Traverse Nordic tops Michigan Cup Relay results

Michigan Cup

Fri, Mar  20, 2009 - By Mike Muha

Fifty-five teams competed under beautiful sunny skies and a great snow for the 2009 Michigan Cup Relays at the Cross Country Ski Headquarters in Roscommon.

The first leg of the relay was a 4 Km loop done in classic technique. Several of the leaders put on their skating skies for maximum glide and doublepoled the entire course, including all the uphills on the Rolling Hills trail.

Strait Striders' Flying Ooskiks tagging off in the transition zone at the Michigan Cup Relays

The second and third legs of the relay were freestyle. Skiers used the same loop as the classic leg skiers, but skied it twice for a total of 8 Km. The vast majority of skiers in the second two legs skated, but there were the occasional skier who choose to classic.

The snow was firm with a sugar-snow coating. The fast corners held up well during the race compared to previous years: a sugar snow bank formed along the outside to guide skiers around the corner while the slide zone had enough give that better skiers could still get some edge into it.

Two junior racers battling it out on the course

One of the most exciting moments was the fight for third place overall. NordicSkiRacer's Dave Fanslow in his first Michigan Cup race of the season started the third leg in third place. Grand Rapids Nordic's Dell Todd - who skied every Michigan Cup race this season - pursued, caught, and passed Fanslow. Fanslow tenaciously held on for the second half of the leg. Both were working extremely hard. Spectators looked forward to an sprint finish as we saw the two skiers appear through the woods.

As the skiers entered into the last corner before the finish, Fanslow made a desperate move to pass Todd on the outside. Dell glanced to his right and CRASH! - went down when he lost his balance. Dave skied in for third.

Both skiers and the crowd were disappointed that the sprint did not take place, but kudos to both skiers for the awesome effort. It was racing at it's best.

Traverse Nordic's "Superhacks" (Cliff Onthank, Milan Baic, and Todd Vigland) finished with the fastest time of the day, 51:20, more than three minutes ahead of Hanson Hill/Cross Country Ski Shop's "Hanson Hills". "Muhaha" from Team NordicSkiRacer was third, 21 seconds back.

Overall Michigan Cup Relays winners, Milan Baic, Todd Vigland, and Cliff Onthank of Traverse Nordic

The top women's team was also from Traverse Nordic, "Team Stacked", just beating HH/CCSS's "SuperGirls" 1:06:22 to 1:06:32. Grand Rapids Nordic's "Happy Go Lucky" was third in 1:21:21.

In the Co Ed division, Strait Striders' "GuGu Dolls" were first in 58:33 - and 8th overall. HH/CCSS's "Toko and the Testerones was second in 59:56, with the Cross Country Ski Headquarters' "Ski Hardwear" in third in 1:01:20.

A great party ensued immediately after the race, as awards were given for the Relay and for the Michigan Cup, highlighted by a eagle flying over and saluting the finish the of 2009 Michigan Cup season.

 

