Ski-O Season Starts Slowly, Then Takes Off
In these days of Global Warming, the quality of Ski-O in the
Northeastern US is simply dominated by the weather, recent and
current. For a prime event, there must have been snow, there must
still be snow, and it must be in some condition better than ice. For
any given event, the odds of this series of coincidences seem to be
ever decreasing. Still, every year we set up our New York Ski-O
schedules, with the ESG's as the championship test, and usually we get
lucky and have some fine events. We almost always have FUN events.
This season, we tried to start things off earlier than ever, with two
events scheduled for December, before Christmas. Sadly, both EMPO's
planned event at Lapland Lake and the one scheduled for Old Forge had
to be postponed/cancelled. Even the next event in January was pretty
marginal, but Bob E-H goes by the theory that if he could set a
course, someone might do it, and indeed a few did. After that, things
(like Snow!) took off, and we managed to hold six more events as
scheduled, before the finale had to be scrapped. Still, seven Ski-O's
in a season is the most we've held for several years, and it was fun
to see people traveling around the state to compete. Judging by the
e-mail corrections/complaints I received, a number of people were
actually surveying my postings of the ESG Points Standings.
Our return to Garnet Hill, two years after the US Ski-O Championships,
which EMPO held in 1997, was a success. Ski Center Manager Dick
Carlson and his staff provided all the assistance we needed, and the
weather provided everything else we could hope for. The day was mostly
sunny, with some passing snow flurries and a temperature approaching
20 degrees. The trails were well covered, tracked and packed, with
about 4-6 inches of recent snow on top of a solid, icier, base. All of
the mapped trails at Garnet are wide enough for skating, and despite
the several significant climbs, it seemed likely that the conditions
would produce fast times.
The turnout for the Blue Course was good, and a very competitive race
resulted, with Gary Brackett winning over Mike Olson by just a couple
of minutes. This was despite Gary reaching one of the major climbs
just as a long line of more modest skiers was snowplowing down it. As
he passed, one of them remarked to him "Wow, you're double poling up
this hill!" He certainly wasn't doing it by choice!
On the Red and Green courses there were far fewer entrants, possibly
because a Sectional XC race had been scheduled that same day for many
of EMPO's Scholastic members. In these compressed snow seasons we keep
having, the event conflicts are just unavoidable. Maybe things will
work out better next year. However, despite the limited numbers, the
Green course produced a very tight race, taken by Ellie George, coming
in only 8 seconds ahead of Sue Hawkes-Teeter. Marty H-T also managed
to beat his Mom (by 2:24), but he was doing the Red course, which was
3k longer. (In Mom's defense, she was just getting over the flu.)
While it is a bit more of a trip than some of EMPO's other venues,
Garnet Hill keeps providing us with terrific skiing and wonderful
accommodations. We'll definitely be back again, and by then I'll have
the trail changes entered on the OCAD version of the map!
As the "regular season" wrapped up, and moved towards the
"Post-season" event, NYSSRA Ski-O Chief Carol Moran contacted me. She
had been asked for a suggestion of a younger Ski-O participant at the
ESG's to be interviewed as part of a TV production on this year's
Games. When I talked to them, they were looking for someone in the
11-14-age range, ideally from the NYC Metro area. I was only aware of
two in that range, and (surprise) they were interested in interviewing
the one I knew best, my son Marty. We made arrangements to meet up in
Lake Placid, and in our household a new excitement was added to the
days leading up to the event. When he isn't watching Rugrats, MSG and
SportsChannel are about all Marty watches on TV, and here he might be
on MSG himself!
The weekend before the ESG's, Sue & I (along with EMPO's Bob & Rita
Reed) competed in the Snowgaine on Tug Hill. We've done it three years
in a row, now, and this year was really the most fun. It was a shame
more people didn't come, because the skiing was just great. I don't
think I've ever been able to skate-ski in open woods as easily, and
the downhills through the trees were thrilling (terrifying?). And yet,
you didn't have to ski to do well, as the results will attest. We
ended up doing OK competitively (3rd in the "Coed" category), but it
probably wore us down, as the next week I caught a cold, and Sue
developed a very sore shoulder. As we packed our gear for Lake Placid,
we nursed our bodies and honed our excuses. But we were still eager
for the Games, as Marty's 15 minutes of fame loomed, along with a
great opportunity to spread the Ski-O gospel to the world, or at least
to the cable TV subscribers of New York State.
I took Friday off from work, and spent the morning waxing all our
skis, on the basis of the weather forecasts for Saturday. Over the
years I've found that it's a heck of a lot easier to do the wax jobs
at home, and I've never yet lost a race solely because I selected the
wrong wax. Friday afternoon, we headed up north, and got to Lake
Placid just in time to pick up Marty's ESG warm-up suit. Sue & I only
got ESG hats, because those who qualify in the Masters categories
don't get full suits unless they are medallists. We then took him to
the staging area for the parade of athletes for the lighting of the
torch and start of ESG festivities. At the staging area he met up with
several other folks from EMPO and the other NY O clubs. Steve Sweet
Sr., who had gotten a suit and so could be in the parade, told us he'd
keep an eye on Marty for us, so we headed off for good
spectator/photographer positions.
