Bear Valley Ski-O
February 23, 1997
by Mike Poulsen, meet director
Over 50 people took part in our first ski-O meet at Bear Valley,
which made it possibly the largest ski-O event ever on the West
Coast. The sky was blue and the snow was fast, but there was a
strong wind and even stronger gusts. I hate to think what the
wind-chill factor was.
Below are the complete results, and be sure to
check out the
photos,
taken by Tony Pinkham.
We thought we had a cute Start-O course with the controls hung on
wooden bears, but the kids opted for the White course, which was
great. Jakko Karras won the Start-O after winning the White
course with his grandfather, Matti Karras. Galina Shakhnovsky won
the White course for women, after taking her husband's new skis
halfway through his Long course. (She didn't realize that Oleg
needed to complete a second lap, which he did after getting his
old skis.) Lisa Wylie won the Short course, with Dave and Scott
Payne winning the men's race.
Bill Straka won the Medium course with a close finish (less than
one minute) over Jane Taylor, the first woman. Lans Taylor, a
former member of the U.S. Junior World Cup Ski-O team, won the
Long course. Kent Ohlund was second in a field dominated by
Scandinavians and Europeans. Roger Thompson, an orienteer from
England, completed the course on snowshoes.
Thanks to Paul Peterson and his staff at Bear Valley Cross Country
for allowing us to hold the event. I think a lot of people,
including new skiers, found out what a nice area this is. Many
thanks to assistant director Tony Pinkham for helping to get ski-O
back in the Sierra. Tony was a big help with mapping and course
vetting. Also, thanks to those who helped on event day: Nancy
Lindeman and Scott Aster (starts), Bill Straka (finishes), and
Galina Shakhnovsky (results).
Note: The nice rental cabin in Arnold where a lot of us stayed is
available for overnight trips (contact Venita Olsen at 415-854-
2725).
Male Female Time
Start-O (BEAR-O)
1 Jakko Karras 10:54
White Course, 3 km ski, flat
1,2 Jakko Karras 39:00
1,2 Matti Karras 39:00
1 Galina Shakhnovsky 40:14
2 Katie Anthony 51:55
3 Linda & Chris Spieller 53:00
4 June & Earl Gifford 55:00
3 Douglas Bird 59:50
4 Dave, Gregory, & Jonathan
Magram, Kirstin Haag 62:26
5 Daniel Ohlund,
Chase Danitschek 80:40
Franzi & Tania Haag DNF
Short Course, 5 km ski, flat
1 Lisa Wylie 54:07
2 Nancy Lindeman 72:00
3 Aileen Abernathy 73:00
1 Dave, Scott Payne 83:18
Medium Course, 9.5 km ski, 50 m
1 Bill Straka 99:07
1 Jane & Paul Taylor,
Nate Gardner 100:00
2 Stephanie MacLean 110:15
3 Chelsea Taylor 117:52
2 Scott Aster 119:08
4 Janet Peterson 119:39
5 Christine Shirley 123:22
6 Sharon Evans 124:39
3 Jeff Lanam 133:48
7 Linda & Glenn Wegner,
Susan Hall, Andrea Beylen 139:45
Long Course, 12.5 km ski, 120 m
1 Lans Taylor 54:35
2 Kent Ohlund 65:00
3 Tapio Karras 82:22
4 Matthias Kohler 86:01
5 Werner Haag 88:32
6 Derek MacLean 98:38
7 Tom Jahn 104:50
8 Wyatt Riley 115:20
9 Mark Peterson 128:38
10 Roger Thompson 147:00
(on showshoes)
11 Bob Cooley 161:40
12 Oleg Shakhnovsky 191:50
MSP(5) David Milne 99:15
MSP(3,4) Angelica Kisel 102:07