Above: There was great action at the USSA races at Lutsen Mountains. Will Lamb, who finished in 4th place, digs into a gate on Koo Koo. Left: Sela Backstrom skis her way to an impressive 6th place finish.
The fastest U-12 through U-18 alpine racers from the Central Division traveled to Lutsen Mountains on January 10- 11 for two exciting days of Slalom racing on Koo-Koo. Six Lutsen racers joined the competition.
The weather was not kind to the field of 234 boys and girls, but ski racers are a hearty bunch and valuable life lessons are learned from toughing out the weather and competing. Saturday the morning low was -15F with sustained 15 mph NNW wind gusting to 30 mph under sunny skies. Sunday was supposed to be warmer but sure didn’t feel like it with temperatures topping out at 5F under cloudy skies and a steady 10 mph wind. It was a brutal ground blizzard at the start ramp for the U-16, U-18 racers and race staff standing in -45 wind-chill at the top of upper Koo- Koo.
First up for Lutsen on Saturday was U-18 Will Lamb who skied smooth and powerful down the technically challenging course, both his runs a fine line between conservative and all out. He was in third place after his first but missed the podium after his second by 4/100th just by 6/10th out of first place finishing 4th overall.
Next up was Logan Backstrom who stepped it up another notch and skied two edge-of-your seat, thrilling, runs and finished in 5th place.
Over on the more sheltered U-12, U-14 course, first up was Sela Backstrom. She skied a fast, smooth run landing 7th in her first, but bobbled in her second (8th) and finished an impressive 6th overall.
Next up was Halle Lamb who skied two solid runs and finished in 16th place. Mason McKeever battled it out against racers mainly from Buck Hill, Team Afton, Team Duluth and Gilboa finishing (17th) overall for the day. Reilly Wahlers was a pull and went home sick.
A highlight of the day was Olympian and former U.S. Ski Team member Sarah Schleper handing out the awards to the kids!
Sunday Will Lamb went all out attempting to win, but blew out at the bottom of the Upper Koo pitch (DNF). Logan pushed the limit too far in his first attempt on another challenging course and blew out, hiked and skied solid in his second finishing 22nd overall.
Sela Backstrom gave it her all but a couple mistakes cost her precious time (11th). Halle Lamb crashed at the top of the Koo-Koo waterfall, hiked and finished the day at the back of the pack.
Mason McKeever traveled to Mont Du Lac and threw down two awesome GS runs at the NJRS race and won 1st place in his age group.
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