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February 10, 2012

National titles at stake in Vasa race

By MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Vasa board president Pete LaPlaca summed up what makes this year's 36th annual North American Vasa a special event.

"It puts us on the national map," LaPlaca said.

This year, the Vasa will also host the American Cross Country Skiers Masters National Championships.

"A lot of (skiers) take it seriously and it's the highlight of their ski season," LaPlaca said. "Every age group winner will not only be a Vasa champion, but be a national champion as well."

AXCS National Director J.D. Downing is already in Traverse City for Saturday's races. He conducted clinics at Timber Ridge on Thursday.

"For me, these are fun trips," Downing said. "They're more networking for the American Cross Country Skiers Association. My presence here isn't to run anything or officiate anything, it's to network for the association. I'll even be able to hop in the half races. The 6K I'm doing just to ski with people. Literally, just to talk to them while they're out there."

LaPlaca said bringing Downing and the National Championships to northern Michigan has been in the works for years.

"I've known him for quite awhile," LaPlaca said. "He puts on both the National Masters and the World Masters. A whole bunch of us from the Traverse City area went out to the World Masters in Lillihamer, Norway about five years ago. That's where I first met him. He lives in Bend, Ore., and I have a son that lives there. We kept in touch and every time I'd go to Bend to visit my son, I'd meet with J.D. I told him we'd be very interested in having the National Masters here in Traverse City. We've really been two years in the planning for it."

Instead of running its own event, the National Championships like to overlay with a current race.

"The Nor-Am Vasa would have happened with or without the Nationals," Downing said. "By overlaying, it gives a little bit more a marketing push for a given year. We have the American Ski Marathon Series, which Vasa is a part of, and we're trying as best we can to use a different event each year. We try to move it around the country."

This year — Traverse City.

"It's fun to see the courses," Downing said. "Then when I go back, I'm actually more useful to (race director Lisa Taylor) and Pete (LaPlaca), because when I'm asked about the Nor-Am Vasa, I've been (to the race). This gives me more familiarity."

Having the National Championships also helps get the Vasa's name out there.

"We don't ask for anything," Downing said, adding that his organization is a non-profit. "Yet, there's additional marketing that went on for this event to a national audience. Even if people didn't come, they knew about it. We've got different postcards. That's 25,000 postcards that are going in race packets all across the country. Traverse City, that name is getting out there."

Warm weather has been the story of this racing season both in northern Michigan, as well as across the country.

"I've been working in the ski industry for almost three decades now, and around the country for two decades," Downing said. "This is the funkiest winter I've seen, coast-to-coast. From that standpoint, it's abnormally tough. It's the frustration for cross country skiing and really the reason the sport doesn't grow more than it does. Running marathons are in a boom cycle right now. Cross country skiing would mirror that, it draws from the same pool, but when you've got this kind of winter it confuses people. They don't know what to do."

The Vasa, though, is ready to go. While much of Traverse City has seen the snow melt away in the sun and warm temps, plenty of snow is piled around Timber Ridge Resort and on the Vasa trail.

"I live less than a half-mile from the start and finish line," Taylor said. "I've lived out here for almost 25 years, so I know the secret that most of the people out here know — this is the last place for the snow to go. Right now in my yard, there's a foot of snow. I drive into town every day and see there isn't any snow, so I can completely understand how people are a little mystified that we can have a ski race out here. But there is snow out here, for sure."

And a couple more inches could be on the way leading into Saturday's race.

"A little bit of snow will help tremendously," LaPlaca said. "What it will do is help slow down the course. Our biggest fear right now is speed on the course, especially the downhills. We've already eliminated a few areas already to make sure every part is as safe as we can make it."

While Vasa knows it won't get the 1,000 racers it was expecting with the National Championships, race officials are still hoping to get between 600-700 skiers.

"We're putting on the same race for 600 as we would for 1,600," Taylor said. "Quality will be our main emphasis."

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