Jan 27, Relay Preview

This Wednesday night will be the first relay of the 2010 headlamp race season. Find a partner and form your own team, one skating and one classic-ing. Each person does three laps of the Berg loop, alternating with his or her partner, starting and ending in front of the timing shed. It's a mass start at 6:30, but you're still self-timed. That's all there is to it -- it's lots of fun!

I'll be out of town this week, so results will be posted next week. Good luck to everyone going to Craftsbury (where David Lindahl is reporting more than two inches of rain) or the Marcialonga this weekend!

Jan 20, Skate

Totally dark headlamp skiing in this year of El Nino is fast becoming an exercise in adaptability. This week we enjoyed a refreshing rain, balmy
mid-30's temps, and a gentle breeze ruffling the tree branches. The snow was wet and fast, with fine coverage, and most of the die-hards were out there, getting in another workout before this weekend's Gunnar Hagen and sampling Jon Fewster's enormous bag of prototype boots and skis.

Good luck to everyone heading to the Gunnar Hagen (online registration closes at midnight tonight) and the Dolomitenlauf!

Masters 5k
Chris Clark, 27, 13:27
Jon Fewster, 39, 13:39
Chris Fast, 43, 14:40
Jeff Hashimoto, 38, 15:00
Tim Melbourne, 41, 15:18
Max Limb, 64, 16:02
Kyle Nagle, 36, 16:11
Brian Palm, 50, 16:12
Jason Paur, 39, 16:27
Jeff McGrew, 50, 16:29
Rolf Sunnerup, 44, 16:40
Linnea Rooke, 23, 17:01
Dale Bohm, 51, 17:03
Jim Slyfield, 52, 18:54
Mona Deprey, 43, 19:02
Jeff Clark, 56, 20:15
Stephanie Kays, 30-39, 20:45
Elizabeth Bailey, 49, 24:02
Debbie Kolp, 56, 25:12 (classic)

Juniors 2.5k
Jimmy Davis, 7:49
Nathalie Cushing, 8:53
Jordan Guzak, 8:53
Ben Corwin, 8:56 (classic)
Sam Hopkins, 10:24
Duncan Foster, 10:31
Griffin Foster, 10:41
Galen Voorhees, 10:58
Nick Manning, 11:05
Dylan Forbes, 11:58
Jillian Gerke, 12:48

Tiny Juniors 2k
Magnus Melbourne, 10, 6:39

Jan 13, classic

Last week we were ice skating; this week we were water skiing. Cabin Creek has something for everyone, including monsoon-like conditions for the drive up and back, with 35-degree temps, heavy heavy rain blowing sideways, and standing lakes of water on the freeway. But still the parking lot was full of cars and buses, and the trails were full of headlamps glowing warmly through the rain. Jon brought his gigantor bag of prototype boots, and lots of people had a chance to test them and give him comments.

Conditions varied widely over the course of the evening: Rune was probably the first racer there, at 3:00, and reported heavy rain, no grooming, and wax frustration, as nothing, not even silver klister, gave him grip. I was probably the last racer to start, at 7:00, and I found heavy rain but great grooming on firm, wet snow, and no-wax skis were just the ticket. In between, people found a little bit of everything, and everyone who showed up deserves a two-minute credit on their next marathon!

Just for fun, here are the conditions in other areas we care about: Winthrop, 33 and mixed rain/snow; Silver Star, 0C and snowing; Cable, Wisconsin, 26 and foggy; Whistler, 36 and raining; Craftsbury, Vermont, 26 and cloudy; Anchorage, 20 and snowing; and Martin reporting from Umeå, 4.50 pm: -16C, clear sky (well, pitch dark, of course).

Here are the masters' results. A large and enthusiastic group of high school skiers showed up also for the first of a three-race series, so I'll post those results as soon as I get them.

Good luck to everyone going to Winthrop for the SuperTour!

Masters 5k
Rune Harkestad, 45, 14:02
Brad Bauer, 36 (happy birthday!), 14:41
Brent Turner, 55, 16:40
Brian Dumais, 52, 16:43
Jon Fewster, 39, 16:43
Chris Clark, 27, 18:09
Robert Hardwick, 51, 18:10
Kyle Nagle, 18:25
Brian Palm, 50, 18:42
Rolf Sunnerup, 44, 18:52
Nikolay Nachev, 19:49
Chris Fast, 43, 19:55
Paul Karas, 66, 20:26
Greg Jacobson, age?, 20:32
Max Limb, 64, 21:30
Eric Kamila, 36, 23:47
Dale Bohm, 51, 23:50
Jeff Clark, 56, 25:00
Ann Grodnik, 34, 25:34
Jessica Kleiss, 32, 26:23
Jim Slyfield, 52, 26:25
Debbie Kolp, 56, 26:30

Lost and ... Lost

By now, some people have probably figured out that they brought the wrong ski bag home, or left the right ski bag behind. Someone took my blue ski bag, with the Christmas tree hanging from the zipper pull and the Kongsberger ski ties inside, and I really want it back. Plus, someone took a black Lakeside Nordic ski bag with skis inside, and Marla really wants that back. Plus, someone left behind a brand new Fischer ski bag, with price tag still attached, and a Bush School person picked it up and gave it to me. All the bags want to go back to their real owners, so if any of this sounds familiar to you, PLEASE let me know (xcskigirl04@yahoo.com, or leave a comment) and let's get this sorted out.

Thanks!

Jan 6, Skate

The first headlamp race of the season, and it was as dark and cold and icy as the inside of the freezer, or, as Elizabeth so delicately put it, "hard as rocks and cold as snot." Even so, it was really fun to come up to Cabin Creek for the evening and see the parking lot full of cars, the trails full of headlamps, and the dark dark sky full of stars. Inside the cabin, it was cheery and bright, and we warmed up with the scrumptious chocolate cake Jim made for ... someone's birthday.

Come on up and join us next week -- there is no better way to shake off the dust of your office!

Masters, 5k
Brad Bauer, 36, 11:31
Rune Harkestad, 45, 12:07
Chris Clark, 27, 12:43
Jon Fewster, 39, 12:58
Arnie Liati, 40, 13:30
Brian Dumais, 52, 13:58
Jeremy Littell, 35, 14:00
Sergei Ivanov, 28, 14:06
Tim Melbourne, 41, 14:06
Kyle Nagle, 35 (36 on Saturday!), 14:10
Peter Boveng, 51, 14:16
Robert Hardwick, 51, 14:40
Jeff McGrew, 50, 15:11
Nikolay Nachev, how old are you?, 15:20
Brian Palm, 50, 15:24
Max Limb,64, 16:02
Dale Bohm, 51. 16:11
Rolf Sunnerup, 44, 16:20
Jessica Kleiss, 32, 17:42
Eric Kamila, 36, 18:29
Ann Grodnik, 34, 19:47
Elizabeth Bailey, 49, 23:17

Juniors, 2.5k
Gareth Hardwick, 14, 7:14

Tiny Juniors, 2k
Magnus Melbourne, 10, 6:09
Nils Melbourne, 8, 6:14

plus Jason Paur, Catherine Centanni, and 18 Bush School kids

plus Marla Husnik, Tim, a parent, and 12 Lakeside School kids

Alternate workout: the Lonely Classic Skier found the course too icy to be fun and did 25x55-second double pole intervals on the road instead.

If I got your name or time wrong, please post a comment -- I took off the comment restrictions, so it should be open to everyone.

See you next week!

Headlamp Race Season Kick-Off

Here you go, headlamp skiers -- a blog that's going to show the schedule, results, and race reports!