It was a great Spring skiing day at Burton Creek - on the 12th of January! The snow was a little icy/crusty in the morning, but as the sun hit the snow it softened up making conditions nicer as the day got warmer. The courses were sufficiently long to give everyone a little time to experience the different conditions. Most everyone that is, except a speedster from Norway. Below are the complete results.
Tore Myhrvold completed the Blue 21 Km course in just over 75 minutes! But then Tore has competed in long-distance ski races in Scandanavia, such as the Vasaloppet and the Birkebiener, as an elite-ranked skier. Brenda Giese, who designed some of the shorter courses, was the first female finisher and second overall on Blue in just over 2 hours. Vadimas Masalkovas finished just 6 minutes behind Brenda.
Alex and Yelena Krasnov continued the European domination of the event with a one-two finish on the Green course. Thorsten Graeve was third. On Orange, relative newcomer Dan Schaefer finished first, over 40 minutes faster than the next competitor, Bill Straka. Hiroshi Izuta in his first, but not last, American event was third. Hiroshi has ski orienteered at home in Japan and is planning to complete the rest of the events in the BAOC California Ski Championships.
Blake Heckendorn, a junior male, was first on Yellow. Vysniauskas Vytautas, his wife and children, aged 9, 7, and 2 (in sled) finished second. Milda Ragenaite, a junior female, finished third on the Yellow course. Yuko Izuta was first on White, and Christina Bertram finished second.
My thanks to Brenda and David Giese, who spent many hours designing the challenging courses. They had a personal challenge to complete the setup and event after a last-minute family emergency. Thanks again. Special thanks to the volunteers who picked up controls (Alex and Yelena Krasnov, Thorsten Graeve, and Tony Pinkham) and to newcomer Catherine O'Sullivan, who stayed outside to do Starts/Finishes although her shift lasted longer than expected. Also thanks to Bill Straka, who volunteered on the spot to do beginner's clinics. Jeff Lanam provided the expertise on the e-punch crew. Tony Pinkham provided help in every way - helped call volunteers, programmed e-punch controls, helped set up e-punch, and stepped in to help on control pickup when another volunteer had equipment problems ;-). Also, David Giese set and picked up controls, and Brenda set controls and worked Starts/Finishes. Thanks to Bob Cooley for printing maps once again at the last hour, and for Thorsten for picking them up when I had already left for Tahoe to set controls.
To those who gave their time to make this happen, I want you to know that many of those who participated expressed their appreciation that they were able to compete in such an event. We seem to be building a small but fervent group of ski orienteers. We hope to see all of these and many more of the skiing club members, who were unable to attend this event, at the next ski-o at Royal Gorge.
White (3.3 km, 40 m climb, 11 controls)
1 Yuko Izuta 0:37
2 Christina Bertram 0:55
Yellow (5.2 km, 55 m climb, 8 controls)
1 Blake Heckendorn (Junior Male) 0:55
2 Vysniauskas Vytautas & family 2:19
3 Milda Ragenaite (Junior Female) 2:26
Orange (10.2 km, 130 m climb, 10 controls)
1 Dan Schaefer 1:12:21
2 Bill Straka 1:54:15
3 Hiroshi Izuta 2:05:22
4 Jeff Lanam 2:22:18
5 Elliot Delaye 2:29:15
Eglute Martisiute DNF (skipped #6-8)
Kim Schaefer DNF (controls out of order; missed #1)
Green (16.5 km, 240 m climb, 9 controls)
1 Alex Krasnov 1:28:18
2 Yelena Krasnov 1:53:49
3 Thorsten Graeve 2:17:33
Catherine O'Sullivan DNF (skipped #7)
Jay Hann DNF (skipped #6-9)
Blue (20.9 km, 310 m climb, 11 controls)
1 Tore Myhrvold 1:15:39
2 Brenda Giese 2:01:30
3 Vadimas Masalkov 2:07:14
4 Tony Pinkham 2:24:21
5 Andrejus Masalkov 3:03:03
William Humnicky DNF (3:29:06; flew by #1)