Mount Baker Club Finishes at 103!
Best Placement Ever
Every year since 2000 the Club has entered a
team in the Big Race and each year all the team
members give a 110 percent effort, and everyone
has a good time. This year, everyone gave their
110 percent, and the club finished in the 103rd
position, with a very good time indeed! The
previous best placement, in 2002, was 169th.
Team members for 2004 were as follows:
Cross Country Ski, Kevin Farrell
Downhill Ski, Stacy Moon
Runner, Bud Hardwick
Cyclist, Gordy Willett
Canoe, Mel Monkelis & Kit Vonnegut
Mountain Bike, David Dean
Kayak, Alan Fox
Kevin returned to compete again for us this year
at XC Ski, as did Kit and Mel at canoe. Bud,
whose goal is to eventually compete in every
leg, performed as our runner this year. He has
only to compete in the canoe and the downhill
ski leg to meet his goal! Stacy Moon, Gordy
Willett, David Dean and Alan Fox are new members
of the Mount Baker Ski to Sea team this year,
and we hope each considers returning next year.
Photo: Cross Country Skiers Warming Up
SKIING by Stacy Moon
The Ski to Sea race has without doubt become the
single biggest festival/race/event in Whatcom
County. Arguably the race may be the biggest
multi-sport relay event in the country. For
Whatcom county residents the race has become a
rite of passage; the competitors, volunteers,
spectators, and the sponsors, the many
tourists.......there seems to be a role for all
walks of life. With that said, it seems all
folks end up at one place on race day.......the
Beer Garden.
As I look around the Beer Garden, I see very few
competitors, unless of course consumption is the
name of the game. The thought of segregating
certain populations is somewhat of an absurd
thought; however I see no other choice in the
matter. I would like to propose the idea of a
competitor's only beer garden. This scenario
would draw the best athletes from around the
globe: Germany, Norway, Japan, Peru, and even
Canada. The winner's of each class within the
race would receive free beer for their effort.
This should promote the best competition the Ski
to Sea race has ever experienced.
The race name will now be changed to Ski to
Kegger. It could be the largest multi-sport,
multinational, (and even multi brew) celebration
on the West Coast. I expect I might see a few of
the Mount Baker Club's members in the winner's
circle...perhaps Gordy and Mel. See you at next
year's Ski to Kegger! Cheers! Out of over 400
teams!
RUNNING by Bud Hardwick
I came, I ran, I hurt a lot. A great handoff
from Stacy begins my run. MP 0: I spring into
action with a strong start. MP ¼: feet, joints,
and backbone painfully coming apart. Try to find
my “happy place.” Yeah, right [sarcasm]. MP 3:
First water break. I slobber most of it on my
arm as I grab the paper cup without slowing. MP
4: Not fast but running strong, can hear the
birds chirping, can smell the rain on the trees
- I can do this. MP 5: Had to get this far; 5th
year, 5th event. MP 6: Try to pick up the pace,
but body begins to disassemble. MP 7: All out,
nothing else matters now. MP 7 ¾: If I collapse
unconscious here will Gordy find my body and get
our wrist band? MP 8: I lunge across the finish
line and shove the wrist band to someone.
Apparently it's Gordy.
Photo: Top Three
Finishers Hit the River at the Same Time
Barron Heating Open Team, Win's Drive-In and
Moving & Storage Solutions
Once again our club completes a circle of life.
This may be an overused phrase but one that is
descriptive of our original intent to connect
with our club's origins through participation in
the Ski-to-Sea race.
It would be easy to consider the effort
excessive: training time; cost of equipment;
stress of competition and complexity of race-day
coordination. But without this effort, we would
miss so much more. Through our participation, we
share the experience with our local community,
we make ourselves known to potential new
members, we awaken new interest in existing
members and we experience that unique post-race
get-together.
This year, as Mel said for the benefit of the
new team members “now it's time for one of our
traditions,” it made me realize that in trying
to connect with our roots we had also been
growing new traditions at the same time. That we
were participating in something that would one
day become a part of our past was a new insight
for me. I wonder at what new exciting things our
club will experience in the past that is still
our future.
-Bud (broken but not yet finished).
