Only the organizers of cross country's SuperTour Finals in Presque Isle, Maine, last month could prevent a Central Division clean sweep of the top three spots in the inaugural Award for SuperTour Race Organizers (ASTRO) competition.
In the competition to name the best SuperTour organizer of the season, Telemark, Wis., took top honors, winning the distinction of Best Organizer of the 2006 SuperTour. Second place went to Presque Isle, Maine, with third and fourth, respectively, to Madison, Wis., and Mount Itasca, Minn., near Duluth.
The 2006 SuperTour was organized in nine cities, and those sites were ranked by the FIS technical delegates assigned to oversee them. Each site was ranked on a 1,000 point scale, using 14 categories, U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner.
Telemark was the clear winner, earning 816 of the possible 1,000 points, compared to Presque Isle's 747. Along with Mount Itasca, Telemark scored the highest of all sites in the technical areas, which is key to a successful competition, according to Bodensteiner.