Jay Richards

A perfect day for Section 8 Nord Championships at Camp Ripley.
No wind, sunshine and mid 20's for temps. Doesn't get much better. The only bummer was that Jonell and Jens couldn't make it as Jon woke up sick and had to stay home so Jonell stayed up. When Jens woke up, Jonell said he was kicking and throwing things all mad and Jonell said she felt like doing the same thing. Bummer.


Heading out with Wynn Roberts, Lars Ellefson and Jake to catch the girls race.
Jake in the skate. Was 19th in first race, classic. Moved up to 16th in the pursuit (skate race). . Jake missed state by three spots and 30 seconds. Very tight from 3-15th. Being a 8th grader, good experience and knows what it takes to make it next year. Lars won by 1:30 so he is on good form for the state meet and potential for top three.
The girls pursuit was real exciting. Missy Erickson (in back of pic) came from 6th and moved up to second. Almost caught top ranked Addie Byrne from Grand Rapids, just missing by 4 seconds. Missy was on US JR National cycling road team this year.
This guy was grilling right next to our car. It was killing me. He offered but I refused. I wanted to be skiing as much as possible.


George Odio. Super nice guy. Owns the bike and fitness shop in Alex. He works with Missy and the training. Nice job George.



The Ellefson family. Little Emma is always skiing around all over the place, ready to follow Summers footsteps. Summer qualified for the Midwest Jr team which will be competing in Nationals in Alaska, March 7-16. She is looking for help to make the trip. If interested, drop something in the mail to Summer Ellefson, 15443 CO 40 Park Rapids, MN. 56470 Total cost of her trip will be $2500.
I do have to say I was a bit disappointed with the track. The skate lane was very nice and the groomers did a nice job tilling just a little bit to make a good textured surface. There was some mis communication and no tracks were set yesterday afternoon so they had to scramble and set a track with a older tidd tech after it had already set up. When I left the guys were heading out to till again and set a track with the big machine so it should be good for tomorrow. Kinda what I was expecting today, a deeper more transformed snow track but the track today was more squegee groomed and I waxed a bit warm for Jake. So it goes. It was a great day and everyone was in the same boat and Champions rose to the top.



In Section 6 at Troll Hollow today, Ari Resnick waving the flag nicely, photos by Bruce. One of the tougher sections in the state with EP, MPLS SW and STLP. Feb is a great month.