SSC CROSS COUNTRY SKI
CHAMPIONSHIP
AT SKIBO, VT ON MARCH 4, 2001
On Friday before the weekend of March 3-4, 2001 a group of SSC members began to assemble for this year’s championship in Cross County Skiing. Our fearless leader and cross county ski chairman Matt Connery put early arrivals to work right away in scouting and tracking trails. There was plenty of snow; more than ever according to what some old-timers would remember. We found a few "new" trees fallen across the trails, but they were easily removed.On Saturday we determined the trails to be used and tracked them the old-fashioned way by sending out track platoons. By the afternoon the chairman was content, and pointed out that because of the snow depth there would be no "cheating" by "skating" possible, or at least not worth while. On the other hand arm propulsion, normally accounting some 30-40 % of the "speed" for the best classic Nordic skiers, would be quite reduced. Ski poles penetrated down two to three feet in to the snow depth at the slightest "push". The better-trained skiers probably suffered a bit from these conditions.The chairman also established that more racers were present than at last years' races. We were missing some of the old war horses, as Adolf Jochnick, Eskil Tuneblom, and son Hans, Allen Clark, and son Robbie, Kjell Oskarsson, Nick Jahn etc., but also some of the more recently joined-up guys, such as Claes Holm. (The writer, in particular, had been looking forward again to measure up against the latter.)The Chairman had received, as apparently the Alpine group also did, some lame excuses for not "being there", as "being out of town", "I am hurting", "having the flu", and other not acceptable disabilities.The racecourse was less than but almost 5 km, and followed essentially the same trails as last year. It was possibly a few hundred meters longer because of wider and more turns on the big field, which made it possible to view more racers and their progress. We started and finished near the entrance at the southeastern part of the field. The MEN raced the course two times, while the LADIES raced the course once. Aside for the snow conditions already described the temperature was about 30°F ( -1°C). There had been an inch of dusting of snow during the night, which did not affect the tracks, and held waxing mistakes to a minimum, although, as expected, there were the usual complaints and excuses.Among the LADIES, Ann Jochnick repeated last years win, but cannot take "next year" for granted, since the number two, Petra Eldh and number three, Alison Jahn have already gone into intensive training and are upgrading outmoded equipment, (which incidentally Ann should do too). MargaretA U, as always, put in a solid race, as did first timer Audrey Nohre.Among the men, absent some of the aforementioned old war horses, we had expected Carl Jahn to repeat last year's win, but he was unexpected upset by his younger brother, Anders, surprisingly beaten by almost two minutes. Bronze was taken by Birger Nilsen edging Tom Jahn by a few seconds. Chairman Matt, and Mikael U. finished, as usual, a credible race, as did sons Marin and Olof. (The writer puts up Mikael as a front runner to the Skier of the Year Award, among other for his solid skiing in both the Alpine and the Nordic disciplines.)We also had some of the youngster braves ski a separate race course on the field. Because of some timing and other confusion, they had to ski the race twice. Great job!In conclusion, it was good to see more skiers present than the last few years. To have some four, five skiers of the advanced age group present skiing about 10 km in some 40 minutes is not so bad. But it should be noted that some 10 to 12 years ago the club fielded at least ten such skiers (and more 15 years ago). The board of the club should spend more time and energy to promote cross-country skiing and touring.
Tom F. Jahn
RESULT SSC C/C SKI CHAMPIONSHIP
SKIBO, VT 3.04.01COURSES: MEN: 2 X 4.8 KM = 9.6 KM. LADIES: 1 X 4.8 KMSNOW: 4' OLD "CORN", with 1" dusted powder
TEMP: 30°F; -1°C.
MEN
- LAP 1 - LAP 2 - FINISH1. ANDERS JAHN 18.56 19.13 38.092 CARL JAHN 20.04 20.12 40.163. BIRGER NILSEN 20.21 21.02 41.234. TOM JAHN 20.47 21.03 41.50 5. MARTIN UGANDER 21.47 22.43 44.206. MATT CONNERY 24.32 23.57 48.297. JUSTIN MORRISON 28.47 29.17 58.048. MIKAEL UGANDER 28.30 29.40 58.10 9. CARL NOHRE 32.49 33.11 66.0010.OLOF UGANDER 48.20 DNFLADIES1. ANN JOCHNICK 20.372. PETRA ELDH 21.323. ALISON JAHN 25.244. MARGARETA UGANDER 37.125. AUDREY NOHRE 58.27KIDS1. INGEMAR NILSEN 12.152. ALEX NOHRE 12.163. CATHERINE NOHRE 18.00