Class	Overall Place	Class Place	Bib	Time	Relay Team	MI Cup Team	Points
Co Ed: 0-59	22	1	325	1:06:46	WANNABEE NORWEGIANS	CCSH	400
Co Ed: 0-59	23	2	356	1:07:06	WE'RE LOVIN' IT	X	200
Co Ed: 60-119	11	1	348	1:01:20	SKI HARDWEAR	CCSH	400
Co Ed: 60-119	13	2	331	1:02:17	2POLES & A BASKET	HH/CCSS	333
Co Ed: 60-119	17	3	346	1:05:03	NSR4	NSR.COM	267
Co Ed: 60-119	31	4	335	1:12:24	LIVE SLOW	X	200
Co Ed: 60-119	37	5	341	1:16:09	SOMETHING WITTY	CCSH	133
Co Ed: 60-119	46	6	340	1:27:05	TURBO TURTLES	NSR.COM	80
Co Ed: 120-164	8	1	324	0:58:33	GUGU DOLLS	STRAITS STRIDERS	400
Co Ed: 120-164	36	2	301	1:15:10	ROCKETS	CCSH	320
Co Ed: 120-164	40	3	318	1:20:08	KLISTER KIDS	GRNST	240
Co Ed: 120-164	47	4	349	1:27:21	2 TRACTORS & AN INDIAN	NSR.COM	160
Co Ed: 120-164	52	5	354	1:39:27	DKJ	CCSH	80
Co Ed: 165+	9	1	344	0:59:56	TOKO & THE TESTERONES	HH/CCSS	400
Co Ed: 165+	14	2	304	1:03:34	SKI BUISCUIT	STRAITS STRIDERS	343
Co Ed: 165+	18	3	330	1:05:20	THE SPOILERS	NSR.COM	286
Co Ed: 165+	33	4	334	1:13:54	TACKABOUT	CCSH	229
Co Ed: 165+	34	5	353	1:14:23	ZIGALOGY	NSR.COM	171
Co Ed: 165+	38	6	321	1:16:47	FLYING OOSIKS	STRAITS STRIDERS	114
Co Ed: 165+	43	7	339	1:24:55	CAPTAIN CRUNCH	CCSH	57
Female: 0-59	56	1	338	1:50:51	CLUELESS	CCSH	400
Female: 60-119	41	1	317	1:21:21	HAPPY GO LUCKY	GRNST	400
Female: 120-164	20	1	309	1:06:22	TEAM STACKED	TNSC	400
Female: 120-164	21	2	336	1:06:36	SUPERGIRLS	HH/CCSS	267
Female: 120-164	49	3	351	1:29:20	DIRTY GIRLS	CCSH	133
Female: 165+	53	1	328	1:40:10	GOLDEN GIRLS	CCSH	400
Male: 0-59	55	1	342	1:49:15	TIGERS	CCSH	400
Male: 60-119	7	1	320	0:58:30	3STUDS	CCSH	400
Male: 60-119	15	2	343	1:03:35	YOUNG & RESTLESS	CCSH	320
Male: 60-119	24	3	355	1:08:44	YOUNG & THE OLD	HH/CCSS	240
Male: 60-119	30	4	352	1:12:01	3 PEAS IN A POD	CCSH	160
Male: 60-119	32	5	333	1:13:27	ODDER	CCSH	80
Male: 120-164	1	1	307	0:51:20	SUPERHACKS	TNSC	400
Male: 120-164	2	2	329	0:54:43	HANSEN HILLS	HH/CCSS	369
Male: 120-164	3	3	310	0:55:04	MUHAHA	NSR.COM	338
Male: 120-164	4	4	332	0:55:10	WHATEVER	GRNST	308
Male: 120-164	12	5	322	1:01:36	TRAVERSE	TNSC	277
Male: 120-164	16	6	315	1:04:24	EQUATOR	GRNST	246
Male: 120-164	19	7	312	1:05:55	TRIFECTA	TNSC	215
Male: 120-164	25	8	313	1:09:41	313	CCSH	185
Male: 120-164	27	9	350	1:10:47	WALL RACERS	NSR.COM	154
Male: 120-164	28	10	323	1:10:48	WAXHEADS	STRAITS STRIDERS	123
Male: 120-164	35	11	316	1:14:43	SAM'S CLUB	X	92
Male: 120-164	39	12	302	1:19:20	NORDIC STIMULUS PKG	STRAITS STRIDERS	62
Male: 120-164	45	13	337	1:25:57	GABREVES	CCSH	31
Male: 165+	5	1	326	0:57:09	IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING	NSR.COM	400
Male: 165+	6	2	327	0:58:02	GRNST1	GRNST	364
Male: 165+	10	3	311	1:00:42	CARDIAC ARREST	HH/CCSS	327
Male: 165+	26	4	306	1:09:46	BLACK FOG	GRNST	291
Male: 165+	29	5	300	1:11:10	HALFFAST	CCSH	255
Male: 165+	42	6	314	1:23:36	RED BULL	CCSH	218
Male: 165+	44	7	303	1:24:58	199	CCSH	182
Male: 165+	48	8	308	1:27:32	SOGOF	CCSH	145
Male: 165+	50	9	305	1:31:21	200+	CCSH	109
Male: 165+	51	10	347	1:36:21	SUICIDE BOMBERS	STRAITS STRIDERS	73
Male: 165+	54	11	345	1:44:23	RINGERS	CCSH	36