A Bit of CNSC History, Post 4
Year 4 1987-88
Year 5 1988-89
Year 6 1989-90
Year 7 1990-91
Year 8 1991-92
The club activities settled into a routine of sorts and rather than go year by year, I will cover specific activities over several years. As Tob was into racing, races and race results were a big part of the newsletters during this time. I will start with this topic, specifically the Ithaca Nordic Ski Festival. If you are tempted to skip this because you are not into racing, at least check out the info on Ski-Orienteering.
Ithaca Nordic Festival
ITHACA NORDIC FESTIVAL SUFFERS LACK OF SNOW is the headline of the Feb 1988 newsletter. The festival was to be held at Dusenberry and this year included a Ski Orienteering event organized by Laurie Collinsworth. Only the Ski-O was held, as the marginal ski conditions were adequate for this sport. Five club members participated and learned about orienteering. The club destroyed all the checks for entry fees from other racers.
ITHACA NORDIC SKI FESTIVAL RACES MOVED TO TUG HILL is the headline of the Feb 1989 newsletter. The only event that could not be moved was the ski-o, as the proper maps were not available. But the open, ESG qualifiers and Biathlon were held, with the Boylston Town Hall as the registration center. 202 racers participated with numerous helpers from the club and locally, for grooming, course inspection and such. I don’t have any results from this race.
ITHACA NORDIC SKI FESTIVAL RACES AGAIN HELD AT TUG HILL, February, 1990 newsletter title. Up until one week before the race Dusenberry was looking good, though Tug Hill had been arranged as a backup. The club was learning! Again, the ski-o event could not be held due to lack of maps. The start and results lists were prepared using a new computer program developed for the New York Ski Racing Association and provided fast and complete results. 102 skiers participated including these club members:
Women’s 10 km
Gill Sharp 1st 31:52
Debbie Wilcox 2nd 33:35
Audrey Balander 3rd 36:11
:
Valerie Jobin 44:57
Carol Bayles 45:08
Joan deBoer 47:53
Men’s 15km (note some close finishes!)
John Jeffries 3rd 51:30 Cornell team
Bob Tripp 4th 51:45 Cornell team
:
Tony Faquhar 52:24
Raj Sundra 54:39
Jon Fisher 56:03
Glenn Swann 56:04
Ernie Bayles 56:10
Ken Woodard 59:52
Mitch Collinsworth 61:59
Mike Coleman 66:56
Tob deBoer 75:22
Donald Faquhar 75:23
Mark LoParco 75:24
David LoParco 80:26
Ray Aasen 84:20
Scholastic Men’s 10 km Kevin McCarrick 76:20
Scholastic Women’s 5 km Gretchen McCarrick 36:06
The Ski-O competition in 1990 was held on a weekend in early February at Dusenberry/Yellow Barn the first day and Black Star/Greek Peak the second day. On both days the snow was wet, but skiing was pleasant, though there was the extra challenge of high creeks. Most participants waded through the water, as this was the shortest route, and they finished significantly ahead of the non-waders. Mitch and Laurie Collinsworth set out the courses.
Ski-Orienteering
Ski orienteers use a map to navigate in a dense network of ski trails and visit control points in the right order. Fastest time wins. The sport demands and develops mathematical and spatial ability, short-term memory and other mental capabilities in addition to the physical capabilities of a cross-country skier. Having its origins in the 1890s, ski orienteering is a sport with long traditions and is a Recognized Olympic Sport (from the International Orienteering Federation web site).
In 1990, at the National Team Time Trials held in Cable, Wisconsin, club member Laurie Collinsworth was one of four women selected for the US National team. Mitch was selected first alternate for the men’s team. The team represented the US at the 1990 World Ski-O Championships in Skelleftea, Sweden.
Jumping ahead, Mitch and Laurie were on the US Team in the 1992 World Ski-O Championships in Chapelle des Bois, France. As reported by Orienteering North America, in the sprint event Laurie had “far and away the best performance the US has seen in world competition.” She finished 26th, in the middle of the field. She attributes her success to being very careful with her route choices. The extra time needed to make the right decisions really paid off. In the men’s sprint event, Mitch placed 62nd. Our little club actually has world class skiers, and they are not the only ones.
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| Not Laurie and Mitch |
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| Nowadays the checkpoints are electronic, but in the early days, there was a hole punch with cute-shaped holes |
Ithaca Nordic Festival - More
ITHACA NORDIC FESTIVAL IN ITHACA, Feb, 1991 newsletter. Although it rained all day on the Wednesday before the race, on Thursday it snowed, and the race was on at Dusenberry with good conditions. Unfortunately, the ESG hotline was not updated and 25 pre-registrants from out of town did not show up. Oh, the days before the internet were tough. In the end, there were 57 finishers for skiing events and 40 for the ski-o at Hammond Hill.
CAYUGA NORDIC CLASSICAL RACE MOVED TO OSCEOLA, January 1992 Newsletter
I don’t know why the name change from Festival to Race. In the November newsletter is was the Festival, and in December it was called a Race. Anyway, Osceola was originally judged unsuitable for racing from a safety point of view (the terrain was a bit too interesting). But the morning of the race the Winona course was impossible to track, so the race went to Osceola anyway, with signs directing skiers to the new location, and a start time postponed by one hour! 89 skiers completed the 3 laps of the 4 km wooded course.
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| 1992 Race results and volunteers |
Other Races
The early newsletters also listed the ski marathons for each year. In the beginning this included the World Loppet series but soon only listed regional races. The 1985 the newsletter lists the lake Placid Loppet, Chautauqua Overland Ski Marathon, Tug Hill Tourathon, Canadian Ski Marathon, Gatineau 55 and the American Birkebeiner (Wisconsin). Eventually, only the Lake Placid Loppet and the Tug Hill Tourathon and Try-It were advertised, and later in the season the newsletter listed the club members who participated and the rankings of those who did well. It was the usual group, mostly, and I am not going to list them here.
Ever wonder what happened to the Chautauqua? In 1988 the Chautauqua Ski Marathon was not even planned. After 2 successive cancellations due to lack of snow (what else?), the race organizers suffered burnout, the director resigned, and no one stepped up. It is sometimes surprising how just a few people can make the difference between a large, successful event and nothing at all. It reminds me of my favorite quote “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
-- Margaret Mead.
Next time we’ll learn more about our small group of thoughtful, committed skiers who founded and kept the club running all these years despite the fickle weather in Ithaca NY.
