Smith and Fjeldheim win chilly Nubs Nob Freestyle

Michigan Cup

Sun, Jan  3, 2010 - By Mike Muha

Brrrr.... at 9:30am, an hour before the Nubs Nob Freestyle was to begin, the local radio station reported a temperature of -5 Fahrenheit. With a very warm fall season, not many skiers have had much time to acclimate to these kind of cold conditions.

The course started at the top of the Nubs Nob ski resort. Racers rode a chairlift part way up the mountain, then figured out how to take the J-bar the rest of the way up. Fortunately, the bright sun was directly in front on the way up and there was no wind, so the ride wasn't too bad.

Officially, the temperature rose to 2F by start time, but standing around waiting for the start made it seem colder. Begin warm to begin with was very important, because the first part of the race featured a chilly 1km descent before the climbs began.

The younger (J2) juniors did one 5km loop; older juniors and all adults completed two loops.The race was also a Junior Olympic Qualifier for junior racers.

Although the Michigan Cup has raced on the Nubs trail system before, the resort modified the trails this year to remove areas were the groomer used to bring up dirt. The upper trails are actually slightly less technical than before, but a corner was created that requires the racers to check their speed first. If you didn't slow down enough, you'd be in the snow bank.

Jessie Smith wins with a broken pole

Several of the top skiers were caught off guard by that corner. Overall 10k winner Jessie Smith crashed and broke his pole there, skiing alone out in front of the pack. He skied the next 2 kilometers with only one pole but still managed to hold off second and third place finishers Tom McFadden and Benjamin Lannin. Smith won in 29:30; McFadden and Lannin finished a second apart in 29:52 and 29:53.

Jessie Smith (170), with broken ski pole, in 10th position about 4km into the race
(Photo by Curt Peterson)

Kristin Fjeldheim top female

Kristin Fjeldheim (you might know her father, Sten Fjeldheim, head Nordic ski coach at Northern Michigan University) finished first among women with a time of 40:15, easily beating second place finisher Susan Vigland (42:01). Marie Frick was just 14 seconds behind Vigland to take third in 42:14.

Start of the women's10k cross country ski race
(Photo: Curt Peterson)

Jesse Anderson and Blake Murray win 5 Km Freestyle

In the J2 (age 14-15) 5km race, Jesse Anderson was the top girl with a time of 22:25. Top boy was Blake Murray in 17:28.

Rae Director Nick Baic says he may increase the length of the loop from 5km to 6km next year in order to have racers more spread out before the first the downhill.

See 2010-01-02 Nubs Nob 10km Freestyle for more of Curt Peterson's photos.

 

