SKYWAY SKUFFLE

1/1/2011 (Happy New Year!)

It was darn frigid and there were great mounds of recent fluff covering everything, but a group of stalwarts knew the best way to begin a new year: go up on Grand Mesa and compete with their buddies ski racing! Besides, who ever thought that Nordic racing was about waiting around until conditions are perfect? This is a great sport no matter what the conditions are like!

The big question of the day was whether to skate or ski classic. Given the sandpaper quality of the cold crunchy snow, it was a tough choice. For those with excellent technique and strong fitness, skating, as is normally the case, was faster proven by the the top men Terry Daley and Filip Babnic and the winning woman Brooke Bosman. But right behind those were some flying classic skiers who put the hurt on the rank-and-file skaters: John Horn, 3rd, skiing for Mesa State College, Ben Fay, 4th, and Helen Carlsen, 2nd woman and 7th overall. Either way, it was a grind. Everyone was glad to finish and adjourn to the parking lot for hot soup.

Of course, the toughest people out there were our great volunteers who had to stand around in that cold. A big thanks to Shirley and Bill Ela, Richard Hypio, Anita Evans and Nilam Hypio! Once again Clif Bar and Justins Nut Butters provided great fuel. Appreciated door prizes came from Rockslide Brewpub, Cravens Coffee and Kannah Creek Brewery.

10K Freestyle

1     Terry Daley           49    M  Ridgway         CO  0:49:02  
2     Filip Babnic          45    M  Grand Junction  CO  0:54:58  
3     John Horn             22    M  Grand Junction  CO  0:58:01  
4     Ben Fay               38    M  Grand Junction  CO  0:58:30  
5     Dan Batwinas          52    M  Grand Junction  CO  0:58:59  
6     Brooke Bosman         20    F  Grand Junction  CO  0:59:02  
7     Helen Carlsen         50    F  Basalt          CO  1:00:37  
8     Dan Schultz-Ela       55    M  Hotchkiss       CO  1:01:32  
9     Winslow Robertson     55    M  Palisade        CO  1:03:41  
10    Doug Johnston         55    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:05:11  
11    Brad Burritt          49    M  Hotchkiss       CO  1:05:38  
12    Kenton Shaw           56    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:10:53  
13    Chris Murphy          35    M  Palisade        CO  1:12:41  
14    Dave Knutson          61    M  Paonia          CO  1:14:01  
15    Chuck Bodie           57    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:14:23  
16    Tom Ela               57    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:15:13  
17    Laura Johnston        56    F  Grand Junction  CO  1:18:57  
18    Louis Hotchkiss       20    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:20:17  
19    Stoney Molina         21    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:22:08  
20    Tom Morrison          20    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:23:18  
21    Karah Levely-Rinaldi  37    F  Grand Junction  CO  1:24:03  
22    Paul Bosman           48    M  Broomfield      CO  1:31:14  
23    Stu Krebs             76    M  Montrose        CO  1:32:38  
24    Chris DePuy           55    M  Montrose        CO  1:35:11  
25    Virgil Carnage        50    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:36:29  
26    Steve Bethka          50    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:36:32  
27    Mary Gilbert          61    F  Fort Collins    CO  1:40:11  
28    Roger Shenkel         68    M  Grand Junction  CO  1:40:27  
29    Courtney Berg         19    F  Grand Junction  CO  1:41:05  
30    Augie Mueller         11    M  Grand Junction  CO  5K       
31    Megan McGrath         20    F  Grand Junction  CO  5K       
32    Annie Richardson      45    F  Grand Junction  CO  5K       
33    Lynette Richardson    73    F  Grand Junction  CO  5K