Junior racers earn podium finishes at Giants Ridge

Minus 20 degree weather didn’t deter the Lutsen junior racers at Giants Ridge on Sunday, January 9. Jack Viren won his first-ever second-place victory on the tough Giants Ridge course.

The Lutsen Mountains junior ski team traveled to Giants Ridge on Sunday, January 9 for race two of the Northland Junior Race Series. Twenty-nine racers from Lutsen skied two runs of Giant Slalom in a competitive field consisting of 103 athletes. Skiers arrived to an abundance of natural snow with -20 degree temperatures and sunny skies. Fortunately, there was no wind and highs reached 5 degrees, so it felt more like 15 above and turned out to be a great day on the slopes.

Course setters from Buck Hill set fast and straight sequences to build speed down the steep pitch of Innsbruck Run. The long turns (30 meters between gates) were followed by a couple of tough, cranky turns (20-22 meters between gates) just when the racers were reaching top speed.

The racers who checked their speed, combined with the correct line were rewarded with a fast time. Those who were going too fast were either late with their turn, which could cost a whole second or they crashed.

Molly LaVigne earned first place in the 6-7 girls division.

Lutsen racers are used to the steeps and rose to the occasion with 14 podiums (top three) with five first-place finishes. Sela Backstrom risked it all and edged out Team Duluth/ USSA talent Ashley Winberg by just 3 hundredths in her first run and 5 hundredths in her second to pull off first place in 8-9 girls. Logan Backstrom, Jack Viren and Damian Zimmer took a clean sweep of the podium in 10-11 boys. Jack Viren is much improved over last year and won his first ever second-place finish. The rest of the race results speak for themselves.

Part of the challenge of skiing Giant Slalom is knowing when to ski upright in a strong athletic stance, when to be in a high tuck or when to “go for it” and drop into a low tuck. The racers are at all different ages and ability levels and no matter what we coach at practice or course inspection, it is ultimately up to the individual racer to see how much speed they can get away with. It is really exciting to watch the kids lay their skis on edge and push their limits. All the kids skied well, had a great time and went home with a much-deserved goggle tan! Race Results

The next race for Team Lutsen will be held at Lutsen Mountains, Sunday, January 30 at 11:00 a.m. on Koo Koo. Come and cheer on our future high school team!