Beta Testing

In case you haven't been paying attention, Lukas broke his scaphoid bone in a training crash about a week ago, so now he'll be racing at NCAA's in a cast.  Today we went to Hillside Park for a little T-grip testing.  The Mummy had his faithful attendants Davis, Lutz and myself assisting him with his ski poles for his first outing with the new strap system.  To put it mildly, The Mummy will need to make a few more adjustments to his pole strap system before he has it dialed in.  The white tape that he grabbed from the equipment manager doesn't appear to be engineered for cold temperatures, and I think the sock on his hand is going to have to go.  The Mummy has seven days to find a solution...

RMISA Championships

The RMISA Championships are concluded.  UAA went into the weekend a little bit understaffed.  Steffi wasn't able to make it due to academic commitments, Lukas stayed home to get his broken wrist in a cast, and Jaime caught a cold last week and skipped the first race in order to recover and get healthy.  On the bright side, this provided an opportunity for other UAA skiers.  Karina and Maya scored points for the team, and the final qualifiers were announced for next week's NCAA Championships (March 7-10).  For the second time in UAA Ski Team history, a full team qualified for NCAA Championships - this means we'll have three skiers in every event:  mens / womens / alpine / cross-country.  This is a big step toward success at NCAA's because every skier who finishes scores points.  The last time we qualified a full team was 2009 in Maine, and we were fourth that year, just a few points out of second.  At NCAA's, our cross-country team will be in a lot better situation than this past weekend, with Steffi in place and racing, with Jaime healthy, and with Lukas hopefully having figured out by next week how to hold onto a ski pole with his left hand in a cast.  Our team at NCAA's will consist of Jaime, Laura, and Steffi on the XC women's team; Lasse, Lukas and Nevio on the XC men's team, Sean Alexander, Niko Harmanen and Andreas Adde on the men's alpine team, and Alex Parker, Anais Urbain and Vanessa Berther on the women's alpine team. 

Here are results from the RMISA Championships this weekend:
TEAM SCORES:
1. Utah 125 141 111 119 112 106 115 103 932

THE BREAKDOWNS:

Alpine Point Leaders:

.........UU 496, UNM 412.5, CU 400.5, UAA 348, DU 333, MSU 322, WMC 251, CMC 105

Alpine Women:

...............UU 260, CU 193.5, UNM 190.5, MSU 177, UAA 174, DU 149, WMC 120

Alpine Men:

...................UU 236, UNM 222, CU 207, DU 184, UAA 174, MSU 145, WMC 131, CMC 105

Nordic Point Leaders:

........CU 462, UU 436, MSU 428, DU 383, UNM 356, UAA 299

Nordic Women:

...............CU 231, UU 209, MSU 201, UNM 197, DU 194, UAA 150

Nordic Men:

...................CU 231, MSU 227, UU 227, DU 189, UNM 159, UAA 149

Men’s Point Leaders:

Women’s Point Leaders: .....UU 469, CU 424.5, UNM 387.5, MSU 378, DU 343, UAA 324, WMC 120

 

Women’s 5K Freestyle - RMISA/NCAA REGIONAL - FEB. 24, 2012 Men’s 10K Freestyle - RMISA/NCAA REGIONAL - FEB. 24, 2012

