Marshall Nordic Ski Team Athletes

Korkki Nordic Ski Center is to many folks the perfect nordic ski center.
The single track classic trail winding through the woods seems to transport skiers back to another place and time.  Adding to the ambiance is the rustic chalet, well stocked woodsheds, and other small buildings that evoke a feeling of coming home.  For many members of the Marshall Nordic Ski Team, Korkki Nordic has also come to symbolize a place to challenge yourself. The trails can be difficult and they demand your best skiing to navigate them safely.  There is another challenge that speaks to the skiers.

This challenge is represented by two small plaques in the chalet, the Errki Harju 100 k Club and the Korkki Nordic 50 Kilometer Club.  To have your name added to either plaque a skier needs to ski 5 or 10 full loops of the Korkki trail, including the big hill (aka..Iso Maki).  To accomplish this in a day is a difficult task in even the best conditions.  Until Thursday, March 4th only 18 skier’s names graced the 100 Kilometer Plaque.

That list of names grew to 21 after three Marshall Nordic skiers completed 100 kilometers of skiing around 6:00 pm on Thursday March 4th 2010.  Starting at 5:15 am using headlamps to guide their way, Sam Johnson, Joe Fairbanks and Cody Johnson began skiing on the expertly groomed trails.  Their first goal was to reach 60 kilometers of skiing before noon.  Skiing quickly and taking just short breaks for food and water between loops the three 15 year old boys reached 60 kilometers just before noon and 70 kilometers of skiing at 1:00pm.  At this point they took a longer lunch break and transitioned from hard wax to klister for the final 30 kilometers of skiing.  With the snow transitioning with the warmer mid-day temperatures; the remaining loops extracted a greater toll on the young skiers minds and bodies.  Every muscle in their bodies was making it known to their owner that they were tired, sore and ready for a break.  Still Sam, Joe and Cody pushed on, their goal becoming closer with each kilometer skied.

At some point in the day Cody had taken a longer break between loops and he found himself skiing alone on his 8th loop.  He was tired and spent and just about ready to call it a day when he found himself in the company of Leo Babeu.  Leo, a Korkki neighbor and frequent Korkki skier, took Cody “under his wing” and offered to ski the remaining kilometers with him.  Sam and Joe finished up their final lap just before dark while Cody with his guardian angel Leo, finished his final lap after the sun had set.

Also skiing on Thursday and Friday to land their names on the 50 kilometer plaque were Marshall skiers, Ethan Fairbanks, Chris Lucca, Tony Lucca, Brandon Channel, Joe Hodge, Sylvie Weintraub, Lee Weintraub, Sydney Adams, and Mitch Campbell.

The skiers on the Marshall Nordic Ski team would like to thank Mark Helmer for his loving care of Korkki Nordic, and to Marty Heimer and Don Mitchell for their expert grooming of the trail.  Dave Johnson, the author of this post and father of Cody Johnson, would also like to extend a warm and heartfelt thank you to Leo Babeu for his care of a young man who until that day Leo had never met.  Leo’s gift of time and care will long be remembered.

Dave Johnson

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Events, Team Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.