Cable, Wisconsin (January 12, 2003) – Despite bitterly cold temperatures, dangerous wind chills and a shortened course, nearly 200 cross country skiers turned out for the 3rd annual 24 Hours of Telemark on Jan. 11th and 12th. In a winter of little snow and canceled races, most skiers were just happy to be on the snow skiing.

“Telemark Resort shook their own private snow globe for us,” said event operations director Brett Meinke. Two inches of lake effect snow on Thursday also augmented the Telemark snow globe.

Crews at Telemark Resort hauled 60 truckloads of man-made snow onto the 3.1 kilometer course that included sections of the Fever Trail and the remnants of a recent snow-cross snowmobile race course. Earlier in the week, Hayward set two record high temperatures, hitting 51 degrees on Jan. 8th.

The temperature at the 10 a.m. start hovered around zero and dipped to five below zero in the dark hours of the long January night. With a northwest wind forecast at 15-25 mph, wind chills promised to dip below 40 F whipping down the start/finish stretch. The wind never established its full force, however, but the wind-chills dipped still into the negative teens.

The serpentine course included 170 vertical feet of climbing per lap and dozens of corners, including the corkscrewed Zen Garden. “There's lots of climbing and lots of turns. It's fun, though. It keeps you on your toes,” said Scott Chapin of Seeley, Wis. skiing on Team SKJ.

Two-time 24-hour solo champion Chris Ransom struggled throughout the race but still captured his third title. Ransom skied 92 laps for a total of 285.2 kilometers, almost 35 kilometers short of his 2002 distance. Last year, Ransom skied 321.484 kilometers.

“Within two hours, I was cramping. Four hours in, I was dead meat,” he said. “There were four singlestick hills per lap. It was hard to maintain any sort of glide.” The cold also slowed the Lake Mills, Wis. skier.

The Skinnyski.com Team also failed in their bid to break the 24-hour team distance record of 517.391 kilometers. In the poor conditions, they skied 158 laps for a total of 489.8 kilometers, breaking their 24 Hours of Telemark record of 480 kilometers set in 2002. This year they used six skiers instead of four last January.

Skinnyski.com founder Bruce Adelsman felt that lack of snow to train on hurt his team's chances to break the record. “Most of these guys haven't been on snow to train more than once or twice a week this year,” Adelsman said.

“It's rough out there,” said skinnyski.com team member John Munger. He did add that going out in the middle of the night on a shortened course was less intimidating than a longer course. The past two years the race has used a 10-kilometer lap.

Even though the 24-hours skiers logged thousands of laps of the shortened loop, course conditions held up. The cold temperatures and the man-made snow formed a nearly indestructible, boilerplate track. “It was a little rutty out there, but it held up,” said Al Limberg of Wausau, Wis, finishing second in the 12-hour solo category.

Classic skiers also enjoyed a relatively firm track. “The track's holding up where you need it,” said Paul Walker, skiing on the Birchleggers, four striders that included Birkie founder John Kotar. According to Walker, any wax would work in the cold, although the abrasive conditions would wear it off in one lap.

Dozens of volunteers made the event possible. According to Brett Meinke volunteers at the checkpoints were key, handing up Red Bull energy drink, water, energy bars and encouragement.

Full results at www.itiming.com 

24 Hours of Telemark
January 11-12, 2003
Location: Telemark Resort, Cable Wisconsin
Description: America's only 24 Hour Cross Country ski race. 19 categories for all abilities. 3, 6, 12, and 24 hour options. A personal challenge, a social adventure!
Web: www.teamsportsevents.com
Sponsors: Red Bull, Swix, Fischer, Salomon, Timex, Clif Bar, Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, Night Pro Lighting Systems, Rudy Project, Telemark Resort.

Alpine Valley Open WORS Race
Presented by Saturn
May 3-4, 2003
Location: Alpine Valley Resort, East Troy, Wisconsin
Website options: www.wors.org or www.teamsportsevents.com
Description: Stop #1 of Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS).
Saturday Events: Short Track Cross Country (STXC) races for all ages and abilities.
Sunday Events: Cross country races for all ages and abilities.

Pedro's Midwest Mountain Bike Festival
August 1-3, 2003
Location: Bruce Mound, Hatfield, Wisconsin
Website: www.pedrosfest.com
Description: Mountain bike festival with various activities including a huge vendor expo, guided rides for all abilities, games, bands and onsite camping. Marathon race on Sunday with two distances that is also part of the WORS Series.

24 Hours of 9 Mile
August 30-31, 2003
Location: 9-Mile County Forest, Wausau, Wisconsin
Web: www.teamsportsevents.com
Description: 24-Hour Mountain Bike Team Relay Race. Many categories for all abilities including solo and duo categories a 12-hour race and a kids race.