# Skier Team Time Pts

1 Maria Graefnings UU 13:57.4 50

2 Eliska Hajkova CU 14:29.5 47

3 Joanne Reid CU 14:33.0 44

4 Linn Klaesson UNM 14:49.2 41

5 Kate Dolan DU 14:49.3 39

6 Ase Carlson MSU 14:58.4 37

7 Clara Chauvet UNM 15:09.5 35

8 Casey Kutz MSU 15:12.4 33

9 Katie Gill DU 15:18.6 31

10 Jessica Yeaton MSU 15:21.9 30

11 Anni Nord UNM 15:23.5 29

12 Mali Noyes UU 15:25.1 28

13 Laura Rombach UAA 15:25.6 27

14 Makayla Cappel DU 15:26.0 26

15 Cambria McDermott MSU 15:32.3 ---

16 Parker Tyler UU 15:37.7 25

17 Kate Backstrum MSU 15:50.0 ---

18 Mary Rose CU 15:51.3 24

19 Jessica Jortberg DU 15:54.9 ---

20 Elena Breed DU 15:57.1 ---

21 Rachelle Kanady MSU 16:01.5 ---

22 Anita Kirvesniemi UNM 16:09.6 ---

23 Solveig Bratlie MSU 16:16.6 ---

24 Karina Smith UAA 16:22.2 23

25 Katie Stege CU 16:29.5 ---

26 Marianne Madsen CU 16:41.0 ---

27 Maya Radonich UAA 16:58.4 22

Maerta Larsen UU DNS

Jaime Bronga UAA DNS

Silje Wilsgaard DU DNS

# Skier Team Time Pts

1 Rune Malo Oedegaard CU 25:30.6 50

2 Miles Havlick UU 25:47.0 47

3 Tyler Reinking MSU 25:48.5 44

4 David Norris MSU 25:52.6 41

5 Didrik Smith UU 25:54.6 39

6 Andrew Dougherty DU 25:54.9 37

7 Vegard Kjoelhamar CU 25:59.0 35

8 Michael Schallinger MSU 26:09.2 33

9 Trygve Markset DU 26:27.2 31

10 Pat Madden MSU 26:33.1 ---

11 Andreas Hoye CU 26:35.0 30

12 Rolf Figi UU 26:46.1 29

13 Sawyer Kesselhein MSU 26:48.6 ---

14 Reid Pletcher CU 26:53.8 ---

15 Joergen Bye Brevik DU 27:00.9 28

16 Arnaud Du Pasquier CU 27:10.2 ---

17 Nevio Zeni UAA 27:33.1 27

18 Tom Smith UU 27:35.8 ---

19 Ian Mallams CU 27:38.7 ---

20 Christian Otto UNM 27:40.8 26

21 Kristian Soerlund DU 27:51.5 ---

22 Galen Johnston UAA 27:59.8 25

23 Andrew Wallace DU 28:13.4 ---

24 Lasse Moelgaard UAA 28:22.5 24

25 Eivind Solberg UNM 28:24.6 23

26 Sjur Prestsaeter UNM 28:45.5 22

27 Hans Nygren MSU 28:46.1 ---

28 Davis Dunlap UAA 32:21.6 ---

Neil Liotta MSU DNS

----------------------------------------------------

Women’s 15K Classic - RMISA/NCAA REGIONAL - FEB. 25, 2012 Men’s 20K Classic - RMISA/NCAA REGIONAL - FEB. 25, 2012

