March 16, 2004 – The Fischer Loppet was held at Hardwood Hills on March 6, 2004 and despite trying ski conditions after a week of unseasonably warm weather the week prior to the Loppet, and then a day of rain the night before, a successful day of racing and skiing was had by all.

Temperatures remained warm right through Friday night (March 5) and into early Saturday (March 5) morning and only began to drop at approximately 6AM on Saturday morning. Our groomer, Simon Smith, had been up all night watching the weather, anxious to start grooming for the event but knowing that his timing had to be perfect.

Finally, at 7AM on Saturday morning, the temperatures had dropped sufficiently for him to take out our small snow cat, the PB 160 and groom the race course. We had to delay the start of the Fischer Loppet by one hour in order to give him time to make the trails safe and skiable for the participants and we also shortened the distances to 20 km and 40 km due to the weather factors.

Forty-four men completed the 40 km event, 52 men completed the 20km event, 20 women completed the 20 km event and five women completed the 40 km event. The winner of the Overall Men's 20 km event was Rob Cheskey in a time of 59:52.8. The winner of the Overall Women's 20 km event was Julie Porter in a time of 1:05:49.2. The winner of the Overall Men's 40 km event was Mike Dyon in a time of 1:51:22.0 and the winner of the Overall Women's 40 km event was Lori Bailey in a time of 2:19:00.0.

Following the Fischer Loppet, Hardwood Hills hosted the Jackrabbit Races. Approximately 150 kids from ages four through 15 competed in distances ranging from .5 km through 5 km. Ribbons were given for 1st – 10th place in each age group in each distance so there were lots of happy faces following the events. This was the wrap-up of the Jackrabbit Program at Hardwood Hills for the 2003/04 season.

Complete results can be viewed at www.hardwoodhills.ca

Fischer Loppet 2004

Women's 20k Overall: 1. Julie Porter    1:05:42.9 2. Brittany Webster    1:05:43.3 3. Wendy McCrady    1:16:24.8 4. Mary Tribe  Team Hardwood   1:21:10.6 5. Ellen Matthews    1:21:32.8

Men's 20k Overall: 1. Rob Cheskey    0:59:52.8 2. Geoff Banner    1:02:55.0 3. David Hajek    1:05:40.1 4. Timothy Deakon    1:06:08.4 5. Cullen Perry    1:06:24.0