2009 Alaska State Nordic Skiing Championships

(I have been trying to publish this blog for many days and have not had luck with the pictures and format so I am just going to post what I have without the results so I can move on to JO's.)

Fairbanks hosted the Alaska State High School Championships Feb 26, 27 and 28. The weather throughout the weekend was in the 20's which was great for the fans. The first race was a 5K interval start classical race. The racers started every 15 seconds with usually the faster racers going out towards the end.

Here Megan starts........

Megan out on the race course..........

Heather starting...........

Megan coming in for her finish....

Heather coming in for her finish........(her picture along the trail for some reason is stuck at the beginning of this blog and I couldn't move it.)

DAY 2 - Mass start Freestyle

Heather is wearing Bib #18 and Megan has Bib #63. This race was a mass start of 121 girls. It was amazing to see them all start. Poles and skiis flying. Heather with the leaders coming up the stadium hill at the beginning of the race.

Megan wearing bib #63 coming up the hill.

Pictures of Heather and Megan along the trail.

Heather coming in almost towards the end.

Megan coming in towards the end.

Region IV Cross Country Skiing Championships

Mass Start 7.5k Freestyle Race - February 13th

Heather leading the pack up the stadium hill. Heather is Bib #136 while Megan is Bib #139.



Here comes Megan........

Heather leading Marissa......

Megan coming around the corner....

Heather still leading the 1st group..........

Megan's pack coming through the stadium for the 2nd half of the race...

Heather and Marissa almost at the end..........

Megan coming through near the end of the race..........

Heather and Marissa coming in for the finish. A last-second surge by Heather was enough to catch and tie Marissa. Only later did we find out that Heather and Marissa had planned to tie.

Megan coming in for her finish.

Heather and Marissa ended up tying for 1st place while Megan came in 11th out of 39 starters.

4X3, Mixed Technique Relay - February 14th

Megan finishing her leg.........

Heather coming in from her leg as anchor of the Lathrop #1 team.

Heather and Marissa sharing the Region IV crown as champion.

The Lathrop #1 team took 2nd overall..........

....

Besh Cup in Fairbanks

Lots of anxiety in Fairbanks as the final weekend of Besh Cups (#5 & #6) was hosted here on February 7 & 8 and Heather hoped to qualify for the Junior Olympic (JO) team representing Alaska. The Alaska JO team would be named at the conclusion of the races on Sunday. At the end of Besh cup #4, Heather was sitting at 14th in points and they take the top 15 in the JI/OJ bracket. Team members are decided on a point system based on racer placement during each of the six races held. If you are interested in the qualifications, please go to http://www.crosscountryalaska.org/ for more information as I in no way can attempt to explain it.

Besh Cup #5 was an interval 5k classic race with racers individually leaving the starting area every 15 seconds.

Heather placed 10th for J1's with a time of 18:52 and kept her 14th placing in the points though the places from 13 to 16 were all so close. It would be very important that Heather have a great race on Sunday.

Sunday's Race: Besh Cup #6 10K Freestyle Mass start..........Heather is #117.

Some misc pictures of Heather along the trail.........

Coming through for the last 5k........

Heather ended up having a great race placing 10th in her age group with a time of 37:02.

Heather named to the team in the 14th spot!!!! Heather not only was a part of the Lathrop HS Cross Country Skiing team but also participated on a comp team, FXC, which is the organization she raced under for the Besh Cups. Pete, her FXC coach, is on the far left with Heather on the far right.

Stayed tuned as Heather heads to Truckee, California for Junior Olympics. The first race is on March 9th. Dave, Megan and I will be joining her for the week. (Steve won't be with us as he "unfortunately" will be in Maui for three weeks for work no less!!!)

Ixtapa Beach, Volleyball and a Wedding 2009

Now that I have your interest with "wedding" in the title.....Psych! Believe it or not the girls chose not to go to Mexico with this year so Steve and I went later than we usually go in January. In the picture below a sunset wedding (the couple is from Anchorage), a volleyball beach tournament/clinic, and Steve relaxing after a hard day at the beach are all happening at once.

Another dinner at Deborah's - Mama Norma's ending with some "sexy" coffee. It's quite the show with the waiter preparing right at your table with igniting some of the alcohol and making a production out of it. That night it was extremely busy at Deborah's and it was at first questionable whether I would get my coffee or not.

We went exploring down the beach and actually walked around the Ixtapa Marina this year.




Steve posing in front of his new boat and his new condo being built in the background.

The last sunset of our Mexico trip, all vacations eventually come to an end.....

Going......

Gone.....