Jay Richards

Saturday I went up to Biwabik for the Mesabi East Invite. It is one of the greatest single day sporting events I have witnessed. Ranks right there with the old single class (now two class of course) opening day of state hockey tourney, the Roseau/Warroad hockey battles, state Nordic ski meet, afternoon short track mtb racing at Maplelag during Laddies Loppet and any day in the Squirt International hockey tourney in Fargo. 1200 skiers from mostly MN racing among four races, Varsity,JR Varsity Boy and Girls skate and classic. Tons of energy, kids skiing their heart outs and a positive environment.

Jake was racing skate again this year and had a goal of top 20. I knew he had a top 10 in him but either way it is a great day to measure yourself against the best in the Midwest with schools from Marquette, MI and ski mecca Hayward, WI. and all the top skiers getting a chance to race against each other for the first time.
I had the start list downloaded on the itouch so I could guage how he was doing against some other top dogs around him, mostly Sam Anderson from St Cloud Tech who Jake has raced against three times already and one of the strongest skaters in the state. When I was waiting for Jake to come, I saw this skier cranking it nicely way off in the distance and when I realized it was Jake....it was amazing. Just about 1km Jake was 2 seconds up on Sam which had things looking good but the hills were to come and a little concerned he maybe was going out to hard.
After he went by I went to the last hill to catch the action. Watched a good chunk of the field come by including Sam who was flying. If Jake was to be keeping pace, he would have to be exactly two minutes from the point on top of the hill where I hit the clock. When I saw the red suit through the woods less than two minutes, I knew he was having a solid race. Jake had some traffic to deal with on the last hill, catching skiers in front of him but it worked out fine and part of racing with 300 plus skiers. Clocked 11 seconds at the mark and that gap pretty much stuck as Jake ended up 5th among 200 skaters.


Sam Anderson unloading the preload!

It is always fun watcing the skiers and different techniques. Ely skiers always strong and rip apart the hill.


Eden Prairie skier Peter Schurke waving the flag nicely en route to a solid top 10 finish after 4 day training camp with his team at Maplelag. Nice job to the boys who took team honors!


Bumped into the mountain biker family Matt and Taylor Horner. Daughter Jordan racing first year for Burnsville
Steve Gromatka has been staying at Maplelag during his Holiday break, doing some lessons, wrapping 'ware etc. Rode over with us. Definitely kills the car time. Steve is a trip. Has blended nicely with the foreign staff. Steve has the right attitude of not taking things too serious and skiing for fun but trains and races hards and the results fall in to place.
After watching high school races and helping/coach other kids for over 10 years, having you son up there is pretty much awesome. Looking forward to the rest of the season!