Greg Gumbel, noted reporter and sports historian, has recently named the most influential people in all of sports, as judged by their ability to manipulate masses of people, get results and have power over people over an extended geographic region. Whether it be through wielding power in the richest league in sports (Goodell), Spending billions on buying an all-star team and angering the world outside of downstate NY (G.S.), wielding sexual prowess and causing women everywhere to glare at the husbands (Sharapova) they all pale to Aaron Huneck's ability to cause many grown men, from far and wide, to willingly suffer in the name of HURT skiing. Take a look at the proof:
Friday: Huneck bolsters roster
Aaron Huneck recruits and signs Pennsylvania skier Jim South from the recently defunked Team NJS...While Jim admittedly is working to regain form of old after a few tough years, he promises to contend in Western NY NYSSRA races and earn points that would otherwise go to Rochester and Buffalo based teams. He carefully explained to Huneck
"I know I am far from the Hudson River, but considering I own several of my own planes which travel fast, and a postcard of the Hudson River, and I was there once as a child, I think I really belong on this squad, besides I like the suit."
Saturday: Huneck sends the Luban duo to dominate Central NY
Finishing in a near mirror image of their results from last week's Applefest, Adam and Ed Luban put the HURT on a tough Weedsport x-c course that included a beast of a climb and a long, steep, off camber, slippery downhill. Remembering Team Director Aaron Huneck's directive to always think about earning maximum points for the team, Ed figured that it would be better to enter an unadvertised race first thing in the morning in the middle of nowhere than worry about where to find some competition. That selfless choice proved a sage one, as Ed took the lead at the bottom of the hill, looked back only to see when it was OK to slow down (thankfully it was), and won the race in dominating fashion. His winning (trophy) t-shirt will soon be on display in the H.U.R.T. Hall of Fame.
When Adam arrived and learned about the t-shirt, he knew Aaron would expect him to equal Ed's performance and earn another shirt for the team. He proved to be up to the task, finishing 10th and leading Nottingham to a 3rd place finish in the Varsity II race. Wee freshman Adam showed his mettle as he bided his time, then put the HURT on his rivals on both the uphill and the downhill. Coming off the hill he was in 12th place, which would have been a fine result and still first on his team. But he knew t-shirts only went 10 deep, so he pushed pain aside and surged past the two runners he needed to pass to fulfill what he knew would have been Aaron's instructions.
Ed was excused from the afternoon roller ski workout as a reward for his victory. He was concerned Aaron might not be pleased that he used the time to load up on grease at Stella's, home of Syracuse's best home fries. But Aaron, being a student of all aspects of training, pointed out that it's always important to replenish right after a hard race.
Sunday: Huneck sends Dad and Kvam to dominate Saratoga County
Despite, his fathers pleas to skip an event that he does not train for, Aaron sent his father into action in the Clifton Park/Halfmoon Duathlon. Through the tears, pain and overall suffering Huneck turned out a strong finsih of 5th overall and 2nd in the 50+ age group. His time was somewhere around 1:20. He finished the first run 9th, moved up to fourth after the bike, and got passed by one guy in the second run. Aaron continued to berate his father for fading a bit on the second run but defended his harsh words by saying "I know this man, I can push him harder than all the rest. Besides, I know that once its all over, we can go have a grill cheese together and everything will be ok."
Kvam on the other hand, skipped the dual and jumped in the Saratoga National 5K race up at SPAC. Kvam knew Mike Wynn would be in action and wanted to tangle with his friend, rival and training partner. Huneck wanted to see how his running stud matched up with the dominate Wynn. Kvam paced Wynn to 5K PR and went stride for stride with the Queensbury runner and stepped across the line in 16:56....1 second infront of Wynn. Kvam said after the race...."Wynn and I are great pair in a race together, he pushes me, I push him and we are like dead even. I knew I couldn't bare to loose that last step to him, because if I did I would just get another 11 year old yelling at me....I can't take that happening again...that's why I left my old job...believe me...it isn't fun. I am just fortunate Wynn didn't have on faster wax today."
Bottom line....A.Huneck knows how to get the best out of his squad...just imagine if he had the billions Steinbrenner has
South, we welcome you to the West.
ReplyDeleteA defunct TeamNJS? maybe.
ReplyDeleteBut de-FUNKed?? Never.
The funk levels remain very high here at TeamNJS
"...the defunked Team NJS"
ReplyDeleteMaybe you meant "de-funkified"? I thought NJS folded under pressure from FIS from artificially inflated levels of funk, brought about by EPNo loading.