Sawyer DeSalvo was the overall winner.
The Hanz’s Great Adventure Nordic ski event was held Saturday (Jan. 23) on the Sean McCabe Trail at Liberty Bell High School. Sixty youth from the Methow Valley competed under nearly perfect sunny, cold and calm conditions.
The event combined classic cross country skiing with an obstacle course. Skiers were timed on interval-style starts. Besides just skiing, there was a slalom component (on Nordic skis), a teeter-totter, a small jump, a bamboo forest and a catwalk across the top of a snowbank. Biathletes were also encouraged to make a stop at the range a part of their event. Participants choose the length of their course: 1 kilometer, 2.5K or 5K.
Skiers recorded their estimated time to complete the course, and the winners are determined solely by how close they came to meeting their time estimate.
The use of clocks, stopwatches and other timing equipment is not permitted on the course and no coaching is allowed during the race.
The overall winner was Sawyer DeSalvo of Winthrop, missing his estimated time of 22:38 by a mere 9 seconds. DeSalvo competed in the Under 12 division as a biathlete, making his close match between his estimate and race time all the more impressive. Other winners:
• 18+ — Travis Grialou, 1:31 (minutes/seconds variance).
• Under 10— Gillian Kipp, 0:22.
• Under 12 — Sawyer DeSalvo, 0:09.
• Under 14 — Caleb Hawkins, 0:43.
• Under 16 — Dashe McCabe,1:10.
• Under 18 — Liam Newman, 4:05.
• Under 8 — Astrid Stevie, 2:05.
Full results are available at http://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=231721.
