Pulling off a race during the non-stop blizzard that beset the valley on Sunday, March 3, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail ended the season at home for Nordic races ages 14 and under.
Maloit Park provided the venue for a weekend of racing which kicked off normally on Saturday, March 2, in a sprint race that featured 56 rounds of action.
“A sprint race with eight or nine kids was going off every three minutes,” said Ski & Snowboard Club Vail coach Eric Pepper.
The sprint went well on Saturday, with Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athletes Izzy Glackin winning the U14 girls race and Lucy Perkins placing third in the U12 girls race.
Sunday was a different story.
Thanks to the hard work of the dozens of volunteers who skipped the ski day to help out on course, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail was able to pull off a series of mass start distance races from about 9:30 a.m. to a little before noon on Sunday.
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“After such a long, challenging day on Saturday, our volunteers showed up on Sunday in the snowstorm, what an awesome thing,” Pepper said. “It’s so amazing this community, people wanted to be involved and do that and save the day.”
Pepper said “re-grooming, constant sweeping, parents directing the athletes where to go, markings so they could even see where the course was,” were among the more important tasks involved in making sure the races went smoothly.
“It ended up working out,” he said.
The kids seemed to be having a great time, as well, Pepper added.
“I think they really embraced it,” Pepper said. “The course skied longer and harder in a lot of ways, but they had a really good time in the big snow day.”
Ski & Snowboard Club Vail U12 athletes Leif McGinley and Lucy Perkins both finished on the podium in the snow at Maloit Park on Sunday.