Traverse City holds first xc ski race in North America
Sun, Oct 24, 2010 - By Pete Edwards
You had to be there to believe it. Snow and skiing in October in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan.
The team from Brick Wheels, the awesome volunteers from the Traverse City Ski Club and the Traverse City High School Program worked hard to put on a fun and thrilling xc ski race. The snow was actually shaved ice from our Howe Arena, but looked and skied like typical spring skiing on man made snow. There were thrills and spills - even Milan Biac got gill-netted on the fencing placed a little close to the course after the wild power turn coming into the finish.
This awesome event will hopefully draw national attention - professional photographer John Russel was there and his fine work often goes national. The event proved to be a huge success and those of us that doubted it would be possible were proven wrong.
However, the unfortunate truth about Traverse City is the simple fact that despite the quality xc skiing, the power house of successful xc athletes in the Traverse City and the North American VASA Festival Of Races (one of the nation's top races), Traverse City has always been an alpine town. And when it came to cross country there was an odd mix of arrogance and ignorance when it came to quality xc service - why else would so many of us pilgrimage to Grayling and Roscommon for friendly professional service?
The good news for Traverse City is that this is all about to change thanks to the addition of Eli Brown to the Brick Wheels Team in TC.
Eli's experience and impressive resume includes stints on the US Ski Development Team, leadership roles at the Maine Winter Sports Center, National Race Director for the Fischer Ski Company, head coach at Whitman College and most recently as head coach at the successful University of Utah ski program.
But my favorite thing about Eli is his enthusiasm for junior skiers. While Eli worked for Fisher at numerous US Nationals he was swamped assisting members of the US Ski Team, but would always would always patiently work with junior skiers too and answer their many questions. Eli and Roger Knight from SWIX were always class acts. They were the ultimate dynamic dual in elite skiing and they greeted everyone with their trade mark enthusiasm and with their sincere respect for dedicated skiers of all ages.
If Eli can bring us skiing in October what does he have planned for next month?
Keep up the good work Eli and welcome to paradise (Traverse City)!
*Please note the enthusiastic youth skiers along with SWIX/Fisher Geru Mike Wagner and Eli Brown