A trio of videos from the 2011 Michigan Cup Relays

Tue, Mar  8, 2011 - By Mike Muha

I was the second leg of Team NordicSkiRacer's "Ski Idols" relay team so was able to get out on the course to take videos of the start and first leg. The first video of the three shows everyone skiing from the start onto the Partridge Alley, then many of the lead classic racers skiing around the corner from the Mackinaw Cut to the Trapper's Cabin Loop. At that point, I had to get back to the transition point so I could warm up and tag off from teammate Yvon Dufor.

Yvon puts us into a good spot, coming in fifth overall after losing two places to a fall. I take off and am able to pick move us into fourth place. After I tag off to our anchor leg, Doug Heady, I grab the video camera and start capturing racers coming down the final hill into the tag area, and also get a number of tags in this second video:

I decide to ski backwards around the course and catch racers skiing the final few kilometers. This lets me get the top racers skiing up the last hill. There's Dan Yankus coming in first, then Cliff Onthank in second, and - ALL RIGHT! - Doug Heady has moved us into third place!

I also get lots of other skiers on the second or third leg:

Overall, an excellent day of racing in the best conditions we've had for the Relays in years!