VIDEO: First leg of the Michigan Cup Relays

Wed, Mar  20, 2019 - By Mike Muha

UPDATE: More info about Jay's kick, plus a much higher resolution video!

Watch the first (classic) leg of the 2019 Michigan Cup Relays. Jay Woodbeck (Team NordicSkiRacer) - the only skier in the lead pack to kick - pulls away from the doublepolers by striding the first hill, then doublepoles away as the following racers recover from their doublepole climb.

Jay used "Zeros" for his kick (the base of his ski has an area meant to be sanded to raise hairs that are used for kick.) Other skiers in the race who kick used a combination of skin skis, fishscales, and (!) actual kick wax! For the latter, some skiers hit the wax, others totally missed (see time 5:19).

But it's not all about the lead skiers! Lots of footage of many of the first-leg skier from the start, the first climb, and later on the course, including the tag zone.

If you only want to just see the front-runners:

0:00  Start of the the race
1:07 First hill, Jay Woodbeck pulls away
7:09 Jay on his second lap, lapping another skier, and a good lead over the second place skier
7:39 Second place skier in the classic leg
7:59 A four-skier peloton chasing the leaders