As "Opening Ceremonies" go, this was actually fun. There was a good
video, great chances for the kids to mug for TV cameras, not too many
speakers, and some terrific fireworks at the end. Through pure good
luck the Ski-O group of athletes was positioned right in the center of
where a lot of the crowd shots were happening, and we could see Marty
and company on the overhead projection of what the cameras were
capturing. Among 1200 kids in exactly the same outfit it was a real
challenge to find our own when things broke up, but fortunately as
they all sped outward we spied some of the other (bigger) folks from
our crew and they pointed us towards where Marty was. He had been
found by the TV group, and gone through introductions and verified our
meeting the next day at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. We all headed back to the
Arena for some food and "Family Fun." I'm not a Republican, but I must
say they throw nice parties!
Saturday morning we headed back up from our Adirondack cottage (about
an hour south) to Lake Placid to meet the TV folks a couple hours
before the Ski-O was actually scheduled to start. Unusually, Sue & I
both wanted to get going in plenty of time, which turned out to be
fortunate since we were confused about where we were supposed to meet
up. Not only ours, but everyone else's plans this year were somewhat
altered by the coming of an international Biathlon competition at
Mt. Van Hoevenberg right up through noon on Saturday of ESG
weekend. This had a significant effect on the course planning (we were
to start at 1:00), and it sure confused us. Nevertheless, we finally
got to the right area, and found our TV contacts.
The weather on Saturday was simply gorgeous. The temperature
approached 40 degrees, the wind was mild, and the sky was pure
blue. Everyone was basking in the day, though organizers were a bit
nervous about the ski-trail conditions. The TV folks turned up fairly
soon, and we went off to a spot they thought looked sufficiently
"outdoorsy" for initial interviewing. Marty handled it well enough,
but was a bit stiff and not very expansive in his answers. TV didn't
seem to mind, and kept coming up with ideas on how to maneuver him
into talking more about what he knew and had experienced. Slowly we
could see him moving into more of a comfort zone as he explained how
orienteering events worked, how he figured out his route from the map,
and other more specific questions. The TV people clearly knew what
they were doing, and over a period of time Marty opened up enough for
them to capture some sense of both him and the sport of Orienteering
in the context of younger participants.
The race itself was by no means anti-climactic. Sue's shoulder seemed
to be coming around, and my cough had subsided, and we felt like we
could give it a serious shot. Eric Hamilton (EMPO's Mr. Multi-Nordic)
had set the courses, done the maps, hung the flags, and then gone off
to compete in the Biathlon Relay. But Tom and Carol Moran ably got our
Ski-O off and running smoothly, with help from the Grandjeans and
others, all of whom I'm afraid I can't remember. Under the eye of the
TV camera I helped get Marty ready to go off; then I hustled back and
got my own gear on to head out as the last starter of the day.
The race I know best is my own. I headed out well, and had little
trouble to #1. Going to #2 I was bit more cautious as this was an area
that has caused me troubles before (and blew Sue away this year). #3
was pretty simple, though there was a ski vs. bushwhack choice (almost
everyone bushwhacked). #5 was my first mistake: despite several years
experience at Mt. Van Hoevenberg I am still prone to missing changes
in trail grooming which are not represented on the map. I should have
let my knowledge that I needed to follow the fence over-ride the fact
that the track staying by the fence wasn't a groomed trail. But I
didn't, and overshot. It took me a minute or two to figure out where I
was once I knew I had made some error. I followed that correction by
getting to #6 just fine, but I failed to think it through, and left
the wrong way, going home the shorter, but much more difficult
(hilly), way. Pete Dady (an unofficial participant this year) left #6
about the same time I did, and beat me back by taking the correct
route by several minutes.
In the post mortems, I learned Sue had blown #2 big time, and
thereafter kind-of drifted in. Marty had done very well; he hadn't
challenged the best High School boys (who were awesomely fast), but
beat some of the boys, most of the girls, and all of the Masters Women
on their common course. I ended up 2nd, behind Aims Coney, who had the
best race of his ESG season. As I coughed and tried to go over my
course with Marty under the TV camera after I finished, I felt pretty
good that no matter the result, I had really given my all, if not my
best, once again.
After collecting my ESG suit (for a 1-2-3 Masters finish), we headed
out for a post race pizza blitz in Lake Placid. Half-a-dozen ESG
Ski-O families joined up for a final get together. We traded sorrows,
joys, and tales of the event, the season, and our plans for the Spring
and Summer. And that, to me, is Orienteering: sorrow, joy, and plans;
individually, and with all my "O" friends. I can't wait for Spring!
(And for snow next Winter!)
-- Phil Hawkes-Teeter
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