A huge thank you to all who turned out for today’s race. We had great weather for the day with temps in the 20’s and the sun even managed to sneak out near the end of the day. The snow cover in the woods seemed to be just enough but across the pavement, it was lacking. We’ll work on that for next year (along with a second port-o-john). Results are up and have been passed along to SkinnySki and photos will be up in the next couple days.Race day tomorrow! It looks like a great day to be out skiing so print out your form and register tomorrow morning or click the link below and register tonight before midnight. Either way, we'll see you at the start line at 10:00am with fast skis and excellent competition!
We have a couple updates on the course to let you know about. Our dream team of groomers has prepped the course and will be doing a final run though tonight. To give the best course possible we have changed it slightly from last year. We will be avoiding the outer edge of the Prairie Loop with the snow cover over the pavement being a little thin there. We will be adding the wash pond section back in this year which will keep us close to the 10 km per lap distance and 20 km for the two loops. We will be doing Stoney Rollers, the snow has held up well there and conditions are good. The start will go out to the right (facing the trail from the parking lot), skipping the Prairie Loop around. Course map is posted.
The snow pack is still firm but we are finding a few stick and leaves on the trail and the dear have been on in a few places. We are changing the course slightly to avoid the pavement portions around the Praire Loop and we'll skip Stoney Rollers as the snow cover there isn't as good. Racing should be great though and the weather is looking excellent.
THE RACE IS ON!!
Snow cover is good, the trails firmed up well last night and we should have great weather on race day!
We are rapidly approaching race day. We have a nice base on the system but need a few more inches to hold a safe and fun event. With the snow falling now, we are hoping to get enough to hold the event as scheduled. As of now it is still planned for Saturday - yes, this Saturday, the 19th. The weather looks perfect for race day so let's just hope we get enough snow cover today. We'll make the final call tomorrow after rolling today and the groomers make another run tonight.
If we are not able to hold the meet on Saturday, we will have the race on Saturday, January 2nd. Thanks!
There have been a few questions about the start times for the race:
The new course map is up, there are three changes to the course this year.
Change 1: We are starting you out backwards on the Prairie Loop, this will allow a little more space for you to spread out before heading out on to the back section on the other side of the grade. You'll loop around the Prairie Loop and then head out as normal.
Change 2: The new loop on the course "Stony Rollers" is open and excellent so we've added that just past the peak of "Top of the World". It is a 0.9 km loop that we think you'll love!
Change 3: With the addition of the Prairie Loop and Stony Rollers we have decided to cut off Wash Pond Flats this year. Without that loop we are right at 10.1 km and we'll stick with that for this year. We are looking forward to a great race and some excellent conditions! The groomers are ready to head out and roll anything we get tonight and then make another pass on Friday and then early before our race Saturday.
Again, online registration will be available until midnight Friday for $25 and race day registration will open at 8:30 am on Saturday for $35. We'll have food goodies for after the race and don't forget the free 1k or 2k kids race following the adults race. Thanks for supporting the Elk River Nordic Team!
Any questions so far, please don't hesitate to
contact us.