# Skier Team Time Pts

1 Maria Graefnings UU 1:01:17.5 50

2 Eliska Hajkova CU 1:01:52.4 47

3 Kate Dolan DU 1:03:05.2 44

4 Linn Klaesson UNM 1:03:15.8 41

5 Mary Rose CU 1:03:20.2 39

6 Casey Kutz MSU 1:03:25.4 37

7 Ase Carlson MSU 1:03:36.5 35

8 Parker Tyler UU 1:03:45.1 33

9 Jaime Bronga UAA 1:03:55.6 31

10 Joanne Reid CU 1:04:00.3 30

11 Kate Backstrum MSU 1:04:19.0 29

12 Jessica Yeaton MSU 1:04:25.6 ---

13 Elena Breed DU 1:04:36.0 28

14 Cambria McDermott MSU 1:04:50.9 ---

15 Anni Nord UNM 1:04:55.0 27

16 Makayla Cappel DU 1:04:55.8 26

17 Solveig Bratlie MSU 1:05:31.3 ---

18 Laura Rombach UAA 1:05:35.2 25

19 Katie Gill DU 1:05:38.3 ---

20 Jessica Jortberg DU 1:06:36.6 ---

21 Anita Kirvesniemi UNM 1:07:51.5 24

22 Katie Stege CU 1:08:29.5 ---

23 Rachelle Kanady MSU 1:08:37.5 ---

24 Mali Noyes UU 1:08:41.1 23

25 Marianne Madsen CU 1:08:48.5 ---

26 Karina Smith UAA 1:08:49.5 22

28 Maya Radonich UAA 1:15:04.2 ---

Clara Chauvet UNM DNF

Maerta Larsen UU DNS

Silje Wilsgaard DU DNS

# Skier Team Time Pts

1 Rune Malo Oedegaard CU 1:02:03.0 50

2 David Norris MSU 1:02:05.3 47

3 Didrik Smith UU 1:02:06.2 44

4 Miles Havlick UU 1:02:06.5 41

5 Trygve Markset DU 1:02:21.2 39

6 Sjur Prestsaeter UNM 1:02:36.8 37

7 Andreas Hoye CU 1:02:45.9 35

8 Tyler Reinking MSU 1:03:01.3 33

9 Vegard Kjoelhamar CU 1:03:14.8 31

10 Andrew Dougherty DU 1:03:38.2 30

11 Michael Schallinger MSU 1:03:47.4 29

12 Christian Otto UNM 1:04:31.5 28

13 Rolf Figi UU 1:04:48.7 27

14 Sawyer Kesselhein MSU 1:05:09.8 ---

15 Tom Smith UU 1:05:34.2 ---

16 Reid Pletcher CU 1:05:50.0 ---

17 Pat Madden MSU 1:06:27.7 ---

18 Lasse Moelgaard UAA 1:06:29.7 26

19 Nevio Zeni UAA 1:06:53.1 25

20 Joergen Bye Brevik DU 1:06:57.5 24

21 Ian Mallams CU 1:07:01.1 ---

22 Eivind Solberg UNM 1:07:51.4 23

23 Arnaud Du Pasquier CU 1:08:04.7 ---

24 Galen Johnston UAA 1:08:12.5 22

25 Andrew Wallace DU 1:08:39.7 ---

26 Kristian Soerlund DU 1:10:58.5 ---

27 Neil Liotta MSU 1:12:35.8 ---

28 Davis Dunlap UAA 1:17:09.5 ---

Hans Nygren MSU DNF
----------------------------------------------
Since I don't have any pictures from the team at the RMISA Championships in Montana, I'll post a few photos of my own weekend instead:

If it's backcountry skiing you like, I recommend Cordova, Alaska.  Especially if you can include it in your "work" itinerary:

.........UU 463, CU 438, UNM 381, DU 373, MSU 372, UAA 323, WMC 131, CMC 105

2. Colorado 112 80.5 95 113 116 116 115 115 862.5

3. New Mexico 98 94.5 124 96 88 92 71 105 768.5

4. Montana State 76 81 69 96 109 101 118 100 750

5. Denver 78 76 106 73 93 98 96 96 716

6. Alaska-Anchorage 96 92 78 82 73 78 76 72 647

7. Westminster 66 67 65 53 --- --- --- --- 251

8. Colorado Mtn. 51 --- 54 --- --- --- --- --- 105

Travel Day

Yesterday was a travel day for most of the UAA Ski Team.  However, we were not all traveling in the same direction.  The majority of the team left before dawn to travel to Bozeman, Montana for the RMISA Western Region Championships on Friday and Saturday.

While the team traveled to Montana, I traveled to Dillingham, Alaska, on the Bering Sea coast, for my "day job".  I really enjoy traveling for work in the winter, when I can bring skis with me and use them for transportation around western Alaska villages instead of relying on a rental car or airplane.  With a sense of direction and an open mind, you can turn "work travel" into "adventure travel".

