stretch with real authority even if Barsten was already out of reach.

Noah Nelson, making the trip from Somerville, MA to race a course sitting at thin Sierra Nevada air, found her best gear on the Siberia→High Camp leg — the fastest women's split on that particular climb. That surge moved her no higher in the standings, but it underscored that her 3:48:59 finish and 3rd place in the NB Podium field came with at least one genuinely elite segment tucked inside it.