Weekend Regional Recap

Midwest

Seeley Hills Classic Race – Hayward, WI

CXC Report by Brian Gregg

After a week of extreme cold, 465 racers enjoyed balmy temperatures in the high single digits for the 17th annual Seeley Hills Classic in Seeley, WI. The 22k and 42k event was dedicated to the memory of Gary Penman.

In the 22k, University of Wisconsin Green Bay skier Santiago Ocariz took off from the start to win by over five minutes in 1:09:53 repeating his win from last year.

The CXC Team enjoyed a race at home after traveling and racing out West and in Alaska for the last 2 months. Kristina Owen of CXC won the women’s 22k ahead of teammate Johanna Winters. The women showed their strength finishing 3rd and 10th overall. CXC’s Heather Zimmerman finished strong as the 5th woman.

Skiers in the 42km event enjoyed skiing on the American Birkebeiner Foundation’s newly constructed classic trail. Racers strode to the high point feed station before returning to County OO and joining the 22km course; a 20km section of beautiful rolling hills.

Also new this year, CXC filmed the first half of the 42k on a snowmobile in preparation for filming the 2009 American Birkebeiner. Snow fell most of the morning and the Piston Bullys were out working the trail all the way up until the start. Still, the lead racers were breaking through 1-2 inches of fresh snow.

The 42k lead group took advantage of the film snowmobile’s tracks searching for a faster line through the slow new snow. The front pack was nearly 10 skiers strong at the halfway point. Once the racers reached the tracks skied in by the 22km skiers the lead group narrowed to four skiers. These four racers skied together before spreading out with 3km to go. Brian Gregg of CXC broke away for the win with Bjorn Batdorf of Rossignol just 20 seconds behind. University of Minnesota’s Dave Anderson finished 3rd ahead of Colby graduate John Swain.

Complete Results are available at:http://www.itiming.com/raceresults/475-seeleycl09_ovl.pdf

To view the CXC 12 minute video of the first 20km of the 42 km race following the leaders, please click the link below:
http://www.cxcskiing.org/site_pages/juniors/video.htm

Next weekend begins an exciting two weeks of racing with the Central Grand Prix SuperTours at Mt Itasca in Coleraine, MN and Telemark, WI. Race distances and categories for all level skiers include 5km, 10km, and 15km interval and mass start races. More information on formats and the on-line registration link can be found on http://www.cxcskiing.org .

Lapham Peak Loppet

It’s been a good old fashioned winter here in Wisconsin with lots of snow and plenty of cold weather, certainly one to remember. The ski racing has been something to remember as well. Local skier, Chad Tolbert (C.R.A.P. Racing) has been on fire, winning two races in the past two weeks. Last week Chad won the 15k Greenbush Nordic Challenge by just three seconds over teammate Ken Statz and a talented field which included top Birkie skiers such as Oyvind Solvang. This past Saturday, January 17  Chad made it two in a row by narrowly winning the 10k Lapham Peak Loppet Christian Brekke, 56th in last year’s Birkie. Right from the start, the pace was high as Brekke lead a group of four skiers over Lapham Peak for the first time. Five kilometers later, it was still Brekke leading but with Tolbert hot on his heels and eventual third place finisher Brent Wesolek, not far behind. Into the finishing straight it was a flat out drag race to the finish, both skiers throwing themselves for line and sliding over the snow. Tolbert’s double foot slide narrowly beat Brekke’s ‘splits’ toss for the line by only inches, both finishing in 30:59:00. Brent Wesolek brought it home for third in 31:44.

Lapham Peak Results: http://www.skinnyski.com/racing/results/2009/laphamloppet.pdf
Lapham Peak Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qE1tYU2wCg (sprint finish at 2:40)

New England

Eastern Cup – Rumford, ME

Rumford, ME — Temperatures crossed into positive numbers just in time for the start of today’s TD Banknorth Eastern Cup sprints. With no wind, the sun shining brightly, and plenty of snow, it turned out to be a pleasant day for the 300 plus competitors from across the northeast and forty-five volunteers from the Rumford’s venerable Chisholm Ski Club. Today’s skate technique sprints kicked off the second weekend of Eastern Cup racing for the 2008-2009 season. For several skiers, including Freeport, Maine’s Adele Espy and Peru, Vermont’s Sophie Caldwell this weekend serves as the final tune-up before travelling to France for the World Junior Championships.

