I'm gonna blog SO HARD about this...

2nd ANNUAL CLARKSON CUP!!!!!

We pulled into the parking lot at Higley Flow State Park mid-morning. The air was cold, dry crisp; the sky was the majestic blue that saves itself for those special days. The snow was pure from the recent dusting of the night before, and crinched and crunched under our feet as we got our skate skis ready for the race. The girls then promptly complained about the cold and ruined the whole experience. Great, thanks guys...

Nah, j/k, lol, it was a perfect day that was just a bit on the cold side. We started off with Jim "Killer" Allott's Nordic Jacks to try and get blood into our fingers and toes. Then we ventured down into lower Higley to where we would be racing (The "F" loop, officially. Pretty F'd up, huh? LOL J/K). The sprint course was about 1.5K with slightly undulating terrain, and it was a bit icy. See, the temperature was slightly above freezing around 6pm last night, with a little drizzle mixed in. Then it dropped to nearly 0 F at night, and rose to 12 F this morning. Also, because of the cold, the new snow was dry and slow. It was going to be a pretty technical race because of the track switching from slow to fast seemingly every other stride.

After a qualifying run (I think Andy won that one), the men's races were organized into 3 qualifying heats, where the winner from each would move onto the final heat. Andrew Nadeau, Dan Smith, and I (Chris L) were the finalists. I would love to give a detailed commentary, but I was a bit busy at the moment and didn't quite take in as many details as I would have liked. Pretty much we pounded the double pole zone, pounded the first uphill, then pounded the downhill, pounded the flats, pounded the next set of hills, then pounded the finishing stretch. And... I won! Yeay! (Note, Matt D, D Day, and Benway were away at Lake Placid for the weekend.)

The girls side was a bit of a different story. There were so few of them that there was a qualifying run to determine starting positions, and then a single mass start to determine the winner. Senior Chelsea Reynolds won 1st place with a commanding lead, followed by freshman Andrea Walsh (from Vermont) with a commanding 2nd place, followed by sophomore Alicia Perras with a commanding 3rd place, followed by Alyssa Dausman (I had to check Facebook to find her last name...) with a commanding 4th place, followed by freshman Kallie Desmond with a commanding finish. I guess you could say the girls were very commanding today...


Yeay! We had our victory celebration and then EVERYONE DISPEARED. Vanished! Coach and I stayed behind to ski around for a bit and enjoy the perfect day that nature had bestowed upon us. As soon as we got to the main road, we found freshly groomed corduroy for us to skate on! It was pure bliss! On top of that, when we got back to the top of the hill after our ski, there was free hot dogs and hot coaco waiting for us. Oh man, you suckers missed out!

And so ends the 2nd annual Clarkson Cup. Tomorrow we go back for the Higley Hustle, which is a part of the Empire State Games. As Porky Pig would say, "That's all, folks!"















Figure 1. Clarkson Cup victors with crazy old man crashing photo. Photo Credit: Sayuri Yapa.

-Lamothe

P.S. I still can't get the font to change sizes. Oh well...