a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/fam@miessner_2-782042.jpg”img style=”float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 155px; height: 320px;” src=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/fam@miessner_2-781970.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” //abr /Sunday, February 15, was a fairly typical winter day in Central Oregon. The Friday snow showers left about 5 inches of new snow in the Cascades surrounding Diamond Lake. The pointed summit of Mount Thielson sparkled with a wind blown plume of snow whipping from the top. Mount Bailey to the south beckoned with open bowls that invited alpine touring turns. And in the valley between these guardians, nordic skiers gathered at the site of the 23rd annual John Day Memorial race. divbr //divdivI mentioned in the title that this is a family affair. I first wish to acknowledge and thank my father-in-law, Dan Bulkley (age 91) for organizing and staging this race. Dan was a friend and comrade of the late John Day, the namesake of the race. Dan races often in other races here in Oregon and around the world, but on Sunday he wore the hat of race organizer. I also want to thank my wife, Dani for her help and support. She assisted Ryder Peterson in placing direction signs and flagging around the course as well as helped me pick up said signage. Ryder, although not blood family, has been a Bulkley family friend, training partner and co-chair of the race for some time and all those who race there know Ryder. Thanks also go out to the other volunteers from Ashland and Bend who helped run a great race./divdivbr //divdivThe course at Diamond Lake is family friendly. It is a flat to rolling set of trails that can be negotiated by absolute beginners or top level athletes. At this year’s edition I saw parents and children skiing together on a sunny day in the spruce/fir forest of trees flocked for a Christmas card. Husbands and wives participated in the same event encouraging each other. Seems that this is the race that for some participants is the only time old friends get together and build ski racing memories. In the class for men 85-89 Walter Krebs and Tom Gibbons shared stories of previous races and added another experience to their personal libraries of ski history. /divdivbr //divdivThe pasta feed/lunch after the race is much appreciated after a morning of hard skiing. /divdivbr //divdivThe results? This year Webskis Team athlete Eric Martin won the race by a large margin. His dad “Wild Bill” Martin also placed in his age group 70-74. Summit High School coach Muffy Roy won for the women. I won the class for men 60-64. At the time of this writing I don’t have full results. Showing well for Webskis Team were Kerrie Raymond and Win Goodbody./divimg style=”float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 320px;” src=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/Win-G@JD09-761570.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” /divbr //divdivI did have more photos I could have posted, but somehow I deleted them from my Blackberry before I got them saved. I have to admit to more skill with ski wax than high tech PDAs. br //divdivbr //divdiv(left: Win at the finish)/divdivbr //divdivAround the country, I know that many Webskis Team members are gearing up for the American Birkebeiner in Hayward, Wisconsin next weekend. I see New England Webskis Team member Greg Allen skied well in the Costal Maine 10 km skate race. If you are a Webskis Team member and see this post and did not get recognition, comment on the blog and let us know what you are doing. /divdivbr //divdivHave great skiing./divdivbr //divdivBert/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6589659500745667109-8182929556903781757?l=www.webskis.com%2Fwebskisblog.html’ alt=” //div
