RESULTS, VIDEO: 2017 Michigan Cup Relays

Tue, Mar  21, 2017 - By Mike Muha

It was a little worrisome, what with the warm weather and rain leading up to the Michigan Cup Relays, but the Cross Country Ski Headquarters spread man-made snow where they could and farmed snow elsewhere to successfully keep the course covered and skiable.

That doesn't mean there weren't icy sections! By the second leg, the two big uphills were quite slick and it was difficult to get a skate edge. I chose to actually doublepole one of those hills on the last lap of the race for my relay team. The infamous S-turns were also slick, as racers snowplowed snow to the outside edge, leaving an hard icy surface in the center. This was actually easier to navigate than the uphills - I stayed to the far outside of each S-curve, with my outside ski firmly in that soft snow that had been pushed to the edge and carved my way around.

The Michigan Cup Relay Race consist of relay teams with 3 skiers per team: the first leg is classic, the two remaining legs are freestyle. Normally 8km per leg, this year's course was shortened to a 5km loop to take advantage of the best snow on the trail system. There were three gender categories for relay teams - Men, Women and Coed. Coed teams required at least one women and one man. There were two age groups for relay teams, determined by the total age of all three participants on the relay team: 164 & under, and 165 & over, for a total of six relay divisions.

Two Vasa Ski Club teams and a team from Team NordicSkiRacer turned in the fastest results of the day. Race Dingo was first in a blazing 41:56, followed by Northug Life in 42:13. Both were male teams in the younger category. The third fastest team was all male but in the older category: Nordic Mayhem finished third in 44:38.

In the Male Under category, the third fastest team aftger Race Dingo and Northug Life was Last Minute Men in 47:35.

In the Male Over division, Birthday Boys + 1 (Hanson Hills / Cross Country Ski Shop) and Forgetful GRNST took second and third after Nordic Mayhem with times of 46:29 and 50:02.

There were only two teams in the Female Under division: And Then There Is Four (Vasa) was first in 56:18, followed by Snowless Wonders (Cross Country Ski Headquarters) in 1:21:46.

Wolf Moon Warriors (I think this was HH/CCSS).  Frozen Figures Trois (Vasa), and  Femmes Puissantes (XCHQ) were the top Female Over teams in 56:45, 1:08:24, and 1:27:36.

(Hint for next year's relay teams: Think all women teams...)

Team NordicSkiRacer's Classy Trio won the Coed Over category in 57:27. Two Roses & a Thorn (Grand Rapids Nordic) was second in 1:08:52, followed by The Resistance (Vasa) in 1:16:50.

XCHQ's Darn Knolies took the top place in the Coed Under category in 47:58.  Wo Nordic (GRNST) was second in 53:44, with Blame The Russians (XCHQ) taking the final spot in 54:16.

Bib #	Time	Place	Category place	Team Name	Club Name	Individual Name	Individual Name	Individual Name	Finishing Bib
M Under
225	41:56	1	1	Race Dingo	Vasa	Anders Gillis	Glenn Goodman	John O-Hearn	320
252	42:13	2	2	Northug Life	Vasa	Ted Roe	Jamie Somerville	Kevin Tarras	334
206	47:35	5	3	Last Minute Men	XC Ski HQ	Theo VonWallmenich	John Hubbard	Scott Baker	303
260	52:36	8	4	No Namers	HHCCSS	Michael Bourassa	Steve Seager	Gabe Williams	324
227	59:03	17	5	The Night Terrors!	1/3 XC Ski HQ	George Frye	Scott McCron	???	326
240	1:06:02	20	6	Cannon Brewing		Tony Brownell	Rob Bacisalupi	Michael Fehrenbach	323
242	1:09:43	23	7	Bob Fried	XC Ski HQ	Bob Frye	Avery Folk	Dave Darnton	318
M Over
202	44:38	3	1	Nordic Mayhem	NSR	Yvon Dufour	Doug Cornell	Ken Dawson	317
223	46:29	4	2	Birthday Boys + 1	HHCCSS	John Gravlin	Joseph Brown	Robin Luce	308
243	50:02	7	3	Forgetful GRNST	GRNST	Robert Triebold	Robin Cool	Blair Zordell	302
229	54:04	10	4	El No Salo	NSR	Bill Haefner	Tony Percha	Mike Muha	307
213	54:59	12	5	Don't Look At Us	XC Ski HQ	Devan Thielfoldt	Alan Hough	Rick Neier	301
222	57:38	16	6	Man-of-age a Trois	Vasa	Paul Crowley	Rick Jaissle	Curt Peterson	304
204	1:10:43	24	7	Wrecking Crew	XC Ski HQ	Jon Hunter	Tom Wernette	Dale Ernst	305
253	1:12:41	25	8	Sharks w/ Laser Beams	Vasa	John Morris	Jim Padden	Gary Faria	327
210	1:20:44	28	9	Non Sequitur	Xc Ski HQ	Larry Hebert	Daniel Rimer	Dale Arbour	325
F Under
256	56:18	13	1	And Then There Is Four	Vasa	Arielle Jean	Abigail Jean	Erica O'Hearn	329
203	1:21:46	29	2	Snowless Wonders	XC Ski HQ	Gwenn Stevenson	Leigh Whetstone	Erin Gielincki	335
F Over
250	56:45	14	1	Wolf Moon Warriors		Tracy Hardin	Brenda Carlson-Brown	Ann Wagar	313
249	1:08:24	21	2	Frozen Figures	Vasa	Melinda Mitchell	Laurie Padden	Gussie Peterson	309
255	1:27:36	32	3	Trois Femmes Puissantes	XC Ski HQ	Lynne Frye	Chris Fowler	Fran Upton	314
Coed Over
226/191	57:27	15	1	Classy Trio	NSR	Zbigy Zlobicki	Karen Dawson	Guillaume Girard	322
233	1:08:52	22	2	Two Roses & a Thorn	GRNST	Ernie Brumbaugh	Carole Mueller-Brumbaugh	Julie Olson	312
241	1:16:50	27	3	The Resistance	Vasa	Fran Alfs	John Todd	Todd LaBonte	330
251	1:23:26	30	4	2 Buttertouts & a Beer	Vasa	Jeremy Treadwell	Amy Wilks	Dave Whitlock	311
212	1:32:18	34	5	Fast Slow & Slower	2/3 NSR / 1/3 SS	Linda Allen	Greg Worrel	Ellis Boal	331
211	1:59:59	35	6	Silver Streakers	XC Ski HQ	Marvin Stevenson	Carol Schadd	Richard Wells	332
Coed Under
232	47:58	6	1	Darn Knolies	XC Ski HQ	Larry Kanaby	Cheryl Darnton	Mariah Frye Colie	321
244	53:44	9	2	Wo Nordic	GRNST	Brian Olson	Arianne Alson	Abby Olson	315
263	54:16	11	3	Blame The Russians	XC Ski HQ	Stu Colie	Linda Weeks	Mikhail Temkin	316
216	1:01:19	18	4	Ronoje	Vasa	John Roe	Nancy Morris	Eric Jean	333
238	1:04:15	19	5	Real Eh Team		Marissa Ditoro	Nadine Paul	James Isaacs	336
234	1:13:25	26	6	Team RMS	XC Ski HQ	Ashley Chmielewski	Josie Fairbanks	Josh Fairbanks	328
236	1:25:30	31	7	Sassy Lassies	XC Ski HQ	James Ward	Grant Gabalis	Ryan Kwasniewski	319
237	1:28:40	33	8	Faster Than Molasses	HHCCSS	Renee Curtis	Chris Seager	Dan Brickert	306