A small number of hardy Rascals participated in some Perisher X-Country Ski Week's events. XC Ski Week is the main event of the season for the XC community at Perisher. It ran for 9 days with 13 events: some just fun and to join in the camaraderie (Mystery Coffee Tours), some more serious such as the Perisher to Charlotte Pass race (KAC X-C Classic) and some to raise funds for the Australian XC team (the Sundeck Handicap Race).
This article is about our experiences in two events: the Perisher to Charlotte Pass race (KAC X-C Classic) and the Sundeck Handicap Race.
First the Perisher to Charlotte Pass race.
Rascal member, Sue Williams, enthusiastically encouraged Marg and myself to join the KAC race from Perisher to Charlotte Pass. We succumbed to such inspiration, registered and joined about 100 others. The wind was howling at about 50 - 70 km per hour in the morning so the race was relocated to two loops of the 3.5 km trail from the Nordic Centre.It was pretty cold. We all had a few extra layers and an outer gortex jacket, with the hood well tied around our faces. And we needed all of that, even though we were excercising heavily.
Well we had a ball. The elite skiers went off first followed by a few rows of the less-elite and then the rest of us left in a large peleton. It was a bit of a scramble in the peleton, with me trying to overtake Sue while hearing 'coming in on the right' from behind!
The wind was fierce in places and a number of skiers were blown over, unable to balance while going hell for leather. Sue and I criss crossed each other a few times: she was faster downhill and I think my wider and slower skies gripped better on the uphill. But I usually saw the back end of Sue's red racing skies! Unable, or unwilling, to look behind I was unaware that Marg was close behind. Marg is a better skier than me but we have never raced before so I did not know how we would compare. Ken Moylan was nowhere to be seen. He is an excellent skier so was probably well in front.
The second lap of the 3.5 km loop was easier now that we knew the terrain. Knowing my downhill was a bit slow and because I can't now get my legs apart enough to snowplough effectively, I just let it rip downhill, even when there was a right hand turn at the bottom. The elite skiers passing me made it look easy: a fast run down, a bit of a snowplough at the bottom and then a quick turn. Easy. I replicated their grace, sort of, managing to reach the turn, only to then dance and twirl on a single ski while the other ski and stocks gesticulated wildly, desperately seeking solid ground!
Then came the Sundeck Handicap Race......
Thursday was bright and sunny with little to no wind. Absolutely fantastic day and a great contrast to what we had experienced and what the forecast is for tomorrow.
The Sundeck Handicap race is over ostensibly 7.5 km, but in actuality 6 km.
Team Rascal consisted of Sue Williams, Carys Jones, Ken Moylan, Marg and myself. We didn't match the numbers of most other clubs but we looked the part!The race is a fund raiser for the Australian cross country ski team, and Sundeck not only match the entry fee as a donation, but also provide a magnificent lunch and a drink at the Sundeck hotel after the race.
We needed to each submit our expected time upon entry so we used the time we took for the previous day's KAC race. Marg and Carys were at 60 minutes, Ken and I were at 55 minutes and Sue, the superstar skier, was at 50 minutes.
We left in the order of our expected time so Marg and Carys went slightly before Ken and myself, and Sue extroardinaire was relegated to a later start. The idea is that we should theoretically all arrive at the finish at the same time. Well that is the theory.
The route took us anticlockwise up the hill - which was a long slog - and then back down more gentle slopes to the Nordic Shelter. It was all in glorious weather with a slight wind.
I could see Ken in front and managed to keep him in view during the uphill sections but, come the top of the saddle, he scooted down the track leaving trails of steam behind. I didn't see him after that!
And we actually all did arrive at roughly the same time so our estimates were pretty accurate.
Here we are at the end of the race trying to regain our composure for a group shot after a fair bit of strenuous exercise.The surprise came at lunch. There on the results sheet was Marg at Number 1!! How fantastic. But Carys, who had the same estimate and in fact was slightly faster than Marg was relegated to position 67! (at least in the initial results, but at 37 in the final results). This we could not understand and seems to be an unfortunate quirk of the program that calculates the results.
I think the idea is to provide prizes to those who normally miss out. The top athletes win all the prizes normally, but in this race the rest of us get a look in.
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| (l to r) the Owner/Manager of the Sundeck Hotel, Cliff Wallis, and last year's winner, Jeremy Hecker, presenting Marg with her trophy. |
Here is Marg being presented with her trophy, on which her name will be engraved for posterity amongst other elite skiers who won the competition in previous years.
Rascal winners from past years are: Karen Civil (2005), Ken Moylan (2009), and Sue Williams (2016).
As if that was not enough, she was also presented with the Winner's Jacket, entitling her to free meals & drinks at either the Sundeck Hotel or Cliff’s Tathra Hotel, right up to the next Sundeck Cup.The anomaly whereby Carys was relegated well down the list, even though she had the same pre race estimate as Marg, left in the same cohort and was only slightly faster than Marg, was also recognised with an award! And so it should be!
Sue Williams came within thirty seconds of her estimate, but Ken skied much too fast, coming in about 10 minutes earlier than he said he would!
Cross Country Ski Week ran from Sat 4 August to Sun 12 August 2018
Submitted by Alan Laird August 2018
test comment by alan
ReplyDeleteFantastic effort ladies!!!
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