The weekend regional recap. Remember, if you want to see your race included, please send us results and/or a write up!
New England
Craftsbury Classic, Craftsbury, VT
We had quite a turnout for the Craftsbury Classic – nearly 180 racers of all ages raced on Sunday. The bunch was greeted by nearly ideal trail conditions for classic skiing: cold snow, reworked with the tiller to be nice and fast, but easily waxed for.
The day started out with a 2 x 2k relay event, contested by 5 teams. Topher Sabot and Jen Mygatt swooped up from the south (Williamstown, MA and New Haven, CT) to claim the prize.
Next up, the BKL kids had their chance to tackle the same 2k (Lemon’s Haunt) the relay teams just used. Leading all BKL boys home was Sam Merrens from Norwich. Sam’s a J3 for Ford Sayre. The Ford Sayre club continuted its winning ways in the BKL girls’ race when teammate Elise Hardy of Norwich broke the tape in 8:31. Both races had great competition from nice sized fields.
The biggest start of the day was the mass start at 11AM with the J2 Boy’s/Girl’s 5k as well as J1 and up Men’s/Women’s 10k going at once. For the field size, the start went pretty smoothly, though you wanted to get out quickly if you wanted your race plan not to be hampered by traffic for the first several k’s.
For the 5k event, Cambria McDermott of Putney – a J3 – raced up a division to take the win for the Putney Ski Club in 16:48. On the boys’ side, it was GMVS’ Hans Halvorsen (Darien, CT) coming through in 15:07 to take the victory.
The 10k event saw some heavy hitters in the group: Pat Weaver of the Salomon Factory Team, Eli Enman of Rossignol and Sleepy Hollow and Olympian Marc Gilbertson joined a field that had more than a few collegiate racers of both genders in its ranks as well.
After the dust settle from roughly a half an hour of racing on Craftsbury’s trails, it was Enman who would edge Weaver in a sprint to the line in 27:43. One of those fast collegians won the women’s race – Robyn Anderson of Middlebury College. Robyn covered 10k in 32:55 to take home the prize.
All in all, a great day of racing at Craftsbury! In addition to everyone who showed up, a huge thanks to the volunteers and staff who made this new race possible. Maybe the classic will become a new tradition at Craftsbury?
Fourteenth Season of Nordic Meisters Underway at Great Glen Trails
Pinkham Notch, NH — On a perfect winter day in Pinkham Notch, the fourteenth season of Nordic Meisters kicked off at Great Glen Trails. Nordic Meisters is the largest weekly cross country race series in the country.
More than 80 competitors participated in this opening week, and Great Glen Trails expects to draw more than 100 competitors throughout the season. Week 1 results are available at http://www.GreatGlenTrails.com. Each week, results are posted online and in the Conway Daily Sun.
Nordic Meisters runs for eight weeks from January 6 through March 3, 2009. (No race on February 17.) Participants race against the clock on a 5km Nordic Meister course. Nordic Meisters features divisions for men, women and juniors for both skate and classic techniques. With an age adjustment system, all ages can compete on a level playing field. The timing desk is open and available between the hours of 9:00 am and 3:45 pm. An awards party will be held on March 14 at the end of the series with the top three skiers in each class awarded trophies, while all participants completing six out of eight weeks are entered into a prize raffle. (Must be present to win.)
Nordic Meisters also features an untimed category for those who do not wish to be timed. However, these participants can still qualify for the prize raffle by completing the requisite number of weeks.
Intermountain
Wyoming High School Season Continues At Pahaska Teepee
The second weekend of races for the Wyoming High School were hosted by Cody High School at Pahaska Teepee–at the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park–on January 2 & 3. Due to road conditions, Jackson High School was unable to attend the meet.
On Friday, boys and girls skied a 7K plus freestyle race. Levin Zars (Laramie) won the boys race in 22:39, followed by Bryan Sanger (23:13) and Nathan Hough (23:35), both from Kelly Walsh. In the girls race, Bridget Weiner (Casper Kelly Walsh) finished in 26:42, followed by Shanna McCleary (Casper Natrona County) in 27:12 and Shelby Wilson (Lander Valley) in 27:41.
On a 5K plus course on Saturday, Shanna McCleary claimed the top spot in the girls race in 27:41, followed by Kacie McCleary (Casper Natrona County) in 27:52 and Weiner in 28:00. The boys race saw the same three skiers in the top 3: Zars (21:10), Sanger (21:37) and Hough (22:15).
In the two-day team race, the Laramie boys team won with 134 points, followed by Casper Kelly Walsh (119). For the girls, Casper Natrona County finished with 132 points, followed by Lander Valley (107).
The next races are scheduled for Jackson on January 16-17.
Full results can be found at http://www.nordicski.org.
Midwest
CXC West Itasca Opener – Midwest Junior Olympic Qualifier – Rainbow Resort, Waubun, MN
Top junior athletes and a few adults raced the exciting, challenging trails at Rainbow Resort this weekend in heavy snow turning to sub-zero cold.
Hayward, WI (January 5, 2009)
The 2-day CXC JOQ West Itasca Opener XC ski races recently held at Rainbow Resort were a great success for all involved.
The Saturday 1.5km Classic Sprint race was all about 7” of falling snow throughout the race event on beautifully groomed trails with temperatures reaching 20`F. Skiers had a great race event in the big snow fall. Stars of the day included OJs Joe Dubay edging Doug Debold, both home for the holidays from Finland and Middlebury respectively, and Eleanor Magnuson; J1s Lynn Duijndam and Kasey Bacso; J2s Summer Ellefson and Dylan McGarthwaite; and J3 Keeley Jackson. Corey Coogan won the citizen category 5km for women and Alexander Reich for men.
After 5pm as the snow subsided, the temperature started to drop. The competition committee immediately set out a plan C for Cold for the Sunday freestyle race. Plan C included compressing events and postponing the race until noon. The race organizer immediately reached out to racers, parents, coaches, families and volunteers.
With the help of morning sunshine and a very light breeze, the temperature rose from lows of –12`F to -4.9’F at 11:50am, 10 minutes before the revised race start time. The one-time delay of 2.5 hours and compression of the race day gave all skiers extra rest and recovery time while still concluding the race event as originally scheduled at 2:00pm. The 5/10km Skate format on the steeply rolling Rainbow trails came off without a hitch. Top skiers included some names from the Saturday Sprint, as well as a couple of new faces. Category winners included Joe Dubay in the male OJ, Lynn Duijndam and Kasey Bacso for J1, J2s Nicolette Amber and Dylan McGarthwaite, Keeley Jackson in the J3/J4, and Alexander Reich in the citizen 10km.
Athletes from 2 years old to adults enjoyed the two-day racing and hospitalities from the race host, Rainbow Resort.
On behalf of the race organizer, I want to thank all the sponsors, volunteers, racers, parents, friends and families for helping us in this successful event. Ahvo Taipale did a great job announcing. Especially, I want to thank our volunteer grounds crew led by Doug Schumann and the CXC race officials/TDs for making prompt, safe, and accommodating decisions and actions to ensure this race remains one of the top notch races in the region.
Full Results at http://www.pttiming.com/raceresults.php?eventid=100765
Amy Xu
Chief of Competition
