Pletcher wins NCAA Championships 20k
Former Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation cross-country skier Reid Pletcher won the 20k classic mass-start race at the NCAA Skiing Championships in Stowe, Vt., on Friday, March 11. Pletcher, a University of Colorado junior, battled through four soggy laps on the 5-kilometer course in a tight pack of eleven skiers, and in the last climb broke away to win by 4 seconds over Erik Bjorensen of the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Third went to another Colorado skier, Vegard Kjoelhamar.
In the women's championship, Ketchum native Alexa Turzian, a University of Colorado senior, placed 14th, while her Colorado teammate Eliska Hajova captured first.
Results can be found at: http://www.eisaskiing.org/BART/Results11/ncaa11.htm.
Elite Nordic races coming to valley
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley will host international teams from Norway, Sweden, Japan and Canada as well as the best U.S. cross-country ski racers in an elite race series from March 26 to April 2. Both the 30k and 50k National Championship and the U.S. Ski Association SuperTour finals will be contested on the trails at Lake Creek and Dollar Mountain. The SuperTour is the top domestic race series in North America.
Expected attendees include the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team and several members of the Canadian team. Good results here can provide racers with guaranteed World Cup starts for the 2012 season as well as a share of a large prize money purse.
The competitions will start with a 50k classic race on the Lake Creek trails on March 26 and conclude with a hill climb up Dollar Mountain on April 2.
More information about the event can be found by visiting www.svsef.org and clicking on the "2011 XC SuperTour" Finals button.
Haupt wins halfpipe at Junior Nationals
Sun Valley Ski Education Freestyle Team member Hannah Haupt on March 9 won the Overall Women's Halfpipe crown at the U.S. Junior National Freestyle Championships last week in Steamboat Springs, Colo. It was Haupt's first junior national title after winning the silver last year. In 2010, she also took silver at the Junior Worlds. The win qualifies Haupt for the 2012 Junior Worlds. For more on Hannah's results this season, visit www.svsef.org.
Sun Valley to host Ski Heritage Week
Sun Valley Resort will host Ski Heritage Week from March 27 to April 3. The event is a joint presentation of the International Skiing History Association and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame. Included will be the induction of Sun Valley Co. owner Earl Holding and paralympian champion Muffy Davis into the Ski Hall of Fame, the debut of the Ishpeming's International Ski Film Festival in the Sun Valley Opera House, ski industry reunions and a special tribute to the founders of freestyle.
"If you love this sport, Sun Valley is the place to be for this week-long celebration acknowledging 75 years of skiing in Sun Valley, the athletes who have triumphed and the sports builders who have developed the modern and world-class ski experience enjoyed throughout the world today," said Hall of Fame President Bernie Weichsel.
The highlight of the week will be the induction of the honored class of 2010 into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 2, at 6 p.m. at the Sun Valley Inn's Limelight Room. As well as Holding and Davis, this year's honorees are Bobby Cochran, seven-time national champion; Shane McConkey, innovator of ski rocker technology; Glen Plake, skiing's Pied Piper; and Daron Rahlves, trail-blazing downhiller. The evening also will pay a special tribute to the pioneers of freestyle skiing.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Hall of Fame. As is the custom, the Hall of Fame partners with a local ski museum and generously donates a portion of the fundraising proceeds. This year the Ketchum-Sun Valley Heritage & Ski Museum will benefit from the relationship.
For tickets to the reception, dinner and ceremony, call 726-8118 or visit www.skihall.org/sunvalley.
Reid Pletcher smiles after his 20k classic victory at the NCAA Championships in Stowe, Vt. Photo by Kay Hummel.
