Two hundred nineteen skiers participated, 115 skied their age, more than 5400 kilometers were skied in the 5th annual Wells Fargo Ski Your Age in Kilometers, presented by Banner Health. The event was a fund-raiser for the Fairbanks Cross Country (FXC) ski program, the year-round junior training program of the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks.
Skiers brought Christmas leftovers to share with other “Ski-Your-Age” participants during breaks between skiing sessions. Fifty-eight of the participants were 50 years of age or older, 95 were under 20, and the remainder (74 skiers) were between 20 and 49.
This year had, by far, the highest number of participants in the event with the previous record being last year’s 144.
No entry fee was charged to any participant, but all were encouraged to donate to FXC, or to join the “Friends of FXC” boosters group. The goal of the event was to get as many people as possible onto the trails at Birch Hill to enjoy a fine day of skiing with family and friends, to celebrate the holidays and good health, and to burn off any excess calories consumed the prior day at dinner! The event is non-competitive (for the most part).
Part of the thought behind the event is to create an opportunity for people to ski where all participants can have the opportunity to achieve their goals, and where speed is not an issue. Skiers have basically all day to ski their goal in kilometers. In addition to the categories listed below, skiers can achieve bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels of kilometers for their respective ages, total kilometers in various parent-child categories are tracked, as well as siblings, grandparent-grandchild, etc. There is also a “Sunup-to-Sundown Challenge” in which skiers attempt to ski 50Km or their age (whichever is greater) between sunup (10:58AM) and sundown (2:44PM). No one met that objective this year, although Mike Kramer and Harald Aas came close.
Temperatures were in the comfortable single digits during most of the day, cooling a little and dropping slightly below zero later in the day. Conditions were excellent for classic skiing, but the freshly-fallen inch of overnight/early-morning snow made skating a bit of a chore.
John Shook skied the most Km among men, with 84, one more than Bad Bob Baker, who had hoped to ski 50Km classic and 50Km skating, but ended up with 50+33=83. Bob’s daughter Davya Flaharty also got edged out for the most K’s among women, with 69 – Megan Corazza of Homer skied 70Km.
Other noteworthy performances: 64-year-old Tom Wickwire skied his age in Km; 62-year-old Andy Blossy skied 70Km. Libby Burgess (age 55) and Norma Haubenstock (age 54) were the two oldest women to ski their ages.
The Del Alba-Strehl family had the most participants (8) and the Kerndt-Mayo family had six particpants.
Tania and Tobben Spurkland and their son Jan and Megan Corazza achieved a “Quadruple Century” totaling more than 400 in years and Kilometers skied.
The more one looks at the data, the more interesting performances one sees.
FXC and the NSCF would like to thank the title sponsor Wells Fargo, the presenting sponsor Banner Health, and all the FXC parents and supporters who helped out with the event.
Below are lists of:
* skiers who skied their ages,
* skiers who achieved the “Century” award (total of age in years + kilometers skied = 100 or greater)
* skiers who achieved the 50-50 standard (50 years old or older and skied 50Km or more)
* families of 3 (ranked by total kilometers skied)
* families of 4 or more (ranked by total kilometers skied)
* couples (ranked by total kilometers skied)
* “Double Century” rankings (total of ages in years + total of kilometers skied by a couple = 200 or more [all couples listed, even if under 200Km])
Results in the many other categories will be available tomorrow on the NSCF’s website.
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Skiers who skied their ages, listed from oldest to youngest (age in parentheses) – 115 achieved this standard:
Tom Wickwire (64)
Andrew Blossy (62)
Kes Woodward (57)
Libby Burgess (55)
Norma Haubenstock (54)
Gary Knuepfer (52)
Will Putman (51)
David Edic (51)
Kent Karns (50)
Roger Sayre (50)
Donovan Granger (50)
Bad Bob Baker (50)
Sharon Baker (50)
Corrine Leistikow (49)
Susan Faulkner (49)
Tim Prusak (49)
Susan Kerndt (49)
Jim Herriges (48)
Eric Troyer (48)
Darren Rorabaugh (48)
Tina Devine (47)
Gary Holton (44)
Christine Matson (43)
Cathy Weeg (41)
Mike Kramer (40)
Martin Truffer (40)
Sergei Streltsov (39)
Dorte Dissing (39)
Peter Fix (38)
Ed Plumb (37)
Eugenie Euskizchen (37)
Ann Farris (37)
Max Kaufman (37)
John Shook (36)
Erik Brunner (35)
Chris Garber-Slaght (33)
Steffan Oppel (33)
Robbin Garber-Slaght (33)
Matthew Klick (32)
Lalida Crawford (31)
Jan Spurkland (30)
Megan Corazza (30)
Mary Brunner (29)
Harald Aas (28)
Brandy Reeves (25)
Laura Gutierrez (25)
Davya Baker Flaharty (23)
Connor Cole (23)
Adele Mery (21)
Nick Ferree (21)
Brett Broda (21)
Olivia Karns (19)
Reese Hanneman (19)
Erica Blake (19)
Jordan Buetow (18)
Willie Via (18)
Anna Deveraux (18)
Coty Mayo (18)
David Durst (18)
David Norris (18)
Josh Branham (18)
Ian Wilkinson (18)
Stephanie Whisenhant (17)
Jacob Remington (17)
Carl Richmond (17)
Marisa Rorabaugh (17)
Keith Hoza (17)
Wyatt Mayo (16)
Matt Stoller (16)
Mary Strehl (16)
Logan Hanneman (15)
Kipp Wilkinson (15)
Patrick Nugent (15)
Michelle Strehl (15)
Mason Anderson (15)
Elizabeth Whisenhant (15)