Baic and Vigland tame Champion Hilll

Results

Tue, Jan  13, 2009 - By Mike Muha

The 2009 Grand Rapids Langlauf was the first chance many skiers had to ski the trails of the Champion Hill Nordic Center. Sure Champion Hill was also a golf course, but it was unlike any golf course skiing we've seen before.

The race dived and twisted through deeply wooded trails, climbed to open vistas, then headed down, up and around and down, again and again and again. The finish was a terrific straight shot down a long, moderately steep hill to a small uphill left and the finish line. Before it was done, racers had climbed - and descended - around 1,000 ft of vertical over 15 kilometers.

(Flats? Let's see..it was pretty flat for the first 250 meters. And I think I remember at least another couple of 100 meter sections somewhere around the course.)

Candace Angell powers in to the finish

The entire course was exceptionally well marked and staffed. There were people stationed at the top of each tricky downhill providing warnings to newcomers unfamiliar with the course. Grooming provided a solid base with a little fresh snow on top. Faster downhill corners quickly built up a berm that helped guide skiers around the turns.

(The race course used all the expert trails at Champion Hills. There are a large number of easier and intermediate trails as well for those looking for a little less adventure if they visit Champion Hill for a ski!)

Temperatures held steady around 15F. The race used intervals starts - two skiers starting every 30 seconds. Juniors went first, then women, then men. There was a gap between each group.

Senior 15 Km results

Perennial favorite Milan Baic finished the race first in 44:45. Last year's Michigan Cup overall champion came in second in 46:34. Cliff Onthank took third in 48:40.

Susan Vigland was the top women in 1:00:25, followed by Amy Wichern 1:01:44. Tracy Hardin skied in third in 1:02:05.

Greg Worsnop is all intensity as he crosses the finish line

Junior 6 Km results

The Juniors raced a 6 km course - and there were many juniors at this race.

Raymond Innis was the fastest boy overall and winner of the 16-19 age group with a time of 21:02. Evan Cover won the 15 and under boys division in 23:35.

Kaitlyn Patterson's time of 23:34 made here the fastest girl and winner of the 16-19 age class. In the 15 and under age class, Clancy Hawke was first in 30:27.

Spectators could watch the big downhill to the finish from the deck

Let's eat

Lunch was vegie and meet chili, corn muffins and cold cuts. Each skier also received a bag with an apple, cookie and dried cherries. Medal were custom designed by Grand Rapid's Paul Johnson.

