Nordic Ski borough championship at Lookout Trails was the culminating event of a season of fun skiing and hard work.There were almost 100 middle schoolers compete under an amazingly blue sky with lots of fresh snow.

The course was a challenging 3.5-kilometer skate ski race with steep climbs, a wind-swept flatter portion, and some big downhills to gain speed and test skiers’ nerves.. Adding to the difficulty was the soft fresh snow. Those fun downhills became difficult as berms of snow built up on turns and falling skiers left divots in the trail. Any forward progress, especially uphill, was fought for making the skiers dig deep into their fitness and energy reserves, many collapsing at the finish from leaving it all out there. These middle schoolers showed true Alaskan grit.

Homer’s Myra Kalafut and Skyview’s Ollie Dahl claimed the title of girls and boys Borough Champions, closing out undefeated seasons.

For the top ten finishers Homer’s girls had a strong showing with (1) Myra Kalafut winning at 14:41, (2) Etta Bynagle 15:24, (4) Freya Bartlett 16:35, and (5) Abby Ostrom at 16:43. Skyview skier (3) Kylie Smith 16:03 took the bronze medal with teammate (7) Breckin Sulley 17:33. Kenai Middle School’s girls skied well coming in with (6) Rosie Dura 16:59, (8) Sophia Tews 18:54, (9) Olivia Tews 19:16. And (10) Shelby Huffer from CIA rounded out the top ten at 19:41.

For the boys’ race Skyview had skier (1) Ollie Dahl winning at 11:41 with CIA skier (2) Trevin Moore taking the silver with a time of 12:53. Homer had six top-ten finishers led by (3) Fletcher Darr 13:33, narrowly beating teammate (4) Charlie Rustand 13:34, followed by (6) Daniel Christ 14:09, (7), Rhys Borland 14:39, (8) Gryffyn Linder 14:40, and (10) Arlo Hunter 14:55. Kenai’s top ten finishers (5) Eli Pancoast 13:53, and (9) Leif Laker 14:54 also put in fantastic races.

All the athletes out there exhibited impressive talent and big improvements over the whole season. Congratulations to them all!