Traverse City Record-Eagle

Sports

January 28, 2012

XC ski races wait for snow

White Pine to make a decision Monday

By MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

That's what White Pine Stampede and Vasa officials are crossing their fingers for this weekend, as snow is expected.

For the White Pine Stampede, it's the 11th hour. The race is scheduled for next Saturday and it needs some accumulation over the weekend. Race director Jack McKaig said a decision about the race will be made Monday.

"(Currently) it's less than marginal," McKaig said. "It really depends on how much and what kind (of snow) it is. We've talked to skiers and they want to go out and ski. We may go out in minimal conditions just to ski."

Warm weather, lack of snow, rain and even Friday's sunny conditions have created problems for the area cross country races.

"We've had the January thaw before, but we always had a huge base of a couple of feet," said McKaig, adding that he's never seen a winter like this one.

Plans for the Feb. 11 Vasa are going forward as planned.

"On Sunday, we have our volunteer dinner, which is our thank-you in advance," race director Lisa Taylor said. "We're taking a 'forge ahead' approach with them. Our big day will be Feb. 2. That's our board of directors meeting. On the agenda will be contingency planning.

"Right now, as race director, in my mind we're having a race. Maybe we'll have a different course, but we're having a race."

Several skiers who will compete in the White Pine and Vasa are in Marquette for today's Noquemanon. That group includes last year's White Pine men's 40K winner Milan Baic and Vasa men's 50K champ Jeff Koch.

It isn't the first trip to the U.P. this winter for Baic and Koch, who train together and are teammates for Priority Health with Dan Yankus and John O'Hearn.

"Everyone's been in the same boat. It's been tough," Baic said. "Fortunately, I was working up in the U.P. the first two weeks of December. It was kind of marginal, but at least I was on snow for those two weeks. It's been a really difficult year. You're really had to stay on top of it and jump in the car to find snow."

Koch and Baic traveled to Ironwood earlier this month. In December, they tried a trip to Marquette, but ended up in Houghton before finding good snow.

"It's been a time-consuming affair and a little pricey," Baic said. "I'm fortunate I've got the wherewithal and the resources, but I feel bad for everyone else. They just don't have the resources to really chase the snow. For me, it's worth driving hours to ski. Others may not drive all the way to Houghton. I feel bad for the new skiers, because it gets a little frustrating when you have a weather year like this. It makes it difficult to get enthusiastic about skiing."

Baic was also hampered by an illness for the last couple of weeks, but is finally feeling back to normal. That lines up well with his upcoming schedule.

"Fortunately for my schedule, the World Masters this year are in Germany," Baic said. "I don't leave until the (end) of February. So for me, there's not quite the sense of urgency. That's when I'd really like to nail my races. The way my health has been lately, it looks like that's going to be a really good target for me to ski well."

Koch doesn't have that luxury.

"The peak for my season will probably be that National Masters at Vasa this year," he said. "It really kind of screwed with me this year in a big way. It's like 'bang, bang, bang' now the racing starts. I've been playing catch-up this whole time."

Because of the struggles to find snow, Koch said he doesn't know what to expect over the next few weeks.

"The two of us ski together so much in the summer on roller skis, so you have to rely on that as your base," Koch said. "When you get closer to the time to skiing, you do more speed work and hope that translates into snow speed. I've got a huge base, I know there's core fitness there, there's just not the finishing touches on that fitness. So you go into these races not really knowing what you can do."

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