Sunnyside Pursuit/JOQ – Mt. Bachelor, Oregon
Cold, windy conditions and monstrous amounts of new snow made for soft
conditions at the Sunnyside Pursuit/JOQ, held at Mt. Bachelor, OR on
Jan.3/4. The large turnout of junior skiers from around the northwest were
treated to an appearance of Olympic Gold medallist Beckie Scott, home during
a break in the FIS World cup schedule. Scott posted the fastest women's
skate time on Saturday (16.11), followed by Suzanne King of Team Atomic
(16.48). Beckie opted to not race the classic 5k on Sunday, which Suzanne
won, moving her into first overall.
Trent Lowe of MBSEF won the men's 10k skate race with an impressive time
of 31.36, however his 1 minute margin was not quite enough to hold off Jan
Spurkland of XC Oregon, who took the overall win by a few seconds, in
1.07.02. Mark King of Team Atomic moved up to third overall after the
classic leg, in 1.09.28.
David Bong and Dan Packman of Team FasterSkier/TorbjornSport each won their age class.
Complete results can be viewed at <www.mbsef.org
15th Anniversary Salomon Nordic Series…Presented by Subaru — Vail, Colorado
The forecast called for very cold conditions with over night temps dropping below 0 F. However over night temps only dropped to around 10F, with race time temps approximately 18 – 20F. Vail had just received 12″ of new, slightly wet snow, which made the track soft but still relatively good. The soft snow and the 8300' elevation proved to get the better of several skiers.
The 15-km Skate Race was a mass start. Michael Brothers, Scott Oberbreckling and FasterSkier/TorbjornSport (FS/TBS) Team member Dave Zink sprinted for the finish at the end. Karen Waeschle (FS/TBS) easily won the women’s race doing her usual battle with the angry second group of men. She is reported really looking forward to that women’s elite wave at the Birkie!
Results for the race can be found at <www.emgcolorado.com
The Chestnut Valley 11 km Free Technique Race, Harbor Springs, Michigan
This was the first points race of the year in the Michigan Cup Series. 105 racers participated in this mass start race, skiing three laps around the gently rolling golf course in snow that could likened to mashed potatoes (above freezing temperatures for the past 36 hours and 3 hours of rain). The temperature at race time was 35F with gusty winds and mostly cloudy skies. Snow had been warm and wet for days – a race day for heavy rills and pure flourocarbon wax. By the third lap, the racers were skiing through puddles.
Milan Baic (33:35) beat out Andrew Triebold (34:02) and David Maclean (34:26) to win the 11 km Men's race. In the 7 km women's race, Megan Madion (30:11) finished first, followed by Jesi Schwab (31:25) and Amy Todd (37:10). Fasterskier/TorbjornSport Team skier Mike Muha took 24th overall in 40:45, fourth in his age group.
This was also a USSA Great Lakes District Olympic Qualifier race, so lots of juniors attended. Jared Cregg came all the way down from Marquette to beat fellow Marquette resident Thomas McFadden 25:22 to 30:34. Kyle Endicott was third in 31:54.
Among Junior Women, sisters Julia and Anna Coulter of Traverse City finished one-two in 30:11 and 31:25 respectively, followed by Ingrid Fjeldheim of Marquette.
Results can be found at: <www.nordicskiracer.com
