Kuhl and Elliot Big Winners at Michigan Cup Sprints

Michigan Cup Sprints Results

Mon, Feb  5, 2007 - By Mike Muha

In a repeat of yesterday's White Pine Stampede performance, Steve Kuhl, Elliot Putman and Hannah Ciesla once again took first in the men's, junior boy's, and junior girl's race divisions at the first annual Michigan Cup Sprints. Chris Seager won the women's sprints.

The race started under sunny skies, with temperatures a bit colder than the White Pine. One racer reported a thermometer reading -6F. Fortunately, only the gentlest of breezes was blowing, and only on the start line and the couple hundred meters of the 900 meter course. The wind would pick up later in the event...

Hanson Hills' head groomer Butch Stockton laid out a great course, starting with a 50 meter doublepole section tracked 6 lanes wide. The doublepole section was included to help reduce the possibility of broken poles.

The course then broadened into a smooth skate lane with room from several skiers to skate side-by-side. After the initial straightway, the course curved gently left, then right, then left into a sharp corner before straightening out into a long finish section. Three finish lanes were marked in the 75 meters leading to the finish.

The snow leading to the sharp left was significantly slower then then snow on the finishing stretch. The later stretch was on an existing part of the Hanson Hills trail system and had received much more packing over the month than the start area, which had only been groomed for two weeks.

Steve Kuhl takes control of the race in the final heat, cruising to victory.

The race began with an interval-start time trial, each racer starting every 15 seconds. Steve Kuhl won the time trial in 2:06. Hugh Pritchard and Milan Baic were second and third in 2:12 and 2:15.

The time trial times were used to seed the head-to-head heats and for tie breakers. While seeds were determined, the race took a break inside Hanson Hills archery building – the race headquarters.

After seeding, the women’s and junior girls finals were run. Because only 4 women and 2 junior girls registered, the two groups were run together – two races in one heat.

Men’s Division

Next, the men raced. The first set of eight qualifying heats contained 5-6 men, with the top time trial finishers spread across different heats. The top two from each heat moved into 4-man quarter-final heats. The top two from the quarter finals moved into the semi-finals.

The bottom two from the semi-finals moved into the Final-B heat that determined places 5-8. The top two from the semi-finals raced in the Final-A heat for places 1-4.

A skier’s time trial time was used to determine their overall rank for the race once they were eliminated in a heat. For example, there were eight 3rd place finishers from the qualifying heats. Those racers were rank-ordered in the final standings based on their time trial time.

Steve Kuhl, Jesse Smith, Hugh Pritchard, and Christian Byar took the top four places in the men’s division. Milan Baic (who coaches Jesse Smith), Denny Paull, Cliff Onthank, and Rodney Halstead took 5th through 8th in the B-Final.

Junior Boys

Junior boys started with quarter final heats, the top skiers moving into semi-finals then Final-A and Final-B heats. At the end, it was Elliot Putman over Ryan Halstead, William Ward and Ross Williams in the Final-A. Ben Harris, Raymond Innis, Dan Temkin, and Alexander Schade took 5th through 8th.

A Junior Boys heat takes off from the start line. The first 50 meters was a doublepole section.  

Awards

The top winners in each division received a highly-stylized ski trophy sculpted out of aluminum by Dave Whitcher from 4 Mile Welding. Winners also received a container of HEED and a box of Hammer Bars from Hammer Nutrition.

All age groups winners receive a custom race mug. There were three junior age divisions. Seniors were divided into 10-year categories.

All racers receive HEED and Hammer Bars in their race packet. Hammer Nutrition also provided sports drink and cups for drinking during the race. (Thanks Hammer Nutrition!).

Volunteers

Volunteers out on the course stayed warm through warm clothing, hand warmers, and a strategically placed heated trailer parked at the finish line. Between heats, timers would sometimes pile into the trailer for a quick warm up from the frigid temperatures. During the heats, up to eight timers and scoreboard keepers would be out in the cold making sure racers received correct placing in the heats. Thanks! Special thanks for Julie Hewitt from Team NordicSkiRacer, who worked registration, timing and race cleanup – she worked the entire race - and family Garrett and Spencer Ruffner who worked registration, cleanup, and some timing! Also thanks to Ryan Robinson. They were the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Winners Elliot Putman, Steve Kuhl and Hannah Ciesla get a custom first place trophy, a highly stylized ski. They also received a container of HEED sports drink powder and a box of Hammer Bars from sponsor HammerNutrition.

Also special thanks to the bystanders who jumped in to help time (sorry – I don’t have your names), to Randy Kessler who drove over just to help out, and Joann Calavetto who after placing second in the women’s competition, managed the scoreboard for the rest of the day. And thanks to everyone else I missed as I was running about.

Key:

M = Men W = Women G = Girls B = Boys  

Hanson Hills Recreation Area, Grayling