A week later made all the difference! The Muffin Race was postponed a week because of blizzard conditions that closed down much of the northwestern Lower Peninsula. But all that snow only helped conditions for the race at the Cross Country Ski Headquarters in Roscommon, MI.
Traditionally a pursuit race, this year's format was changed to a 4.5 km team sprint relay inspired by the Gold Medal victory by Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall in the 2018 Olympics. This freestyle relay race featured two skiers per relay team. There was also a shorter fun race for smaller kids. The Muffin Race is for juniors only, and counts toward Michigan Cup points. Although racers skied as teams, their individual sprint times were used to score Michigan Cup points.
Relay handoff. (All photos: Ricardo Lung)
The fast relay team was Ryan Miller and Will Haapala with a combined time of 33:52. The top mixed team of Jean Abigail and Ted Roe finished in 35:15 - also the third fastest of the day. The all-female fast team consisted of Gwen Urbain and Sage Brown, finishing in 43:38.
A very colorful relay handoff!
From a Michigan Cup points perspective, Arielle Jean (18:57), Abigail Jean (19:44) and Annie Paulson (20:55) had the three fastest total times. For the guys, Ted Roe (15:41), Ryan Miller (16:30), and Joe Theunte (17:02) were the top three.
Kid's race
Results and more pictures:
- 2019 Muffin Race photos by Ricardo Lung. See a couple more sample photos below!
- 2019 Muffin Race results (PDF), by relay team and by individual Michigan Cup results
Ya, looking good!
