Photos by Chris Broda
More 20 km turnaround photographs
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Author Archives: Sonot Kkaazoot
Final 2017 Sonot Kkaazoot results are posted
Thanks to Anna Sorensen, who barely caught her breath between serving as head timer for the Sonot Kkaazoot and chief of timing for the Super Tour Finals/USSA Distance National Championships, the final 2017 Sonot Kkaazoot times are posted. Results by class and by sex are available for download as PDF files on the Results page.
Although the elite skiers were absent from the 2017 Sonot Kkaazoot, Mother Nature made sure that the remaining skiers were sufficiently challenged. Last night at the Super Tour Skiathlon, temperatures were almost 30 deg warmer than at the start of the Sonot Kkaazoot on Saturday. So serving as a Super Tour volunteer wasn’t close to being as heroic as our Sonot Kkaazoot volunteers had to be.
Requests from 2017 Sonot Kkaazoot organizers
Even though the SCUM have physical and mental challenges, we like to learn from our experiences (good and not-so-good). Thus, we have two requests of you, the Sonot Kkaazoot skiers:
- Because some of the Jim Whisenhant ski trails at Birch Hill had to be modified because of the construction of the new grooming garage, Bad Bob Baker, Sonot chief-of-course, would like to know what distances your GPS devices recorded for the 40 and 50 km events on Saturday. Please let us know what device you were using and what course distance you obtained. Send your data to: contact@sonotkkaazoot.org and we’ll tally the results and adjust next year’s courses accordingly.
- A number of skiers found their glide and kick waxes to be exceedingly slow on Saturday. In the interest of speeding up race times so that the race course volunteers don’t succumb to hypothermia, please pass along any suggestions of wax combinations that worked or didn’t, and we’ll post that information for the collective Sonot Kkkaazoot blog following. Again send your comments, suggestions, and bitter disappointments to: contact@sonotkkaazoot.org
Just finishing the Sonot Kkaazoot is a win for some
Peter Leonard and Kate Fitzgerald are amazing skiers and their 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot victories Saturday were well-deserved. To many of us, just finishing the annual Sonot Kkaazoot is an accomplishment because of our increasing age and health-related challenges.
Among the SCUM organizers of the Sonot Kkaazoot, there were little internal achievements. This year, Byron Broda (who skis with two total knee replacements) beat Bad Bob Baker (whose heart stopped in June 2016 after winning his heat at the Jim Loftus Mile) to the 50 km finish line. Bruce Jamieson, who skied while undergoing chemotherapy had an endurance challenge shorter than that of Chris Puchner (who is still recovering from a bout of pneumonia). Bruce and Chris both skied at World Masters in Switzerland as did Baker and Owen Hanley, all SCUM volunteers for Saturday’s Sonot Kkaazoot.
Ken Coe, the trail sweep at Birch Hill, followed me from the top of the Sonot Connector and I could hear him behind me as I departed the stadium for the last time, However, I surprised Bob Baker, the Chena River sweep, because I was no longer the red lantern. That was because the wind had picked up a little and Dermot Cole’s layers of clothing became an effective sail holding him back. Thus, with my left leg cramping, I was able to pass him several km from the finish.
Photo by Susie Frei
As the final two 50 km finishers, we got the best bargain on our entry fees (most time per dollar spent). We’ll be back next year. I hope that you will be, too.
Skiers casting shadows at 20 km turnaround
Gallery
This gallery contains 10 photos.
All photos by Eric Troyer See earlier post for URL to Eric Troyer’s Google Photos gallery.
Photographs from the 20 km turnaround
Bad Bob Baker, Sonot Kkaazoot founder and chief of course–photo by Eric Troyer
Eric Troyer, SCUM volunteer during the Sonot Kkaazoot (who is currently running the White Mountain 100) has shared a google album of his photographs:
https://goo.gl/photos/L4AxXxQBiNVU1NQR8
You are free to download any photographs, but if you download, he asks that you contribute to the Birch Hill trails fund:
https://nordicskicluboffairbanks.wildapricot.org/Donate/
(If you need a larger version of a specific photo, Eric can email you one: fbxskierparent [at]
gmail.com).
2017 Sonot Kkaazoot winners
Although all the 236 Sonot Kkaazoot skiers who finished the 30th annual Sonot Kkaazoot were winners (especially those skiers who volunteered and skied), the skiers who crossed the finish line first were:
Pete Leonard 50 km Men’s winner in 2:38:08.4
Kate Fitzgerald 50 km Women’s winner in 2:55:25.9:
Bruce Miller 50 km CL Men’s winner in 3:20:55.9:
Hilary Saucy 50 CL Women’s winner in 4:26:30.9
Neill Toelle 40 km Men’s winner in 2:25:37.5:
Davya Flaharty 40 km Women’s winner in 2:46:51.2:
Jonathan Burrell 20 km Men’s winner in 52:53.8
Rebecca Konieczny 20 km Women’s winner in 55:30.9
Congratulations!
All photos by Eric Troyer of skiers at 20 km turnaround point on Fort Wainwright. Will try to add other photos later. Some skiers bibs were covered at this point so their identity is uncertain.
Items left at the Sonot Kkaazoot start/finish
Items left at the Sonot Kkaazoot start and finish area on the Chena River and at the Doyon Ltd. Building on race day that weren’t claimed at the Awards Ceremony have been left in the lost and found area on the second floor of the main Birch Hill Recreation Area Building. A pair of ski poles and a pair of ski boots (in a canvas bag) are among the items left behind.
30th consecutive Sonot Kkaazoot is in the books!
Thanks to the amazing efforts of Tom Helmers, Bill Husby, Ken Coe, and Bad Bob Baker, the trails for the Sonot Kkaazoot were in fantastic shape in spite of the cold snow. As noted earlier, today’s temperature at the Fort Wainwright alpine hill was 62 deg cooler than last year so all finishers today deserve a huge pat on the back.
Preliminary results are posted on the “Results” page above. Send us an email to: contact@sonotkkaazoot.org if you see any problems.
See you at the Awards Ceremony.
Temperatures Race Morning
from Bad Bob Baker on the course at 6:45 a.m.
-12 deg F on river
Denali State Bank reads -6 deg F.
Dress appropriately.
Sonot Kkaazoot 