Skinnyski Race Team Weekend Recap
By Margaret Adelsman
December 17, 2002
Ben Popp sporting the new Skinnyski.com
Race Team warm-ups
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In spite of Mother Nature's attempts to keep folks off the
ski trails, ABR managed to host its season opener 2-day event
on December 14 and 15. A couple of good early dumps of snow
to the Ironwood, MI region held out to supply some pretty
good classic and skate tracks.
The two days of competition consisted of classic and skate
races on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Distances varied
according to age classification, but were either 5km or 10km
in length.
Sonja Bostrom pulled off a solid 10th place in the
5km classic race, competing well against the strong NMU women's
team, which included Olympian Lindsey Weier. Margie Tilman
was part of a smaller field in the citizen women's classic
event but skied home to take the top spot in that race. Both
women continued their strong performance in the freestyle
events on Sunday, with Sonja finishing in 7th and Margie 2nd,
in 5km and 10km events, respectively.
Brian May and Grant Nelson joined the race
venue on Sunday and competed strongly in the citizen men's
10km event. Brian crossed the line with a time positioning
him in 4th place, while Grant finished 8th in the event.
While not all skinnyskiers were able to compete for the 2-day
event (affected by illness or business trips, for example),
one racer had a particularly good reason to be close to home:
Jay Richards and his family welcomed the birth of their
4th child (all 4 boys!) over the weekend. Congratulations!
Race Team Results
Sonja Bostrom 10th College Female 5K classical 17:32
7th College Female 5K freestyle 14:43
Margie Tilman 1st Citizen Female 10K classical 38:50
2nd Citizen Female 10K freestyle 32:14
Brian May 4th Citizen Male 10K freestyle 26:42
Grant Nelson 8th Citizen Male 10K freestyle 27:57
Team Member Race Reports
Race Report from Sonja Bostrom
Finally I�m going to ski on real snow, I thought as
I took my rock skis out of the bag I was bringing and hopped
into the van on my way to a winter wonderland. "Afterall,
they do have four feet of snow!" we were assured by St.
Olaf superstar John Giese. We didn�t doubt Johnny�s wisdom,
despite the reality outside our windows, until we got to
ABR itself. "This doesn�t look like four feet," someone
said, and it wasn�t. However, it was white, covered the
ground and was well groomed so we were all satisfied. We
jumped out of the van, into our training clothes and went
out for course inspection. The first thing I noticed was
that even though I have gotten lots of practice going downhill
at Hyland and Trollhaugen lately, it�s a lot different on
an actual ski course with turns and trees and the like!
It was really nice to be able to ski in real tracks again!
Saturday was the classic race and boy, were there a
lot of people there! The place was jam-packed full of citizen
racers, spectators, collegiate skiers and high-school skiers
as these races were also Junior Olympic qualifying races.
It was really nice seeing so many skiers all in one place
again! A good group of the skinnyski racers were there too
with our new warm-ups and suits on and we were lookin� pretty
flashy! The collegiate men and citizens did 10K both days
while the women and juniors did 5 kilometers. I was seeded
with the collegiate skiers. Since 5k is so short and all
the races were interval start, it�s hard to give a play
by play. The best part was when I was trying to pass another
skier and almost tipping over at the same time. It was a
"one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, while yelling
track and poling" move I improvised on the spot. The course
was fun with nice up-hills and some pretty technical downs.
The last one or two k�s was pretty much all up-hill with
a nice downhill and flat to the finish. I ended up tenth
in the collegiate division and was satisfied with that race
as a first race of the year.
The 5k Freestyle race was on Sunday and was also a lot
of fun. It used the same course as the classic race and
was the same course that the 10k skiers had done, except
twice of course! The snow was getting pretty thin in some
spots with all those masses of people flying by on it so
we were not allowed to warm up on the course before the
race. It was hard to get a good warm-up in with so many
people and so little space but "s�nn er livet!" I took off
hard in this race because as Kevin (KJB) Brochman said "it�s
difficult to �go under� in a 15 minute race". I felt really
good and it was so much fun being able to race again! I
could tell where I lost some time but there will always
be things to improve upon. I was seventh in that race and
felt good with that result, and the race and weekend as
a whole!
I�m now back in snowless St. Paul preparing for a brown
Christmas and cutting snowflakes to hang on the windows,
but I�m still wearing my new skinnyski.com warm-ups! Special
thanks to Owen Hanley for letting me use his car so Mary
Krusen and I could sleep late on race mornings!
Race Report from Grant Nelson
My first race of the season was supposed to be in Duluth.
I had it all planned out. I was going to be feeling really
primed and ready to race after training consistently on snow
for a month or so. Because I live in Duluth, I even had a
few other extracurricular plans which I figured were easily
obtainable with the time I saved from not traveling to the
races. Or so I figured...
I have realized that true diehard cross country skiers
have to be very flexible considering racing and training
plans. As you might have guessed, my consistent month on
snow didn't happen. Don't get me wrong, I have been getting
some good skiing in at Giants Ridge. My brother Dave and
I have always held on to the theory that one must take full
advantage when there is good skiing. Even though I never
keep a training log, I figure my training hours double once
there is snow. Typically, the vast majority of those hours
are on weekends and vacations.
As the temperature hit 45 degrees in Duluth last Wednesday
and there wasn't any snow on the ground or in the forecast,
I knew my original plans were going to have to change. I
was also concerned because my body still hadn't recovered
from last weekend when Dave destroyed me in a short time
trial. I knew I wanted to do both the Season Opener Races
at ABR in Ironwood, MI, but decided that my body would be
happier doing just one. Even though I would have preferred
doing the classic race, the skate race on Sunday was a little
easier logistically.
Brian, Abbi & Rachel May picked me up at 6:00 AM
on Sunday morning and we all headed to Ironwood, MI. I always
get excited while climbing the big hill on highway 2, just
before Ironwood. It is almost like driving into the mountains
because at the bottom there is relatively little snow and
at the top of the hill, snow is abundant.
(Photo: Eric Anderson) |
As we entered ABR we met hundreds of other excited and
crazy skiers (and even a guy in a gorilla suit) It was an
interval start with racers starting every 15 seconds. I
started at 9:48 AM, thirty seconds after Margie Tilman and
only fifteen seconds behind Brian May. The race course was
two 5 km laps with a few nice steep hills and some rolly
sections. I thought it might get too congested with so many
skiers on the course at one time, but it wasn't bad. I'm
glad I hadn't planned on catching Brian, because he really
cranked the first lap and finished over a minute ahead of
me. I'm sure I slowed a bit on the second lap, but overall
I was happy with my performance. NMU's Chris Cook finished
well over three minutes ahead of me, but fortunately I don't
have to compete against him, because I'm not in the college
division anymore.
Post race activities included a nice relaxing cool down,
a delicious UP pasty, talking with friends about the race
and an uneventful drive back to a snowless Duluth.
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