Lobo

The bad news is that Assistant Coach Marine slipped and fell on some ice in a parking lot in Anchorage, hurt her back, and was unable to go on the team’s trip to Red River for the University of New Mexico invitational.  The good news is that her back is feeling better every day, she’s able to ski with the athletes who didn’t go to New Mexico, and it looks like she’s well on her way to a fast and full recovery. 

Andrew, at his desk job.

I got the phone call from Andrew as I was making arrangements for a week’s worth of travel for my day job, asking if I could be available to show up at the airport the following morning to fill in for Marine, who wouldn’t be able to make it.  I had unbreakable work travel obligations on the day the team flew to New Mexico, but I flew down the following day, hitching a ride from Albuquerque to Red River with the University of Alaska Fairbanks team and arriving at the UAA team house in the middle of the night.  Thank you, Nanooks, for the sweet ride – and the burrito!

The Nanooks gave me a burrito and a ride to Red River. Anja, Hannah and Kirsys

We always like racing in Red River.  It’s almost always sunny, the ski trails are pretty, and the racing is tough but low-key with a unique New Mexican flavor. The racing trails are pretty high up in the thin air – just slightly below 10,000 feet. This makes for a tactical challenge because you simply cannot afford to go “anaerobic” until the final few minutes of the race because at this altitude it’s not possible to recover quickly. Racing here, there are always some unexpected results, both positive and negative.  Years ago, for example UAA’s Paul Schauer won this race, while sick, during a season in which he didn’t finish within the top ten otherwise. And there are always a few skiers who are typically on the RMISA podium but push a little too hard on the first lap and find themselves stumbling around the second lap, just trying to crawl their way to the finish line.

Quail in the start gate

Sigurd raced an excellent first (interval-start) classic race.  He was in around fifth place early in the race, but then moved into second, according to our splits, and eventually into the lead. Problem was, Alvar Alev from University of Colorado skied a better race. He started out slower than Siggi, but even as Siggi was moving up through the field, Alvar was moving faster. He skied ten seconds faster than Sigurd on the final lap, going from four seconds behind him to six seconds in front.  Nevertheless, Siggi, with his second place finish reclaims the position as the yellow jersey wearer in classic. He needs to shore up his skating in Anchorage, though, if he wants to be the RMISA MVP this year. His 11^th place on Saturday didn’t do him any favors.

Jenna

Anna

Toom

Sigurd

Sigurd finished second in the classic race. Alvar stole the handle off Siggi's flag and added it onto his own, making Siggi's flag too short, and Alvar's too long.

The second race was a "patrol start" skate race. Each team started together, giving them an opportunity to work together, if feasible.

Here's Austin on a downhill

The boys, talking it out afterwards

Jenna, Quail and Anna at the start

Jenna underway

Jenna, Michaela, Anna

We had enough time after our race to get up the hill to see a few of our alpiners in action.

Lobo coaches Christian Otto and Aljaz Praznik. They're both recent graduates at New Mexico and they put on a great set of races this weekend. The University of New Mexico Ski Team is slated to be cut at the end of this season. The Lobos have been battling this situation for the past couple of years. Last week, a New Mexico legislator advanced a bill allocating funding directly for the UNM Ski Team and soccer team.  There's a big hearing on the proposal on February 9.  If you're so inclined, you might want to make your voice heard; the Lobos can use all the help they can get!