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!!!)