Bruce Jamieson conquers World Masters 7.5 km FS in blizzard

As mentioned earlier, conditions at World Masters yesterday were beyond challenging. They got 10″ of snow within 12 hours–much of it during the 7.5 km FS race.

Here are some photos of Bruce Jamieson, Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks (NSCF) board member and Sonot Kkaazoot volunteer, taken by former NSCF skier, Dave Edic,

Bruce Jamieson in blizzard sm

Photos by Dave Edic

7.5 km FS race 1-22-18 sm

Older Masters skiers suffered longer in the blizzard than the younger, faster skiers. We salute the great ski performances of all the Fairbanks skiers yesterday. Enjoy your rest day.

Chythlook and Flaharty win gold and silver in blizzard at World Masters 7.5 km FS

Bad Bob Baker, Sonot Kkaazoot originator, course chief, and major organizer, has a new role today, as proud dad of World Masters Gold Medalist, Gina Chythlook, F2, in the 7.5 km freestyle race with a time of 24:32.5 and Silver Medalist, Davya Flaharty, F1, in a time of 24.50.7. It was both snowing and blowing as this photo shows:

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Davya Flaharty (bib 106) leads older sister, Gina Chythlook (bib 202) in blizzard during 7.5 km FS at World Masters--photo by Sharon Baker

Bob’s son-in-law, Tyson Flaharty, M1, was 5th in a time of 19:38.4.

Bruce Jamieson, former Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks President and current Board Member,  was 36th in the M8 event, with a time of 35:01.3.

Congratulations to all our Fairbanks World Masters skiers who prevailed in blizzard conditions in Minneapolis today.

 

World Masters 7.5 km CL Results

At World Masters today in the 7.5 km CL events, Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks skiers were challenged by windy conditions in early stages of a snow storm that added leaf matter to their sticky kick wax

Bob Baker, 19th in M6 event with time of 25.11.6.

Chris Puchner, 21st in M7 event at 29:48.8

Owen Hanley, 18th in M9 event at 30:35.3.

All three of these skiers are key members of the Sonot Kkaazoot organizing group.

Sharon Baker, long time Sonot Kkaazoot volunteer, was 6th in her F6 event with a time of 28.38.4. Sharon described the bottoms of her skis after the event as looking like “a long, wet, twisted blob of tissue!!”

Hang tough! And major kudos for your great skis.

Fairbanks skiers medal at 15/30 km freestyle races at World Masters

Sunday’s races at Masters World Cup in Minneapolis were 15/30 km freestyle events. Results for some Fairbanks skiers include:

Tyson Flaharty, (above) 3rd overall and 2nd American in the M1 event for the 30 km freestyle race with a time of 1:10.45.

Bruce Jamieson, a M8 skier in the 15 km freestyle event, finished 33rd with a time of 49:59.3.

Davya Flaharty, was second overall in the F1 event for the 15 km freestyle with a time of 39:30.3.

Gina Chythlook, a F2 skier, was 2nd overall in a time of 41:03.6 for 15 km.

Sharon Baker (above, mother to Davya and Gina), a F6 skier, was 4th overall and 3rd American with a time of 46:10.0 for 15 km.

Great job!

Skiing on Sonot Kkaazoot course is great

Although October was exceptionally wet, temperatures were also unusually warm so snow was late in coming to the Fairbanks area. However, after one false start, the snowpack on the Jim Whisenhant cross country ski trails at Birch Hill Recreation Area and on Fort Wainwright trails is great for both classical and free technique skiing. Thanks to a lot of volunteer brushing work done this fall on the White Bear trail, skate and classical skiing are great. Unfortunately, our fitness isn’t quite in the same shape yet. Here’s what coronary bypass looked like a week ago:

Coronary bypass sm

Yesterday we skied from the Sunnyside Trail to Fort Wainwright, where we found that the Army was busily enhancing snow cover on the alpine ski hill making for unusual skiing conditions up the ski slope to the base of the Sonot Connector. However, the classical tracks on the Sonot Connector and White Bear were awesome.

FWW ski hill at base of Sonot Connector sm

Take a break from snow shoveling and scooping to enjoy the ski trails!

The 31st annual Sonot Kkaazoot just 4 months away.

Photographs from the 20 km turnaround

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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]
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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.