One person who didn't do any traveling yesterday was Lukas.  Do we have to go back to calling him "Luki" again instead of "Lucky"?  On Monday, when we were doing a hard ski interval workout, Lukas crashed into the woods on one of the downhills.  He broke a pole and was able to borrow another pole to finish the workout.  But the next day when his hand swelled up, he went to the doctor and found out he'd broken his scaphoid bone and would need to put his hand in a cast for a couple of months.  So while the team competes this weekend at RMISA Regionals, Lukas is sticking around Anchorage to try to get his broken hand back in order in time for NCAA Nationals in two weeks.  I can say from personal experience that a person can ski OK with a broken scaphoid bone.  All you need is an old Swix T-grip and a roll of duct tape.  (I qualified for and raced a World Cup race with a broken scaphoid in 1990.)  So I guess if you see Lukas in the next couple months, he'll probably look something like this:

Lukas wouldn't be the first to race in Montana with a broken scaphoid:

If the bear or moose had caught him, Lasse wouldn't have been around to do this interview:

Every morning before I climb on my bicycle and ride to the office, I like to peruse the newspapers of the world to make sure I have all the latest news from around the globe. This morning as I was drinking coffee and flipping through Politiken, Denmark's largest daily newspaper, I came across this little gem:

If you can't read Danish, do yourself a favor and get a Danish friend.  A Norwegian or Swede will do in a pinch.  You'll want to be able to read this article and see all the nice things Lasse has to say about skiing at UAA.

Skiing with Lake Hood Elementary School

Last week was an intense week for the UAA Ski Team with four races in seven days, in addition to school and everything else.  So on Monday, the team took a well-deserved break from the afternoon strength workout to visit a local elementary school where we had been invited to ski with the kids after school in the schoolground.  The weather was perfect - warm and snowy - for skiing around the soccer field, having races, and skiing down the sledding hill.  The Lake Hood Elementary skiers and the UAA Ski Team enjoyed skiing together and we all made some new friends.

Seawolf Invitational

We had our stongest day of the week today, with Jaime putting up a good fight against Eliska Hajkova from CU, but not quite finding a way to come around for the win, and Laura just a couple hundred yards behind, in fourth place.  Lukas was 9th and Lasse was 11th, as they look to find the form that will put them both solidly inside the top ten or top five as we work toward the NCAA Championships next month.
http://www.anchoragenordicski.com/Racing/Other/uaa/UAA2_10_12College.pdf

 http://www.goseawolves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13400&ATCLID=205377712

http://www.adn.com/2012/02/10/2310940/uaa-invitational-15-kilometer.html

http://www.adn.com/2012/02/10/2310940/uaa-invitational-15-kilometer.html#id=2310928&view=large_view

Pictures, Anyone?

If you're in the mood to look at pictures of people doing a ski race, here are two links that should satisfy your craving:

http://www.adn.com/2012/02/04/2300256/uaa-invitational-cross-country.html#id=2300249&view=large_view

http://www.adn.com/2012/02/06/2303377/uaa-invitational-10-kilometer.html#id=2303358&view=large_view

Day 2 Results

Here's a link to today's results:
http://anchoragenordicski.com/Racing/Other/uaa/UAA2_6_12Complete.pdf

UAA Invitational Day 1

Day 1 of racing at Kincaid Park is under our belt, and our second race of the week is tomorrow.  Results from yesterday can be found here:

http://www.rmisaskiing.com/pdf.php?id=319

Photos of UAA skiers are here: http://www.goseawolves.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?&PALBID=433814&DB_OEM_ID=13400

Skiwolf:


Laura Rombaccccccccccchhhhhhhhh with her game face on in the starting gate:

(Thanks to Rhonda Dunlap for the pictures.)

UAA / Seawolf Invitational

The team is fired up and ready to host two meets (four races for men; four for women) on our home ski trails at Kincaid Park and at Alyeska Resort (alpine).  There's loads of snow, perfect skiing conditions, and the team is healthy and ready to race.  You can follow all the cross-country action on this website:  http://anchoragenordicski.com/Racing/uaa.htm