TD Banknorth Eastern Cup overall leader and last year’s series champ Sophie Caldwell won the women’s qualifying and skied comfortably through the early heats. Fresh from her 5th place finish in the U.S. Nationals Sprint in Anchorage, Alaska, UVM skier Jennie Bender (Johnson, VT) also skied well through the heats. The finish proved to be an exciting showdown between this pair, two of the nation’s best sprinters. Sophie Caldwell grabbed the lead with Bender skiing up to her side in the finishing stretch. Caldwell took the win, but, her Dartmouth teammate Stephanie Crocker, got in the middle of the fun and grabbed second place over Bender.

For men, the field was missing a clear favorite and ended up with photo-finishes in almost every first round heat. As the heats progressed, it looked more and more like the final would feature a duel between two Dartmouth College skiers, Eric Packer (Anchorage, AK) and Patrick O’brien (Putney, VT), and that is exactly what happened. Packer took the victory, O’brien was second, and teammate Nils Koons (Sidney, ME) third.Men’s Results
Women’s Results

Dartmouth’s Ida Sargent skied away from teammate and sprint winner Sophie Caldwell to earn a 6-second victory in the women’s 10K race. Adele Espy (Maine Coast) was third, edged narrowly by Caldwell in a lunge to the line. Leading the Chummy Broomhall Maine Collegiate Cup racers was 4th place Lucy Garrec (Colby). Stephanie Crocker (Dartmouth) earned 5th to go with her fine 2nd place finish in yesterday’s sprint.

David Chamberlain (MaineWSC) watched Glenn Randall (Dartmouth) lead for almost the entire race, then kicked in the final sprint to take a narrow victory. Nils Koons (Dartmouth) showed that he can both sprint and distance ski, grabbing his second third place finish in two days. Olympian Justin Freeman (New Hampton, NH) was 4th, and another Dartmouth skier, Patrick O’brien, was 5th.

15th place Matt Briggs from Colby was the top finisher for the Chummy Broomhall Maine Collegiate Cup and helped secured the cup for Colby College.The J2 Girls provided excitement with Heather Mooney (Stratton) narrowly edging CSU’s Corey Stock to the line. Cambria McDermott (Stratton) was third.

The J2 Boys started the day with CSU’s Jackson Rich earning a dominating victory. Hans Halvorsen (GMVS) and Sam Humphries (Maine Coast) skied to second and third.

The TD Banknorth Eastern Cup continues February 7 and 8 at Trapp Family Lodge as part of the USSA Super Tour races.

Results

Intermountain

Intermountain Division Hosts First Junior Nationals Qualifier at Trail Creek, in Jackson, Wyoming 1/17-18/2009

By Kathryn Tucker, parent of SVSEF skiers Torin (J2) and Montana (J3) Tucker

Clear sunny weather, temperatures in the low 20s F, and ample snow greeted the 327 competitors who raced Freestyle on Saturday, Jan 17, at Trail Creek, Jackson, WY. This race was the first Intermountain Division 2009 Jr. Nationals Qualifier.

OJ, JI, and J2 competitors skied a course that included a daunting rollercoaster referred to as “Gut Flop”. Those in contention for a podium spot skated explosively over the lip of the first drop, tucked tightly to rocket down a long steep screamer of a hill, carrying speed up to the crest of the next hill, tucked again for another steep but shorter descent ending in a sharp right corner. Racers then headed for the next steep climb aptly named “Grunt Hill”, traversed a long rolling stretch through the trees, until emerging from the forest for a winding final gradual climb to the finish. That stretch in the trees: you know you are in Jackson because there is moose poop on the trail and at times a mother moose and calf were meandering on the race course. Coaches with fog horns chased the moose away; no racers suffered moose interference.

Among the Podium finishes for Sun Valley skiers, off to a good start toward qualifying for the Intermountain Division Jr Nationals Team:

JI Women (49 competitors)
2nd Place: Makayla CAPPEL

J2 Women (44 competitors)
2nd Place: Maggie Williams

J1 Men (49 competitors)
2nd Place:Maxwell DURTSCHI

J2 Men (61 competitors)
3rd Place: Torin Tucker

Day 2, Sunday, broken clouds in the early morning and very cold, with temperatures hovering near 10 degrees F at the start of the Classic race, which was run on the same course as Saturday’s skate race.

Podium finishes for Sun Valley Skiers:
J2 Women
1st Place: Maggie Williams
OJ Men
2nd Place: Sam Farnham
J1 Men
2nd Place: Danny Sundali

Full results at www.summittiming .com

Far West

Auburn Ski Club Freestyle JOQ

Juniors from Far West, Bend OR, and Sun Valley ID all benefited from eachother’s competition in Sunday’s Junior Olympic Qualifier freestyle race. Far West’s juniors were right in the mix for the top spots.

Results