RESULTS

Age Place	Gender Rank	BIB	LAST NAME	FIRST NAME	Time	Overall Rank
J2 Female 14-15 - 5 Km
1	1	152	Anderson	Jesse	0:22:25	5
2	2	223	Hawke	Clancy	0:30:03	11
J2 Male 14-15 - 5 Km
1	1	105	Murrray	Blake	0:17:28	1
2	2	106	Wagner	Eric	0:18:19	2
3	3	231	Bruning	Andrew	0:19:41	3
4	4	138	Darnton	Colin	0:22:10	4
5	5	163	Twohey	Andrew	0:23:32	6
6	6	124	Wood	Dan	0:23:41	7
7	7	132	Westerman	Matthew	0:24:55	8
8	8	228	Ackley	Johnny	0:27:49	9
9	9	236	Leahy	Frank	0:29:27	10
10	10	136	Ruffner	Garrett	0:43:50	12
11	11	139	Roberts	Kyle	0:47:12	13
12	12	164	Gray	Marty
J1 Female 16-17 - 10 Km
1	3	144	Frick	Maria	0:42:14	53
2	4	222	Gronvold	Hilde	0:42:27	54
3	14	224	Perkins	Katie	0:52:13	81
4	16	221	Egbert	Megan	0:52:57	84
5	17	225	Rickard	Hannah	0:52:58	85
6	20	226	VanDomellen	Kaylee	1:02:59	97
7		113	McFadden	Mike
8		227	Ward	Anna
OJ Female 18-19 - 10 Km
1	1	169	Fjeldheim	Kirsten	0:40:15	43
Female 20-48 - 10 Km
1	2	179	Vigland	Susan	0:42:01	51
2	5	137	Darnton	Cheryl	0:42:29	55
3	6	115	Gebhart	Daneila	0:42:57	56
4	7	149	Anderson	Wendy	0:44:30	62
5	10	126	Gulledge	Catarina	0:46:46	67
6	11	193	Webb	Sarah	0:51:25	76
7	15	242	Witbrodt	Hilary	0:52:48	83
8	22	131	Joslin	Susan	1:19:10	102
9		160	Vincent	Brenda
Female 49 & Over - 10 Km
1	8	176	Van Dam	Jean	0:45:25	64
2	9	156	Carlson	Brenda	0:45:56	66
3	12	107	Lund	Lorraine	0:51:36	78
4	13	184	Dawson	Karen	0:51:59	79
5	18	157	Upton	Fran	0:55:51	88
6	19	196	Allen	Linda	1:02:35	96
7	21	142	Wilks	Amy	1:16:17	101
8	23	167	Caldwell	Beth	1:38:49	103
9	24	134	Hewlett	Julie	1:41:00	104
10		148	Hardin	Tracy
J1 Male 16-17 - 10 Km
1	13	143	Williams	Ross	0:33:51	13
2	20	151	Anderson	Lyle	0:35:18	20
3	27	229	Brown	Greg	0:36:44	27
4	30	150	Anderson	Lloyd	0:37:23	30
5	35	180	Toczydlowski	Alan	0:38:35	35
6	42	232	Cover	Evan	0:40:12	42
7	50	235	Lance	Josh	0:42:07	52
8	61	239	Norris	Micah	0:48:17	71
9	75	238	Trippe	Kevin	1:00:44	93
10	79	140	Roberts	Travis	1:09:01	99
11		233	Hawke	Alex
OJ Male 18-19 - 10 Km
1	9	181	Woodbeck	Jay	0:31:33	9
2	10	173	Brennan	Mac	0:31:52	10
3	15	114	McFadden	John	0:34:22	15
4	19	103	Harris	Ryan	0:35:15	19
5	38	234	Jacobson	Alan	0:38:42	38
6	39	188	Baic	Brendan	0:38:57	39
7	53	237	Padden	James	0:43:35	59
8	62	230	Brammer	Gunnar	0:48:55	72
Male 20 To 43 - 10 Km
1	1	170	Smith	Jesse	0:29:30	1
2	2	171	McFadden	Tom	0:29:52	2
3	3	166	Lannin	Benjamin	0:29:53	3
4	4	101	Graci	Joey	0:30:14	4
5	6	123	Wood	Tom	0:30:39	6
6	14	178	Vigland	Todd	0:33:52	14
7	17	133	Todd	Dell	0:34:47	17
8	18	109	Smigiel	Steve Jr	0:35:09	18
9	23	128	Prodan	Greg	0:35:45	23
10	26	102	Halsted	Ryan	0:36:19	26
11	29	104	Yankus	Daniel	0:37:12	29
12	47	154	Baker	Josh	0:41:12	48
13	64	219	Gurney	Pete	0:50:52	74
14		153	Baker	Will
Male 44 To 48 - 10 Km
1	7	218	Goble	John	0:31:01	7
2	12	159	Paull	Denny	0:32:49	12
3	16	127	Goodman	Glenn	0:34:23	16
4	31	121	Kanaby	Larry	0:37:24	31
5	33	241	Seaman	Michael	0:38:10	33
6	36	155	Britton	John	0:38:36	36
7	44	186	Knight	Kip	0:40:40	45
8	60	192	Ashbeck	Herb	0:48:12	70
9	67	174	Cook	Tim	0:52:00	80
10	68	240	Steffke	Steve	0:52:44	82
11	76	120	Ernst	Dale	1:00:53	94
Male 49 To 55 - 10 Km
1	5	183	Maclean	David	0:30:22	5
2	8	187	Baic	Milan	0:31:12	8
3	21	165	Putalik	Greg	0:35:20	21
4	25	147	Gravlin	John	0:35:55	25
5	32	220	Weingartz	Chris	0:37:50	32
6	37	200	Doull	James	0:38:41	37
7	43	168	Weiss	Jerry	0:40:37	44
8	45	194	Webb	John	0:40:58	46
9	46	111	Green	Jamie	0:41:01	47
10	48	116	Berndt	Detzef	0:41:26	49
11	51	198	Rudolph	Steve	0:43:13	57
12	52	177	Bruning	Peter	0:43:19	58
13	55	118	Rynalski	Frank	0:44:28	61
14	59	191	Moore	Jeff	0:48:08	69
15	63	195	Brown	Steve	0:48:56	73
16	65	182	Baron	Tom	0:51:04	75
17		112	Cornell	Doug
Male 56 To 59 - 10 Km
1	11	158	Onthank	Clifford	0:32:41	11
2	22	185	Dawson	Ken	0:35:32	22
3	24	122	Camp	Don	0:35:54	24
4	28	162	Polzin	Denny	0:37:06	28
5	40	175	Van Dam	Steve	0:39:10	40
6	41	119	Luce	Robin	0:39:42	41
7	49	189	Kostrzewa	John	0:41:53	50
8	70	108	Foley	Paul	0:54:40	87
9	71	161	Sharp	Sam	0:56:38	89
10	72	129	VandeKopple	Bob	0:57:18	90
11	73	135	Ruffner	Spencer	0:57:59	91
12	74	117	Nolan	Dan	0:59:44	92
13	80	130	Gilliespie	Sam	1:09:02	100
Male 60 & Over - 10 Km
1	34	110	Kaltz	William	0:38:12	34
2	54	145	Payne	Mark	0:44:08	60
3	56	146	Jones	Cris	0:44:59	63
4	57	125	Smigiel	Steve Sr	0:45:49	65
5	58	199	Haefner	Bill	0:47:21	68
6	66	172	Brumbaugh	Ernie	0:51:35	77
7	69	197	Nizio	Frank	0:54:38	86
8	77	190	Irish	David	1:00:55	95
9	78	141	Whitlock	Dave	1:03:18	98