This weekend marked the conclusion of the NYSSRA points series. Before we get into that: keep your eyes on our other division blogs. Biathlon champs are on at Osceola -Thanks Hugh! https://www.skireg.com/2017ny-biathlon-championships
Ski-O is looking for snow, 3 Junior trips are/ will be on in March. There is still good skiing to be found if you are willing to drive for it.
Here’s proof that we had great weather for racing (and that Peru has a new Balaclava sponsor just in time to ski in Sunny but sub-teen temps).
Thanks to Gore’s crew, Nyssra racers were able to race on a customized, less-hilly course. With the extra stadium loop for flat terrain we were able to ski a 5 lap 15K that was somewhat longer but less tough on our legs that the Hurtathon 10K. This allowed for fewer total climbs and longer breaks in between.
This was especially impressive considering what mother nature has been doing lately. We had a super February dump giving us nearly 2′ Followed by July weather. We had no freezing overnight and several days raining in the 60’s with wind. This was even warmer than the 2000 Empire State Games with conditions better suited to canoeing than skiing.
Just before this weekend: winter weather returned with sub zero overnight lows. Just to make waxing on this several week old transformed corn snow interesting: an inch of cold fresh powder fell. Softer waxed skis that excelled in the wind protected shade on top were less quick in the windy sun by the chairlift and vice versa. Wind blew the powder into tracks rather quickly. Immediately following was easier than leading, but even a short gap slowed tracks back down. Victory required skill, strategy and guts.
On Saturday Paul Allison employed all 3 successfully (Skill: smooth kicking the whole way, Strategy: climb real fast and don’t look back, Guts: see previous) Paul notched another NYSSRA Championship victory. With Gold position decided, The Top 7 finishers worked together, discovering who climbed steadiest or descended most aggressively. This led to frequent leadership changes in the pack. As the end approached they blew the pack apart in their individual bids for the podium. Matt Torneinen made an early break and left the battle for Bronze behind. Eric Seyse gained a small lead on the Downhills which turned out to be just enough for 3rd place. The top U16 man was Alex Fragomeini. This was fast enough to propel Alex to the top of the Wilkinson Cup for this season.
Jacob Alberga and Henry Kirshe rounded out the JR Division Podium for the 15 K. Newcomer Elizabeth Waldron won the Women’s Division. P at Alberga had the best time for his 6 course as a U16 racer.
Results are up in the season spreadsheet, on underdogtiming.com: http://www.underdogtiming.com/2017-race-results and will be in our results section shortly at http://nyssranordic.org/results/
Our points series, final red group, and Wilkinson standings have been determined, and will all be posted shortly check here: http://nyssranordic.org/points/points-2016-17/
We have a new season record number of races competed that counted toward the NYSSRA series (16, much better than 7 last season)
NYSSRA Champions and the Red Group earned some snazzy hats you will see on the trail next year (along with some other cool NYSSRA logo jackets and one of a kind NYSSRA Championship sticker-ed racing poles). Make sure to train hard in the off season and attend Champs next year to join in the fun.
Racers Returned Sunday for another exciting Day of Racing. Distances were split into 2K for Women, Jrs and M5+. This proved quite competitive. However 2 JRs who clearly needed no help winning were Bryce Bayerbach, and Aiden Rowley (both of HURT). They won by nearly 3 minutes.
Mark Decker joined up with Eric Seyse for GHN-ADK Vauhti to claim silver. While Peru’s Stan Hatch and Laura Tuttle did 2 lightning fast relay laps each before heading back out for a bunch more laps on the terrific course (thus Stan is not pictured)
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The new combined format was chosen to liven up the club series. Registration showed we would have a low # of teams. This meant that the women’s and mixed division would not have significantly impacted points series results. Since it would all come down to the men’s race the course was adjusted and all racers entered the competitive overall division.
As expected it shook things up. JR’s won, and also took 5th. Mixed teams claimed 3rd and 6th. A team of masters racers for RXCSF took 4th and was competitive for silver and bronze.
Once results were totaled. HURT claimed another Club Championship. However this year they did not go home with a Champions banner. NYSSRA chose a functional trophy in the form of the NYSSRA Club Champions Ski Waxing profile. As you can see from the photo the last team member to remove their hand takes it home.
{In addition to being functional and useful, it is certain to sow jealousy within the HURT squad as every racer demands a turn so they can speed up their bases on this sturdy work surface. This will lead some to defect and join smaller squads next season- leading to tighter competition!} All kidding aside HURT put in the hard KM’s this year, came out in force, and earned their place in this years Page of Champions http://nyssranordic.org/results/page-of-champions/
(also soon to be updated our volunteers are busy chasing the remaining snowflakes but will put in time each day to get it up to date)
Thanks for being part of the 2016-17 NYSSRA season. Enjoy the remaining non NYSSRA series events and what remains/is to come in terms of snow.
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