Sunday: Anchorage Sprint Decision Postponed to 1pm

FasterSkierJanuary 4, 2009

The weather in Anchorage remains beautiful today but is still holding back the sprint races at Kincaid Park. The day started with a similar game plan to yesterday (Saturday), provided that the first decision would be at 11:30am instead of 10am. FIS regulations regarding scored races that affect an individual’s ability to qualify for World Championships put additional pressure on the race committee.

At 11:20am the temperature is still -14F on the course, so the final decision for today’s races will now be made at 1pm. If the races are held today it is likely that they will only run the individual qualifiers in order to keep in line with FIS regulations for qualifying for the World Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, later this year. Decisions about the weather are made by a jury of locals from the NSAA (Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage), which is hosting the event. Once a decision is made on the weather, the jury will work with USSA Officials to decide the fate of the individual event with respect to FIS regulations and modifications to the overall event schedule.

Possibilities for making up the race include running during the “rain” days on Tuesday or Thursday, or replacing the team sprint on January 8th. The USSA technique clinic scheduled for today has already been cancelled.

Some steadfast local volunteers started their second day at 6:30am in Kincaid Park to set up the relatively exciting sprint coarse. “We’ve got to set it up every day for the race and tear it down again so that they can re-groom each night,” said a well-insulated local volunteer Tor Christopherson. “It’s freezing out here – at some places on the skate coarse it’s like -20F! We were going to have a local time trial but decided to skip it in favor of a nice easy ski. The tracks are really great, though!”

We’ll keep you updated on race conditions and jury decisions over the course of the day.

UAA Assistant Mandy Kaempf of UAA making smiley faces in the hard wax.
UAA Assistant Mandy Kaempf of UAA making smiley faces in the hard wax.
Beautiful horizons as a result of the deep cold.
Beautiful horizons as a result of the deep cold.
Sun sets on the Kincaid Stadium.
Sun sets on the Kincaid Stadium.
Self Explanatory
Self Explanatory

FasterSkier

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