The Lutsen Junior Alpine Club traveled to Giants Ridge for race No. 2 of the Northland Junior Race Series. Twenty-three racers from Lutsen competed in a field of 119 racers on two fun courses of Giant Slalom. Above left: Bianca Zimmer skis a solid run. Above: Claire LaVigne charges to a first place finish. Left: Ezra Lunde puts ‘em on edge!
In 1958, not long after George Nelson Jr. built the first ski runs at Lutsen, several young families known as the “Giants Ridge Founders” went to work with axes, ropes and borrowed equipment to blaze a ski run out of the woods. A 1949 Plymouth flipped upside down served as the first rope tow and gave the skiers an easy way to the top and an old mining shack was brought in and used as the first chalet. “The Ridge” has come a long way since those days and provides challenging to moderate alpine terrain, a world class Nordic center and is always a fun place to race.
The Lutsen Junior Alpine Club traveled to Giants Ridge for race No. 2 of the Northland Junior Race Series. Twentyfour racers from Lutsen competed in a field of 119 racers on Innsbruck run. Two, fun courses of Giant Slalom were set by coaches from Buck Hill. The first run was very challenging and technical; the second was a less turny, high-speed track. Unlike last year’s Giants Ridge race with morning temperatures dipping to a frigid -30° F, this year’s conditions were a balmy +25F with no wind and blue skies. With confidence and good muscle memory from our holiday training on the steep pitch of Koo Koo at Lutsen, our young Lutsen crew skied very well landing 10 podiums (top three) in their respective age groups.
I had the pleasure of standing along the track, providing course reports to my coaching colleague Rick Backstrom manning the start ramp. Lots of athletes were turning too late and crashing on one particular cranky, high-speed turn located on the steepest part of the icy hill. This vital information was passed along just before our 10-11 girls ran.
Elsa Lunde battled her way through the difficult course, bobbled and crashed just before the flats in the middle of the course. Demonstrating good sportsmanship she picked herself up and finished her run as fast as she could. Next out of the gate was Sela Backstrom who ripped through the 19-turn GS course fighting all the time at full force. With perfection she nailed the turn that was wiping out so many and it is the best I have ever seen her ski. Problems arose because there was no hold on the course after Elsa’s crash. Sela was rapidly approaching and nearly overtook Elsa and they went through the timer at nearly the same instant. Next out of the gate was Clair LaVigne who attacked the course and also had a stellar run. No times were recorded for all three of our girls and they were granted re-runs. After completion of their reruns the girls took a lunch break with Team Duluth’s Kendra Winberg (1st), Clair LaVigne (2nd) and Sela Backstrom close behind in (3rd).
As is the case with any ski race, it took a fine blend of luck and skill to win on this day. Sela skied great, followed by Claire who demonstrated good balance between risk and control. With eager anticipation we had to go to the results board for the outcome of a very exciting, high-speed second run. The cool thing about ski racing is that the clock does not lie. Pleasantly surprised and jubilant with her victory, Claire LaVigne earned her first ever trip to the top of the podium, followed closely by Kendra Winberg (2nd) and Sela Backstrom (3rd). True Nies and Hanna Borson show promise and both completed their first-ever alpine ski race.
All of our racers did their best and the results speak for themselves.
Gaining race experience at Giants Ridge is crucial to the development of our racers as Giants Ridge typically hosts both the section and state high school ski meets. Every athlete who moves up to the CCHS Alpine team will experience some very important races at this venue.
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