Saturday was the big Mesabi Invitational Ski meet at Giants Ridge. A beautiful day for ski racing. It is the largest high school Nordic Ski Meet in the country. A few top dogs were missing this year, most noticeable Andy Dodds, Chris Parr, Dylan McGarthwaite, and Ben Saxton. Any skier outside of the Midwest that doesn't comprehend how big high school skiing in in MN should come to this meet. It is also a great meet to see how awesome high school Nordic Ski racing is in MN. It is always fun to go and see all the teams that come to Maplelag for training camps and fellow mountain bikers with skiing interests. Of course I am partial to these teams and skiers. It was a bit hectic than normal trying to get everything prepped before heading over with the weather making it good on the trails but all worked out, thanks to Lee who is helping me out this year with grooming and knocking out a good chunk Friday night.


Kyle Bratrud en route to first place in boys varsity skate. Saw and talked to him briefly before the start, looked nervous but that can be a good thing. He was ready to race. Put in some big k's at Maplelag over break.


Jake nailed down an impressive 2nd place in the skate. He pushed it all the way to the end and said he had nothing left at the line. Looking smooth like always and beating some skiers that beat him earlier in the year at the JO races, giving him good confidence for the rest of the season.
Zach Goldberg probably turned the most heads with his third place finish. Has a great coach in Mike Mason at Minnetonka. Another skier putting in some big miles in early December on the Maplelag trails. Didn't find a picture but 2nd place finish by Ted McKleeven from Edina was solid in the classic who was also at Maplelag in December logging huge classic k's motivated by classic minded coach Andy T.
Eden Prairie skier waving the flag nicely. (skoyles photo)

Mora team leaving their mark in the snow and Wayzata girls on the trail.
Jonell and Jon were nearby in Hibbing for hockey tourney and Jonell was able to sneak away to catch the action.
Ran in to Scott Kylander Johnson who was out on course helping out.

Jens got to use his new skate skis we had in inventory, waxed up by Steve G and was skiing with me on course. Fun having Jens along.
Back home in the evening and back out on the groomer to clean and reset new tracks and dig out middle of the night after after a potential ski team chase down out sledding on Suicide Hill. No pictures of all of that....Sunday morning felt like ran over by the above until a short ski with Jake to take off the edge...whew.

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!