Author Archives: Sonot Kkaazoot

Ti Donaldson, 17, wins 2018 Sonot Kkaazoot 50 km

Posted on by
Reply
TO2A8957.jpg

Ti Donaldson (bib 620) skis between a sandwich of current Alaska Nanooks (his brother, Max in front, and Logan Mowry behind) —photo by Mark Lindberg Photography (https://www.instagram.com/marklindbergphotography/)

For the first time in the 31 year history of the Sonot Kkaazoot, a high school student, Ti Donaldson won the 50 km men’s event in a time 2:19:15.0. Ti had previously won the 20 km Sonot Kkaazoot in 2014.

The women’s winner of the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot was Sarah Freistone of Anchorage with a time of 2:54:42.3

Ari Endestad won the men’s 20 km Sonot Kkaazoot with a time of 51:59.4.

Kendall Kramer won the women’s 20 km Sonot Kkaazoot with a time of 56:04.7

Zanden McMullen of Anchorage, 16, won the men’s 40 km event with a time of 1:54:12.6

Alyeska Daniels, 20, won the women’s 40 km Sonot Kkaazoot in 2:23:18.0

FXC Coach Alasdair Tutt won the men’s 50 CL with a time of 3:24:53.3

Anna Rix won the women’s 50 CL Sonot Kkaazoot in 3:49:57.2

News coverage of the Sonot Kkaazoot in Fairbanks Daily Newsminer: http://www.newsminer.com/sports/local/alasdair-tutt-wins-sonot-kkaazoot-nordic-k-classic/article_53852fd0-3012-11e8-8e59-534950ff515c.html

Final results are now posted (3/26/18):

https://sonotkkaazoot.org/results/

 

Awards not retrieved at Awards Banquet

Posted on by
Reply

Although woodels (age class awards) are not specific to specific year, the overall first, second, and third place awards in the 20 km, 40 km, 50 km, and 50 CL are specific to the 2018 Sonot Kkaazoot. So we would like to get these individually crafted awards into the hands of the awardees. Please check the provisional overall results and if you won an overall award and didn’t claim it at the Awards Banquet, please contact the Awards Maker, Mike Schmoker at: msfbc@ak.net and he’ll leave your award at the Birch Hill Recreation Area Building for you to retrieve or make other arrangements.

Sonot Photos from Fort Wainwright

Posted on by
Reply

Photos from the 2018 Sonot Kkaazoot Fort Wainwright road crossings are available at the link below. The photos are free to download. If you do download, please donate to the Birch Hill Trail Fund (https://nordicskicluboffairbanks.wildapricot.org/Donate/). If you would like a larger version of a photo just send an email to Eric at fbxskierparent@gmail.com. He’ll ask again for you to donate to the Birch Hill Trail Fund, but he’ll send you a larger version of the photo(s) for free.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Nordic-Ski-Club-of-Fairbanks-106945789335550/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2012647878765322

Saturday morning report from Tom Helmers

Posted on by
1

From Birch Hill head groomer, Tom Helmers: At the River this morning at 2:15 a.m. it was +7 deg F, +10 deg at the Lodge, +15 deg at Sonot Junction. At 5 a.m., it was +7 deg at the 5 km marker on White Bear.

Everything is looking great! The groomers literally were up all night making conditions great for the 31st annual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot.

 

Sonot Kkaazoot looks good for Chena River start

Posted on by
Reply

At the end of late registration for the 31st annual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot, we have 306 skiers entered. Of those skiers, 123 are signed up to ski the 40 or 50 km events with the majority of skiers opting for the shorter 20 km course on the Chena River.

Bad Bob Baker, chief-of-course, has drilled ice on the Chena River in all the usual problem areas, and has determined that the race is a go for the traditional Chena River start and finish.

Day-of-race registration, bib pick-up, and Sonot Kkaazoot hat sales will be in the Doyon, Ltd building from 8 to 9 a.m. on Saturday. After 9 a.m., you may pick up your bib on the Chena River from Dan Johnson. He’ll have a table with bibs and bib ties outside near the start. DO NOT DISTURB the timing crew in the visqueen shelter.

You may leave your dry clothes in the Doyon, Ltd. building as a security person will be working until about 4 p.m. Doyon, Ltd. has been a Sonot Kkaazoot sponsor for many years and we really appreciate their contribution to holding this unique spring event.

Sonot Update: Two days out

Posted on by
Reply

The temperature at the Sonot Kkaazoot race start this morning was much colder than predicted at -10 deg F. Bad Bob will be out on the river late this afternoon to determine ice thicknesses so that we can report the location of our race start at early bib pick-up tonight at the Doyon, Ltd. building from 5 to 7 p.m.

Bad Bob will drag the Chena River portion of the Sonot Kkaazoot course again this afternoon if you want to personally check it out before or after you pick up your bib.

Still trying to decide whether to sign up? Check out the awesome Sonot Kkaazoot informational flyer designed by Rebecca Heaton that is available for download on the home page.

Here are some photos that Bad Bob took on Wednesday:

Ramp down to Sonot start area sm

Ramp down to the Sonot Kkaazoot start area (all photos by Bad Bob Baker)

Chena River three days out sm

Chena River trail three days out

Chena River trail near Hamilton Acres sm

Sonot Kkaazoot trail near Hamilton Acres

Wild life on the trail 3 days out

Wildlife captured on the trail three days out

River ski trail ALMOST race ready

Posted on by
Reply

Several of the SCUM (Sonot Kkaazoot organizers) skied from Graehl Park to the Trainor Gate bridge on the Chena River to inspect the Sonot Kkaazoot ski trail after groomers Ken Coe and Bill Husby had brought down the Birch Hill drags to use in tandem with Bad Bob’s special river drag.

Early in our ski we met up with Bad Bob who was drilling the ice to check on ice thickness and reports that he never hit water with his foot long drill bit:

Bad Bob checking ice thickness sm.JPG

The corduroy was wide enough for two skaters to ski side by side as shown here:

Robert & Carl near Trainor Gate sm

Robert Hannon (Sonot military contact) and Carl Hemming (bib distribution staff) ski on newly groomed Chena River on Wednesday around noon.

However, Robert with his intensely focused journalist’s eyes managed to find an imperfection in the dragged surface that caused him to make a spectacular dive to avoid catching his tip on it.

Robert finds imperfection in grooming

Although temperatures were still in the single digits as we started out, the bright sunshine made “sliding around in springtime” fun. The trail was great under all three highway bridges where the groomers had harvested snow from the surrounding area and packed it down to cover the icy areas.

Enjoy the Chena River ski trail! The sunshine and easy speed is fantastic!