January 30 Grooming Report

Hi all - sorry I've been a bit out of touch -- I have been out of town this weekend, so it's been a bit more difficult obtaining computer access.  As you know, Jon did some grooming this morning in preparation for the race.  Al will be grooming tomorrow in preparation for classic race, but will also re-groom Sunset/Winslow, Lion's, Scales Lake, Loop 3, Dog Loop and Dog Trail as well.  He will be starting at 8 a.m.  We have a little snow coming in tomorrow night into Monday, so will re-groom again on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.  Al will re-groom Ward on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. 

 

Leslie

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Are you a member of the Grand Mesa Nordic Council?  You can join for as little as $25/year -- click on the following link to join today!
http://grandmesanordicnews.blogspot.com/

GMNC-Mesa State-Grand Mesa Gliders Day One of race weekend

The first day of the Mesa State Invitational - Grand Mesa Nordic Council race weekend was a glorious day to be skiing on Grand Mesa. Today featured a 1K Sprint on and near the Arroyo Trail and Will's Hill. The top 5 collegiate competitor males were:

1. Daniel Lewis (Univ. of Wyoming)

2. Tom Sunderland (Western State College)

3. John Kirlin (Univ. of Wyoming)

4. Tre Anastasia (Mesa State College)

5. Justin Kinner (Univ. of Wyoming)

 

The top 5 females:

1. Brittany Perkins (Western State College)

2. Gwynn Barrows (Univ. of Wyoming)

3. Jamie Woelk (Western State College)

4. Gracey Lewis (Univ. of Wyoming)

5. Sarah Dixson (Univ. of Wyoming)

 

Top citizen sprinter:

1. Chris Murphy

 

Our young Grand Mesa Gliders also raced the course (ages and times included):

1. Quinn Baker (12) 6:15

2. Logan Freed (10) 8:19

3. Baxter Waltermire (8) 8:40

4. Jordan Miner (7) 8:42

5. Nora Oviatt (11) 10:16

 

Great job skiers, volunteers, groomers and weather arrangers! I hope everyone is home resting because tomorrow we return for the 10K Grand Mesa Classic with the mass start at 11 AM. See you all up top.

Tom

Tom Ela

Race Director 
434-9753
nachtambule@aol.com

Mesa State Sprints

Mother Nature provided perfect weather and snowcat operator Jon Canty provided perfect tracks for the first-ever Mesa State Sprints.

Here is a short video of the photo finish in the women's final. After viewing two different videos of the finish, we declared Western State skier Brittany Perkins the winner over University of Wyoming's Gwynn Barrows.

A hearty thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help. In particular, Tom Ela and Chuck Bodie, who came early and stayed late to make sure all was in order.

GMNC on TV

Colorado Getaways featured a segment about GMNC and Nordic skiing on the Grand Mesa in this week's show. In addition to some nice scenic footage, the show includes interviews with several Mesa State skiers, ski instructor/groomer Al Fournier, ops manager Leslie Brodhead, GMNC member Chuck Bodie, yours truly and others.

View it online here:

http://bit.ly/SkiGrandMesa

--Christie

come support the Mesa State Ski Team and GMNC

We've got two days of skiing fun coming up at Skyway.

Saturday: Mesa State Sprints

Sunday: Grand Mesa Classic

The Mesa State Sprints are spectator-friendly skate event offering something for everyone, kids included. 

Skiers begin by skiing the 1 km course for time. Racers start individually, every 30 seconds, then based on these qualifying times they are placed into elimination rounds to determine the ultimate winner. The start/finish is on the Arroyo Trail and the course features a short uphill, a sweeping downhill and a wide open finishing stretch for the sprint to the line.

The qualifiers begin at 11am, followed by head-to-head elimination heats beginning around 12:30pm.

The race features both collegiate and citizen's categories, with special prizes for the top citizens, and top masters (40+) racers. The citizens race will be held in conjunction with the collegiate race. There will also be a short kid's race (with the Grand Mesa Gliders) in between the qualifying round and the elimination heats.

In the college race, schools competing include defending national champions University of Wyoming, and Western State College and the US Air Force Academy.

The fun continues on Sunday with the Grand Mesa Classic, a 10km classic race. This is a Grand Mesa Nordic Council-sponsored event and will feature a college category in addition to our popular citizen's race. Start time is 11am.

Both events take place at Skyway on top of the Grand Mesa.

For more info, call GMNC race director Tom Ela, 434-9753 or email grandmesanordic@gmail.com

Grooming

Hi all
I arrived at skyway to find another 6 inches of snow just after 11:00 so I groomed most all the trails only loop three in the trees was left out witch will be first on the agenda for tomorrow . The moon rose at dusk and was spectacular . Enjoy some moonlight sking over the next few nights if you like that sort of thing .
Jon. Canty

Sent from my iPhone

Vasa musings:

With Christie's encouragement, I am sharing a bit of my dream-challenge-adventure that is the 2010 Vasaloppet to be held Mach 7 in Dalarna, Sweden. Last year, I participated in the the Vasaloppet's "Open Track" (all-comers) 90K race with my cousin Erik and a few of his friends. My goal was to simply finish the race, which I managed in a blistering (both feet) 8 hrs 50 min. The Open race is a relaxed event, with a rolling start time based on when one passes the start line with a micro-chip timing ankle strap. This year, cousins Erik and Bjorn, their father Torbjorn (age 70), myself and 14,000 others will race the official competitive Vasaloppet. So the bar has been raised...more to come.