RESULTS

PLACE	BIB	LAST NAME	FIRST NAME	CITY	TIME	RANK
6 KM Race
Female 1 To 15 - 6 Km
1	3	Hawke	Clancy	Bloomingdale	0:30:27	35
2	1	Cullen	Kennedy	Northport	0:31:47	38
3	4	Padden	Alyssa	Traverse City	0:32:50	40
4	5	Schilkey	Emma	Traverse City	0:34:39	41
5	2	Ehle	DNS	Traverse City
Female 16 To 19 - 6 Km
1	43	Patterson	Kaitlyn	Cadillac	0:23:34	9
2	14	Otwell	Julia	Traverse City	0:24:05	12
3	10	Frick	Maria	Traverse City	0:24:25	14
4	16	Thompson	Megan	Traverse City	0:25:55	21
5	15	Perkins	Katie	Traverse City	0:26:27	23
6	8	Egbert	Megan	Traverse City	0:26:31	24
7	6	Meachum	Hannah	Traverse City	0:27:16	28
8	12	Keenan	Kayla	Traverse City	0:27:17	29
9	7	Andriese	Amy	Traverse City	0:29:45	33
10	13	Ostema	Alison	Traverse City	0:30:27	36
11	11	Hertler	Katie	Traverse City	0:30:48	37
12	9	Ehle	Megan	Traverse City
13	17	Ward	Anna	Traverse City
Male 1 To 15 - 6 Km
1	22	Cover	Evan	Traverse City	0:23:35	10
2	28	Westerman	Matthew	Traverse City	0:25:00	15
3	27	Lance	Josh	Traverse City	0:25:03	16
4	19	Edwards	Keefer	Glen Arbor	0:25:10	17
5	21	Buttrick	Bobby	Traverse City	0:25:16	18
6	24	Hawke	Alex	Traverse City	0:25:54	20
7	26	Jacobson	Karl	Traverse City	0:26:40	25
8	46	Roberts	Travis	Lake City	0:27:11	27
9	20	Warga Kane	Darwin	Kalamazoo	0:29:18	31
10	18	Bruning	Andrew	Traverse City	0:29:31	32
11	25	Icard	Joel	Traverse City	0:30:17	34
12	45	Roberts	Kyle	Lake City	0:43:51	42
13	23	Gourdie	Levi	Traverse City	0:50:24	43
Male 16 To 19 - 6 Km
1	34	Innis	Raymond	Traverse City	0:21:02	1
2	37	Lance	Alex	Traverse City	0:21:31	2
3	31	Kane	Kevin	Traverse City	0:22:41	3
4	41	Schilkey	Garrett	Traverse City	0:22:41	4
5	30	Warga Kane	Adrian	Kalamazoo	0:23:02	5
6	29	Anderson	John	Traverse City	0:23:06	6
7	35	Jacobson	Alan	Traverse City	0:23:10	7
8	38	Norris	Micah	Traverse City	0:23:21	8
9	40	Roach	Shawn	Traverse City	0:23:58	11
10	39	Padden	James	Traverse City	0:24:10	13
11	42	Trubac	Spencer	Traverse City	0:25:41	19
12	33	Heimberger	Matt	Traverse City	0:26:15	22
13	32	LaBonte	Scott	Traverse City	0:27:00	26
14	44	Keenan	Ryan	Traverse City	0:27:18	30
15	36	Karbowski	Reece	Traverse City	0:32:28	39
15KM Race
Female 20 To 29 - 15 Km
1	71	Gulledge	Catarina	Roscommon	1:08:09	63
2	76	Wilbrodt	Hillary	Auburn	1:19:04	81
3	78	Roll	Rachel	Rapids River	1:55:26	93
Female 30 To 39 - 15 Km
1	72	Mikoajczyk	Kelly	Willoughby	1:05:31	56
2	62	Todd	Amy	Grand Rapids	1:07:10	59
Female 40 To 49 - 15 Km
1	64	Vigland	Susan	Traverse City	1:00:25	40
2	66	Wichern	Amy	Traverse City	1:01:44	43
3	79	Kirt	Karen	Lake Leelanau	1:10:10	68
4	67	Spence	Fern	Traverse City	1:10:55	70
5	77	Angell	Candace	Grand Rapids	1:15:08	78
6	65	Warga	Rachel	Kalamazoo	1:20:28	83
7	63	Hofstra	Jody	Traverse City	1:25:31	85
8	75	Finch	Shirlee	Alma	1:30:57	87
9	80	Joslin	Susan	Troy	1:50:28	91
Female 50 To 59 - 15 Km
1	73	Hardin	Tracy	Cheboygan	1:02:05	46
2	74	Peterson	Gussie	Midland	1:03:26	51
3	70	Berkshire	Ivanka	Traverse City	1:05:03	55
4	69	Dawson	Karen	Farmington Hills	1:09:29	67
5	68	Weeks	Linda	Lansing	1:12:21	73
6	164	Mueller-Brumbaugh	Carole	Rockford	1:35:47	88
Male 20 To 29 - 15 Km
1	157	Baic	Brendan	Walloon Lake	0:49:22	4
