2004 Summer XC Ski Championships Recap
August 12, 2004
By Yuriy Gusev
The 2nd Annual Summer XC-SKI Championships were held Saturday
at Tyrol Basin in Madison, Wisconsin. This year's event attracted
some of the best skiers from around the Midwest along with
some enthusiastic spectators. In just one year this event
has grown not only in the number of competitors, but also
award $850 dollars in prize money to the top 3 male and female
finishers and the top male and female U23 athletes.
Summer Cross-Country Ski Championship is a fundraiser for
2005 U.S. Ski Team Olympic Qualifier Capitol Square Sprints
race along with the November Sprints race and demo day
The format was a mass start cross country trail run of 2
laps around a 2.5km loop followed by a 6km uphill rollerski
pursuit. In the running portion, Andre Watt (Fischer/Salomon)
and junior Bill Bowler (NMU) pushed the pace early on, while
Owen Hanley (Team Rossignol) followed closely behind in third.
After a 1st lap of 7:30 the lead pack was down to 4. On the
2nd lap the 3 leaders remained together until the last hill
where Watt and Hanley put a small gap on Bowler. At the finish
it was Hanley in 15:32 with a 3 second advantage over Watt
and Bowler only 15 seconds back of Watt.
On the Women's side defending champ Lorie Wesolek(Team Rossignol)
was initially unchallenged in a time of 18:45. Then Maria
Stuber (NMU), who arrived a half an hour late due to road
construction and was granted an individual start, posted a
time of 18:23.
In the junior's race Jeff Schecherl (RSSS) and Bryan Garfoot(RSSS)
ran neck and neck for most of the race until Schecherl pulled
away and won by 18 seconds in 18:15. In the Junior girls class
Jena Acker (RSSS) defended her run title over Mikaela Robertson
(RSSS).
After the run was over the skiers headed over to a local
road for the 6km uphill pursuit. This year the competition
was extremely fair because V2/Jenex Rollerskis, who kindly
supplied 15 pairs of identical skis. In the men's race Hanley
and Watt skied together up the hill which resembled a stage
in the Tour de France until Hanley made a surge in the last
700m for the victory.
On the women's side, Stuber maintained her lead over Wesolek
and won in 20:38.
Results
Photos
Related links
|
