CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP

The wild 2009-10 NYSSRA Championship weekend came with a bang...or a dump, or a slop, or a deluge...whatever you want to call it...it was big and it was wet and would be the story of the weekend only trumped by the events that transpired on Sunday. However, Saturday's 17.5K Freestyle Mass Start race was held despite the soft conditions and snow/rain that blanketed the course at Saratoga Biathlon. (An amazing job was done by everyone at SB to pull it off! Thanks!) While Paul Allison pulled away from the deep and speedy field it was RNR who placed three in the top five and flexed their powerful nordic muscles over the field. It was only Peru's Santor who was able to crack the RNR blockade. Like the Swedes in Vancouver, it was Peru who employed smart team tactics using Rose and Kobak to launch Santor. They gave fits to Seyse and Maynard with their highly calculated accelerations and decelerations.
On this day, HURT skied strong, but struggled to really respond. With their team director absent and unfocused due to massive points controversy that saw his own personal points wiped away by NYSSRA, the HURT boys struggled with ski selection and wax. The weight fell on the shoulders of Luban, Kvam and Tornianen to turn in some strong times. While some of HURT skiers struggled with wax selection in tricky conditions (what the HELL is Fastwax Bronze anyway?) It was Luban that found the right flex, rill and wax and skied for the best HURT time of the day. Kvam, despite missing the butter, found some form of old to place ahead of the surging Tornianen. He was unable to respond time and again to the surges of the strong open class but left feeling he might have some ammunition for Sundays relay. Strong efforts were turned in by Yarsevich, Burt, A. Luban, Carol Fisher, Farry, Clarke, Tetlow and Tim and Austin Huneck. For the most part, HURT left scratching their heads, rethinking their relay order and desperately wanting to call Zach Caldwell.

Then good fortune struck....

Tides turned around 9:00pm Saturday night when MDH sent an email out to the HURT team saying he left his skate ski boots out of town. While initially this seemed to be trouble, it moved the dominate MDH out of the skate relay spot on Team 1 and moved his powerful double pole to a classic leg. This left the Team Director with a tough choice....Kvam or Tornianen? Knowing Tornianen has a beast of a classic sprint over Kvam... and seeing Kvam edge out Tornianen on Saturday made the call to give strength to both squads. Kvam: HURT 1...Tornianen: HURT 2.

Gray clouds (metaphorical and literal) cleared and Sunday's relay saw Good triumph over Evil. While initially it looked like HURT was destined to toe the line against Peru, DOMINANT classic legs by Yarsevich and Tornianen launched skaters Kvam and Tetlow into a position where they could skate easily to a 3rd and 4th place finish being left behind only by the speed and depth of RNR. Although, Kvam was left in a position to tangle with Maynard from RNR, poor fitness and a miscalculated corner left HURT out of the top 2.

The weekend ended with HURT receiving the NYSSRA Champions Banner for earning a massive amount of racer points over the course of the season. Congratulations to all HURT members who had a hand in adding to the total. We are already thinking about ways to add to the total, recruit new skiers, add strength and speed and prepare to bring ALL the titles from West to the
East.



HURT end of the season AWARDS are as follows:

Most likely to break a boot, lose a boot, lose a jersey and duct-tape a sneaker to a 2 x 4 to ski: MDH

Most likely to get mono from kissing the NYSSRA banner: Kvam (see photo above)

Most likely to be shunned for mocking a cripple: T. Huneck (see movie below)

Best baseball cap while skiing: (ITS A TIE) Farry and Tornianen

Best video work for HURT Television: THE KINGSTON HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS

Best Baked Goods and Best Brewery: Chris and Rachel Yarsevich

Best cheering section (the wave): A. Huneck, The Director, B. Timmerman, A Luban, Brian Halligan (see Empires)

Best Attitude: Rene Clarke (keep on keepin' on!)

Best excuse for poor race results: Tetlow "its the fat"

Best lesson in Grooming: Bob Underwood "turn this thing and press that thing and your good to go"

ENJOY THE SEASON END TO HURT TV....see you once rollerskiing starts!!