2	152	Coulter	Melzar	Grand Rapids	0:49:33	5
3	101	Brown	Greg	Traverse City	0:54:11	20
4	94	Ward	William	Traverse City	0:57:26	30
Male 30 To 39 - 15 Km
1	104	Vigland	Todd	Traverse City	0:50:34	6
2	134	Smith	Robert	Roscommon	0:53:04	15
3	102	Howard	Scott	Traverse City	0:54:13	21
4	103	Jenema	Tim	Williamsburg	0:54:30	22
5	155	Maltby	Chris	Mt Pleasant	1:02:54	49
Male 40 To 49 - 15 Km
1	105	Baic	Milan	Williamsburg	0:44:45	1
2	146	Maclean	David	Ludington	0:46:34	2
3	113	Todd	Dell	Grand Rapids	0:51:21	8
4	91	Kanaby	Larry	Bad Axe	0:52:12	12
5	159	Roll	Greg	Rapids River	0:52:38	13
6	92	Goodman	Glenn	Bellaire	0:54:06	19
7	137	Cornell	Doug	Corunna	0:54:54	23
8	106	Brownell	Larry	Traverse City	0:55:43	26
9	108	Durbin	Dave	Traverse City	0:56:09	27
10	114	Seaman	Michael	Mt. Pleasant	0:57:29	31
11	96	Andriese	Steve	Traverse City	0:58:01	34
12	97	Pietila	Jukka	Rockford	0:58:06	35
13	109	Hietikko	Dave	Ada	0:58:31	36
14	110	Hofstra	Dan	Traverse City	0:58:32	37
15	112	Swanson	Clette	Arcadian	1:00:54	41
16	139	ReeHorst	Tom	Traverse City	1:01:23	42
17	133	McElwarin	Randy	Lake Orion	1:01:50	44
18	93	Knight	Kip	Elk Rapids	1:02:52	48
19	99	Endicott	Doug	Traverse City	1:03:15	50
20	115	Wisneski	Dan	Walker	1:06:16	57
21	111	Kuz	Julian	Ada	1:08:45	64
22	147	Triebold	Bob	South Bend	1:18:29	80
23	107	Byczek	Chris	Garden City	1:24:31	84
Male 50 To 59 - 15 Km
1	122	Onthank	Clifford	Traverse City	0:48:40	3
2	128	Dawson	Ken	Farmington Hills	0:51:16	7
3	148	Gravlin	John	Linwood	0:51:42	9
4	150	Bladel	Randal	Granger	0:51:49	10
5	163	Anderson	Ed	Farmington	0:52:09	11
6	125	Pryor	Jim Jr	Saginaw	0:53:03	14
7	140	Muha	Mike	Wixom	0:53:06	16
8	124	Polzin	Denny	Williamsburg	0:53:31	17
9	98	Camp	Don	Grand Haven	0:53:51	18
10	151	Peterson	Curt	Midland	0:55:19	24
11	127	Fairman	Robert	Ann Arbor	0:56:28	28
12	135	Brundage	Bill	Traverse City	0:57:03	29
13	119	Finstad	Mark	Empire	0:57:49	33
14	129	Kostrzewa	John	Traverse City	0:58:45	38
15	141	Worsnop	Gregory	Paw Paw	0:59:33	39
16	90	Rynalski	Frank	Bay City	1:02:31	47
17	123	Payne	Mark	Interlochen	1:04:04	53
18	144	Madorski	Mark	Leonard	1:04:48	54
19	116	Atkins	Dave	Ellsworth	1:06:58	58
20	120	Kane	Don	Kalamazoo	1:07:54	61
21	100	Ganser	William	South Bend	1:07:57	62
22	118	Bruning	Peter	Traverse City	1:08:57	65
23	121	Kelly	Kevin	Empire	1:09:20	66
24	95	Love	John	St. Johns	1:11:05	71
25	153	Nolan	Dan	Holland	1:12:41	74
26	117	Brown	Steve	Traverse City	1:12:58	75
27	154	Foley	Paul	Midland	1:14:06	76
28	143	Ruffner	Spencer	Tecumsah	1:14:28	77
29	156	Gillespie	Sam	Shelby Twp	1:16:43	79
30	142	Worrel	Greg	Detroit	1:19:49	82
31	145	Abbe	Mark	Saginaw	1:52:11	92
32	126	Randall	John	Honor	2:07:45	94
Male 60 To 69 - 15 Km
1	136	Kaltz	William	Pinckney	0:55:32	25
2	160	Jones	Cris	Roscommon	0:57:40	32
3	161	Anderson	Tom	Big Rapids	1:01:54	45
4	132	Smigiel	Steve Sr	Ada	1:03:50	52
5	130	Brumbaugh	Ernie	Rockford	1:07:37	60
6	138	Merwin	Greg	Lake Isabella	1:10:11	69
7	149	Yeager	Dan	Traverse City	1:12:18	72
8	158	Johnson	John	Midland	1:25:32	86
9	131	Munt	Dick	Beulah	1:41:42	89
10	162	Wells	Richard	Hamtrakick	1:46:32	90