Photo: Kit taking a picture on the river when he
should have been paddling!
CANOEING by Kit Vonnegut
Yes, it is a race, all the more reason to take a
camera with me in the canoe and when my bow
paddling partner isn't looking, take a few
shots! (Got some good ones, too!) As it did on
so many participants up and down the 85 mile
course that day, we got rained on while waiting
for our number. At first it came down as a
soaking spring shower, the kind we
Northwesterners laugh at, but then it began to
rain more heavily, and soon resembled the sort
of rain that MID-westerners get during thunder
storms!
Photo:
Mount Baker Club #383 Pulling into the Finish
Line
Luckily my little disposable camera was
waterproof, and I was able to capture the
scene...the glistening upturned bottoms of the
canoes in the staging area, the rain soaked
multi-colored umbrellas (all carried by
observers, not canoeists), the goretex hoods,
the many kinds of hats, and rain absolutely
pouring off people's faces like sweat at the end
of a hard athletic competition.
Photo: Does it rain
in the Northwest?
Photo: Canoe
Graveyard
Photo: Mel and Kit
standing on river bank.
Photo: Racers making
final preparations.
As
usual, it was a day to remember. Thanks to the
many people who make this day so well organized,
and allow us weekend warriors our few hours of
glory!
Photo:
Gordy and Mel after the Canoe Leg
KAYAKING by Alan Fox
My day started quietly enough. I needed to be at
the Zuanich park by 12:00 noon for a pre-race
meeting. My wife Ina and I had already dropped
my kayak and gear at the boy scout guarded area
on Saturday so now all I had to do now was
wait... and wait.. At last the number 383
sounded and Dave our mountain biker flew across
the line for the hand off. My first thought at
that point was how heavy the wristband felt. It
must have been full of a cup of sweat. Yuck!! I
got it on my wrist and proudly ran to my boat
where John was waiting. Off I went around the
breakwater where two boats were heading off into
the wind and waves. Going through my mind at
this time were things like: Paddle stroke steps
(Rotate, catch, chicken wing, bent elbow, exit)
and to be ready with a low brace whenever doing
a sweep turn, because the last thing I wanted
was to go for a swim.
I caught sight of my first objective a buoy
barely visible several miles away, and
remembered to use Bud's advice and follow a line
from my boat to the buoy then to a point on the
far horizon, keeping the buoy and far horizon
point aligned, would give me a straight line
regardless of the current. There were five of
six boats in a crescent shape line ahead. I
avoided their course and soon found them off my
starboard stern. I wasn't real happy with my
technique and had to keep reminding myself how
to make the best use of my effort. The wind and
waves were directly on my bow which made it easy
to steer but it was exhausting. After the first
turn we had a following sea slightly to my
starboard. I love to ride the swells and felt
rested for the next turn into the wind.
About this time I was just off shore where I
knew some of the team may be watching. I didn't
have my glasses on to see anyone at a distance
and didn't feel free to stop and look around,
and take pictures, after all this is a race,
then all at once I heard in the far distance "GO
ALAN" being yelled by Ina, Bernice, and Tami
from the deck of our home. The cheering spurred
me on with one more buoy to round and then
sprint for the beach and a bell that I was told
would be there for me to ring. I got out of the
boat without any problem and headed up the beach
and rang that bell -- all this in a total fog. I
couldn't feel my legs at all but they didn't
fail me. I was soon met by Frank and Marjan and
our skier Stacy Moon (who by the way is related
to Keith Moon) and our cross country skier Kevin
and his wife. Many thanks to the Mount Baker
Club members for this chance, and all the
helpers and volunteers and of course my fellow
racers.
Photo:
Mount Baker Club Ski to Sea Team members (Tami,
Bud, Gordy) arriving for the Post-Race Party
After the race, as is the custom, team members
met at a post-race party for pizza and beer and
to tell each other their Race Day stories. Many
thanks to Ina Sue and Alan Fox for hosting this
event, and to Bernice Vonnegut, Tami Willett and
Bill and Alta Stauffer who provided key support
functions on the big day.
Photo: 2004 Mount Baker Club Ski to Sea Team has
fun retelling their adventures.
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