"I'm happy to finish on the podium at the last round," DeLong said. "I got a pretty good start and was running good until I had a real close call with a get-off on the moto track but other than that I just tried to stay steady and work my way through the pack. I want to say thanks to all the sponsors for their great help and hard work this season."

It was a roller-coaster of a day for Layne Michael, who began the race with a dead last position off the start. Michael eventually climbed his way through the pack but struggled with crashes, collisions and even through the elements for the remainder of the three-hour race. Michael made a valiant charge to the 2nd place position on lap four where he sat less than 10 seconds behind the leader but as the two-lap card came out the West Virginia native once again ran into issues. Despite a hard-fought effort, Michael ultimately finished behind his teammate DeLong to capture 4th place for the day.

"The day wasn't so good," Michael said. "I got a dead last start and finally started to pass a few people and got pushed into a tree, crashed and went back to dead last. I made my way into the top 10 and then crashed again. I eventually made my way up to 2nd and caught the leader and then things kind of fell apart at the end. I had a little crash, got a bunch of sweat inside my goggles so I pulled my goggles off on the last lap and then I couldn't see because it was so cold and my eyes were watering. It was not a good day by any means, I definitely wanted to win my last XC2 race that I participated in but I wasn't able to get the job done. I'm glad to at least end the season healthy and head into the winter to get ready to be in XC1 next year!" 

FMF XC3 125 Pro-Am

It was a flawless day of racing for Jack Edmondson, who captured his sixth victory of the season at the Ironman GNCC finale. Edmondson got off to a great start and led from start to finish in a stacked field of 125 riders. After three hours of racing, Edmondson finished with an impressive 13-minute victory over the 2nd place rider.

"It was a good day of racing at Ironman," Edmondson said. "I managed to lead from the first lap to the finish and really enjoyed my last race over here in the U.S. I had no mistakes this race and I'm happy with the end result. I can't thank the Coastal Racing Husqvarna team enough for making this all possible, it's been a great experience and something I will miss a lot."

XC1 Open Pro

Sipes didn't get a good jump off the line and as he came around the first turn he hit a downed rider and flew over the bars and onto the ground. Sipes quickly remounted and charged ahead on the opening lap to bring himself from last place all the way up to 3rd before the lap was over. The Kentucky native engaged in battle for the 3rd place position with the leaders in sight but a series of mistakes caused him to drop back and eventually pull off due to the aftermath of his crash on the opening lap.

"Ironman GNCC Is one of my favorite races all year, it's the best track we have and I've done really well here in the past so I really wanted to do well again this weekend," Sipes said. "I started to feel pretty bad and dizzy on the third lap so I'm thinking it was something to do with hitting my head in the beginning. I'm not happy that I had to pull off but it was the right decision to make. It's been a really up and down year and it's been tough but I'm just going to try to get better through the offseason and come back next year and be more consistent, be on the podium and stay off the ground. Huge thanks goes out to all of my sponsors that have stuck behind me, I couldn't do it without them!"