Jerry Swanson skating at the Kenai Klassic. Swanson placed 4th in the JV Race

By Marc Swanson

Well, if you’ve ever seen a rodeo goat roping in Montana, then you may have an idea of what the Kenai Klassic Nordic Ski Race is like. For those new to the sport there is two types of Nordic ski races (Classic…. That would be the conventional sticky wax to provide kick and the relatively new comer : Skating where skis are waxed for maximum glide and skiers are propelled by ‘skating’ on groomed trails.

Normally these races are separate events held on separate days….but not the Kenai Klassic. The event combined both into an entertaining mixture of scrambling and changing of skis. First the skiers had to RUN into a waxing area to throw on kick wax. Then it was a 3 K loop of classic skiing. At the end the skiers had to, quickly, change to skate skis and make a second lap. There were many thrills and spills and simply just plain entertainment….. and the SeaHawks Rocked.

First, the Junior Varsity boys front loaded the podium. Jerry Swanson, despite the lack of aerodynamic hair design, set a personal best coming through the gate in 4th place with a time of 22:14. Nick Zweifel proved that those that double pole ‘got the gear’ coming in 3rd place with 22:42. However Miles took top honors with the 1st place pin slot for JV with a blistering time of 21:27 (how does he do that?). Dylan Gillespie was still nursing the effects of the flu bug but still managed a respectable 16th place at 25:33 and our German, Rico Steibner continues to climb the ranks as he pulled in 66% of the field with a time of 27:14

For JV girls Brooke Estes rocked coming in the 6th place slot with a time of 28:55 and Laura Dyer hit 3rd place with a time of 27:15. Alice Pfeiffenberger pulled in a time of 32:32 and Josephine Braun had one of her best races with a time of 31:09. Keep it up girls.

Lindsey Kromrey on the Varsity Girls Podium. This was Lindsey’s first Varsity race pulling in 6th Place.

But the top honor goes to Lindsey Kromrey. Lindsey was bumped up into the highly competitive Varsity field for the first time. We were hoping for a mid field finish but Lindsey had other ideas. For Lindsey’s first varsity race she beat out a highly competitive field to the 6th place slot with a time of 24:08  .

This week the Seahawk skiers are off to the Palmer Invitational however the grueling home field Seward Invite will be held on February 2nd (Saturday) at Mile 12 Divide Ski area. It’s a great time to see the Nordic skiers in action and volunteers are desperately needed to pull off the race. If interested please email MaryLynn Barnwell at mbarnwell@kpbsd.k12.ak.us