On relays, raw weather, and racing!

We’re back with more results! It’s been a busy interim and start to second semester for us, especially as racing ramped up. After our first weekend at Wirth, some of us kicked off interim break with the Minnesota College Championships skate relay race up at Snowflake in Duluth. Our men’s teams took 2^nd (Nels, Leif, and Jake) and 8^th (Graham, Mitchell, and Jeremy) and the women were 3^rd (Piper, Laura, and Nora) and 5^th (Shelby, Allie, and Amy), and Liza was a champ and raced the scramble leg with unfortunately no team to tag off to – so really, she was the first across the line by over half an hour! Some of these skiers then headed up to Ironwood, Michigan for an intense four-day training camp to get on snow, since the cities were pretty bare. 

Allie braving the cold at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Amelia cruising over the top of a hill at Wirth (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Teamwork! Amy and Shelby at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Jake striding the last piece of the tubing hill at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Jeremy having...fun? at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Laura working the flat at Conference (photo courtesy of Dr. Drevlow)

Liza finishing strong in the skate race at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

            After interim break, we found ourselves back up in Duluth for the CCSA Conference Relay Championships at Spirit Mountain, where our men (Nels, Leif, and Jake) and women (Piper, Shelby, and Nora) took 5^th and Allie, Amy, and Laura took 9^th. The men were the 3^rd program overall and the women 4^th, setting us up nicely for the sprint the next day and conference the next weekend. In the skate sprint, four skiers made it to heats (18 skiers advance from qualifying), where Jake was 13^th and Nels 14^th. Nora went through to the B final and finished 11^th and Piper raced some great and tricky heats and skied into the A final, finishing 5^th.

Piper working hard at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Piper and Allie in sprint heats at Wirth (photo courtesy of Skinnyski)

Paul skating through the tubing hill at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Nels with a strong skate at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Nora striding in the pack at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

Mitchell pushing hard at Conference (photo courtesy of Mrs. Brown)

            The next weekend saw us back in Wirth fielding a full team for the CCSA Conference Championships and the final JNQ race of the season. The 15/20k classic race on Friday saw Jake ski a fantastic race, pasty-ing people left and right to finish 5^th. The rest of our men also had great races, with Nels in 32^nd, Leif 34^th, and Mitchell 38^th. The women had a good day as well, with Nora 14^th, Laura 28^th, Piper 32^nd, Amy 37^th, and Shelby 40^th. The next day brought the whole team together for a frigid 5k skate race, and we battled windchill, freezing temps, and numerous race delays with duct tape on our faces and the indomitable lion in our hearts. Full results are here:  http://skinnyski.com/racing/college/2015/feb14wirthv2.pdf. The men were 3^rd and the women finished 4^th overall in the conference, a good showing for both teams. On Sunday some of the Friday racers ducked out, but cold temps and hard racing didn’t deter our team from putting four women into the skate sprint heats. Piper ended up 19^th, Shelby 24^th, Laura 27^th, and Allie 29^th. Full results can be found here: http://skinnyski.com/racing/results/2015/feb15wirth.pdf

Men's team on the podium at Conference!

No frozen faces for us!

            That catches you up on our busy racing schedule! With Conference over, many of our skiers caught the fever and raced in Cable this weekend at the Great Minnesotan Skier Get-Together…er, the Birkie. Next weekend, a smaller crew will head up to the UP to Marquette to race Regionals, and promptly fly out to USCSA Nationals in Bend, Oregon for an intense finale of 6 races in 8 days. 

            Most importantly, a huge thanks also goes out to our coaches Tom and Joel and the fantastic and generous assistance of Ollie Garrison, Fred Kueffer, Mike Smith, Sophie LaFond and Zach Hudson for the immense efforts and time they have put in to making sure our skis are waxed and fast, our muscles are ready and our minds are not going crazy – along with making sure we don’t freeze our noses off, lose our bibs, or show up two hours early to the start. They play a huge role behind the scenes and without them we would never be able to even get to the races, much less train and ski without worrying about anything but racing fast.

            Until later, we hope all of you who had the fever successfully recover from the Birkie and enjoy the snow!