|
|
|
Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined hosted by the Lebanon Outing Club and Ford Sayre Ski Council
Wed AM Mar 1 Official Jump Training Storrs Hill 50 m jump, Lebanon Thu AM Mar 2 Individual Jump Competition Storrs Hill 50 m jump, Lebanon Fri AM Mar 3 Individual N.C. Races Craftsbury Nordic Center, VT Fri Eve Mar 3 Elimination Target Jump Storrs Hill 50 m jump, Lebanon Sat AM Mar 4 Team Jumping Competition Storrs Hill 50 m jump, Lebanon Sat PM Mar 4 N.C. Team Sprints Blackwater Ski Area, Andover, NH Sat Eve Mar 4 Final Awards Banquet Hanover Inn, Hanover NH Four hundred training jumps on Wednesday pounded a glaze onto landing but the hill crew performed magic and the glaze was turned to granular snow, providing a very good landing for the rest of the events. Meanwhile, the tower crew worked morning and night to provide a good track under difficult conditions. Weather was cold for every event, with a side wind coming up the Mascoma River to greet the jumpers as the left the takeoff. However neither the cold nor the breezes seemed to bother the skiers who suffered very few falls and no significant injuries.
The elimination jump, won by Taylor Fletcher (RMD), was dedicated to Bob Rollins, long time judge and friend of ski jumping of nearby Newport NH, who died just a few days before the event. Star of the team jump was Peter Frenette who turned in the highest individual score of the day to anchor his team in first place, and the fastest cross country times were turned in by Taylor Fletcher and Tara Geraghty-Moats. The boys special jumping competition was very close, but Avery Ardovino was clearly head and shoulders above the other girls, even being named to the Inter-mountain Division "A-Team" for Saturday's team competition. The banquet would be no pizza fest. Teams, supporters and organizers gathered in the genteel surroundings of the Hanover Inn, across the green from Dartmouth College, to enjoy delicious dinners of salmon, chicken or beef served by attentive waiters. After the usual brief thank-you speeches by M.C. and chief of the hill, Jon Farnham (LOC) and Tom Dodds, Jon began the award ceremonies for all five competitions, awarding medals to tenth place. Parents and others crowded around trying to record the moment in photographs.
It was a delight to see how many families came from the mid-west and even from the Rocky Mountains to watch their sons and daughters compete. Every session, the Storrs hill parking lot was full, in spite of the alpine slopes being closed. There were team vans and parents' cars, and some bringing back old ski jumpers on a sentimental visit. But the rest must have belonged to local residents, curious what was going on and wanting to see the show. And it was a pretty good show -- lots of good ski jumping. SkiJumpEast.com would like to congratulate the skiers on their fine performance, and to congratulate and thank the hosts, Lebanon Outing Club and Ford Sayre Ski Council and the many volunteers from other clubs in the east who worked so hard to make this event happen. It was a great success! Thank you all.
We have posted a picture album page, and Susan Denney contributed a bunch of her nice pictures, but we still welcome more good ones. We especially need team photos for East and RMD, nicer pictures of Jon Farnham and Tom Dodds, and shots of other workers. Please
send them along by e-mail. Thanks - DCW.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weather was not kind to Lebanon and the Ford Sayre in the period leading up to the Junior Olympics. Hard work put the Erling Heistad jump at Storrs Hill into good condition but cross country offered a greater challenge. The Ford Sayre ski trails at Oak Hill, north of Hanover, had very little snow, though organizers did their best to try to prepare a short race course.
