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The Michigan Cup was the brainchild of three skiers, Chris Weingartz,
Don Kane and Scott Salik. Chris was one of the founding members of the Ullr Nordic Ski Club from the
Detroit area. Don was from Midland but skied with the Ullr Nordic Club. Scott Salik was a founding
member of the Grand Rapids Nordic Ski Team. The series was originally scheduled for the winter of
1983 but a very poor snow year resulted in the cancellation of two of the three races and less than
ten participants at the other. The series was postponed for one year.
In the summer of 1983 a meeting was held in Lansing at Darwin Gilbert's house and a plan for the Michigan Cup Series was born. The original intent of the series was to be able to determine a true state champion over a series of races. The same series would be used to crown a champion team. Races were selected on a quality basis from those run in the Lower Peninsula. Just three classes were available that first year, Senior Men - 20-39, Senior Women 20+ and Master Men 40+. Skiers in these age groups were scored on the then current World Cup points system wherein a skier had to finish in the top twenty to received points. The winners of the inaugural 1984 Michigan Cup were the Ullr Nordic Ski Team, Kris Danielson-Senior Women, Bruce Barton-Senior Men and Doug Melvin-Master Men. The race schedule included, Shanty Creek, Grand Rapids Langlauf, Boyne Nordican, Gran Traverse, Silver Creek Challenge (East Tawas), Tur-Ski-Ree (Augusta), White Pine Stampede, Vasa and the Salt River Rennet (Midland). By the 1985 race season the basics of the Michigan Cup were instituted. Curt Door of Grand Rapids Nordic designed a Michigan Cup pin, expanded age groups were developed and relays were included for the first time. The number of teams was up to ten and included, Maybury Nordic, Ullr Nordic and White Line Racing all of the Detroit Area, Grand Rapids Nordic, Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, Nordic Sports of East Tawas, Petoskey Area Nordic, Bay Area Nordic, Au Sable Valley which would eventually become Cross Country Ski Shop, and Lansing Nordic. Maybury won a tight race with Ullr for the team competition thanks to the performance of a junior skier, exchange student from Norway and relentless training directed by Greg Taylor. Individual winners were Paul Johnson-Junior Men-GRNST, Roxanne Barton-Senior Women-Nordic Sports, Greg Taylor-Senior Men-Maybury, Helga Hoover-Master Women-Ann Arbor, Tom Anderson-Master Men-GRNST and Arne Borgnes-Super Master Men-Ullr. Clubs have come and gone, races have come and gone and scoring systems have changed over the years. But, we have survived for 19 years and the 2003 racing season will be number 20. During those years the Michigan Cup has seen skiers from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Ontario, Czech Republic, Slovenia, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Finland. The quality of our home grown skiers has been outstanding. Perhaps the best standard of quality is repeat winners of the Michigan Cup. In the Club ranks, Traverse Nordic holds a firm lead with ten wins. Grand Rapids Nordic is second with four wins and Ullr, Maybury and the combined Ullr-Maybury Nordic teams have three wins. The current champs, Cross Country Ski Shop, is the only other team to win a Michigan Cup and they have a two year run going. The winner of the overall Michigan Cup title is the champion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. In this category Wendy (Blogg) Anderson has eight championships. Originally a Canadian skier from the Toronto area, she now lives in Ohio and is perhaps the most fervent Michigan Cup participant. Milan Baic of Traverse Nordic has five titles over what has been and continues to be a stellar Michigan Cup and marathon career. Jonathon Newbury of Harbor Springs garnered four titles before retiring from ski racing about 5 years ago. John's sister Vicki (Newbury) Asmus has three titles earned after an exceptional All-American career at Northern Michigan University and the US Ski Team. Deb Baker earned three titles skiing for both Ullr and Traverse Nordic before moving on to California. Roxanne Barton and her brother Tim Triebold have two titles each. In age group titles Wendy (Blogg) Anderson has the most with 10, followed closely by Tom Anderson with nine Master and Senior Masters titles. In third place, Beth Caldwell has won eight Master and Senior Master titles. Fourth goes to another familiar face, Milan Baic with six. Arne Borgnes, Vicki (Newbury) Asmus and Stephen Smigiel are tied for fifth with five titles each. Six skiers are tied for eighth with four titles each; Roxanne Barton, Lars Wigert, John Gravlin, Jonathon Newbury, Christian Byar and Max Weir. Deb Baker, Sara Cockrell, Les Brooks, Canadian Tenho Tikka, Denny Polzin and Triston Cole are the only three time Michigan Cup Age Group title holders all tied for 14th. There you have it. The top nineteen in nineteen years of Michigan Cup racing. Will you be included after the 2003 season? |
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