Mar 17, Relay and Party

Daylight! Sunshine! Soft temps and fast snow and enough of it to allow us one last sprint relay, out the road to the intersection and back. The last headlamp race of the season is always bittersweet: I hate to see the season end, but the relay and post-relay party are always so much fun. As is our tradition, we mixed people up to create just-for-fun relay teams, so we had fast skiers paired with slower, and kids paired with parents (and even grandparents!). There was even room for late-comers to jump in for a lap or two. We finished just as it grew dark, and headed into the cabin for dinner (including Brian's barbecuing of the largest piece of meat ever seen that isn't still mooing), socializing, and fabulous draw prizes. Thanks to the generosity of Brent (Mr Helle Hansen and Mr Mila) and Jon (Mr Madshus), everyone in the cabin went home with something new and fun.

So that's it for the year, and it's time to spread some thanks around. Thank you, Brent, for continuing to be the guiding force behind this popular race series. Thank you, Brian, for taking on race director responsibilities when Brent had to travel for work (and for picking up race results and grooming trails and doing anything else that needed doing!) Thank you, Robert and Ozzie, for grooming the course for us every Wednesday. Thank you, Jeff and Carey and Tim and Jason, for bringing teams of kids up to the races, instilling in them a sense of adventure and a love for the sport. And thanks especially to all the racers and just skiin' folks, the skiers who continue week after week to make the trek up to the pass after work on a Wednesday night for the privilege of skiing around in the dark with your headlamps! Without you, there would be no race series, no cars in the parking lot, no lights twinkling through the trees, no happy conversation and laughter in the cabin afterward.

Check the Kongsberger website later this summer for our fall trail work schedule (www.kongsbergers.org); we'd love to have you join us in our efforts to get the trails in tip-top condition for next winter. And check back to this blog in December for next year's headlamp racing schedule.

In the meantime, have a great summer and, as US Ski Team coach Pete Vordenberg suggests, "Train. Train well, train a lot, train hard, balance it with rest. Train."

Goodbye until next year!

Season Age Group Winners
Women 20-29 (two skiers)
Linnea Rooke and Jo Smith (tie)

Women 30-39 (three skiers)
Ann Grodnik

Women 40-49 (four skiers)
Mona Deprey and Elizabeth Bailey (tie)

Women 50-59 (three skiers)
xcskigirl

Junior Boys (eight skiers)
Jordan Guzak

Junior Girls (two skiers)
Nathalie Cushing

Tiny Juniors (two skiers)
Magnus Melbourne

Men 20-29 (five skiers)
Rob Lehtinen

Men 30-39 (13 skiers)
Jon Fewster

Men 40-49 (11 skiers)
Rune Harkestad

Men 50-59 (12 skiers, old guys with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night)
Brian Dumais

Men 60-69 (2 skiers)
Max Limb

Mar 17, Preview

It's hard to believe, but headlamp racing is almost over for the season! This Wednesday, March 17, is the last race of the year. Here is the schedule, although with the time change you won't need a headlamp.

6:30 pick teams
6:45 Sprint Relays (skate & classic, up & down the road to the trail crossing)
7:15 BBQ Pot luck dinner. Grills available.
8:00 prizes

Everyone who raced this winter will be in the pool for draw prizes. We hope to see you there!

Mar 10, Classic

Snow conditions and end-of-the-season weariness may be conspiring to reduce our numbers, but still some people were out there racing and just skiin'. Thank you, Brian, for picking up the results list while I was on the last leg of my trip.

Next week: last race of the season, a two-person sprint relay, mass start at 6:30. After the race, a BBQ and party in the cabin, with prizes from our sponsor, Helle Hansen! See you there ...

Masters, Viking loop
Jon Fewster, 17:48
Brian Dumais, 17:55
Dale Bohm, 25:27

Just Skiin'
Jeff McGrew
Jakub Kosta
Chris Queitzsch
Eric Kamila
Kyle Nagle

Mar 3, Skate

I was on vacation in the Land of Snow for the last two weeks, so I'm trying to catch up with all of you headlampers. Brent sent me a report from last week; it looks like racers did a variety of courses, which will make it interesting for him to figure out the age group winners!

Here is his report on conditions:

We had wet snow which froze up later in the evening under clear skies. Due to the increasingly thin snow in some places, a variety of courses was skied. Most opted for down the road, around Berg, around Pk x2. Unless more snow/less snow happens, that will be the course for next week, too.

Next week, March 17, is the last week of this year's headlamp race season, so save the date. It's hard to believe this rainy winter is over already, but now it's time to celebrate. We'll do two-person pick-your-own-partner sprint relays starting at 6:30 (no variable starts this time) and a big party in the cabin afterward, possibly with prizes from our sponsors. (I haven't checked with Brent yet, so maybe I'm dreaming this part.) Don't miss it!

Masters, ???k
Option A: two laps of Berg plus PK
Jim Slyfield, 17:32
Dale Bohm, 18:45

Option B: two laps out the road to Berg and PK
Brian Dumais, 14:24
Christopher Fast, 14:25
Brent Turner, 14:47
Jeremy Littell, 15:36
Rob Lehtiner, 16:40
Jim Wood, 17:28
Jessica Kleiss, 18:01
Eric Kamila, 18:37
Carey Gazis, 20:30

Option C: two laps out the road to Berg with no PK
Jon Fewster, 12:10
Brad Kaesch, 13:36
Mona Deprey, 15:50

Just Skiin'
Ozzie Nordheim (also setting the tracks; thanks, Ozzie!)
Frank Harris
Rob Corkran
Kent Murdoch
Roberto Carcelen (Peru's Olympic team; yay, Roberto!)
Jason Paur
Catherina C.
Donna
Kyle Nagle (cooling down after the American Birkebeiner)
Dan Gilchrist
Kevin Wood,
Sharon Chen
US Census Lady (huh?)