JNQ Races, Cable, WI

This past weekend was the second weekend of Junior National Qualifying (JNQ) races.  There are four weekends of racing total; two races per weekend.  The past weekend's races were held in Cable, WI starting at the beautiful new Birkebeiner trail head.  It was warm and raining the entire weekend.  Even so, most everyone was happy to be on natural snow and racing against some of the best juniors in the Midwest.  Because of the rain, conditions were tricky, especially for the classic race day (Saturday).  I used Fast Wax HSF 30 Salmon, with some structure for some of my kid's skis.  I have some older wax from many years ago that is just perfect for using on my kid's skis for the special races.  Four of my five kids were racing.  Josh had a nice finish in the classic race and an okay skate race. 

 

Emma, my recent skiing convert and relative beginner finished 11th in the classic beating out some seasoned veterans.  She was 19th or so in the skate race. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures/videos of Emma, I was too busy making sure my younger ones got to their race starting right after Emma's.  Caden won both his U14 races by 45 second in the classic race and ~25 seconds in the Skate race.

Ethan, the youngest male competitor, age 8, in the entire field finished about mid pack in the U14, U12, U10 race.

 

Ethan was super psyched to be included in the awards following the event; typically awards are only given to U14 and U12 competitors.  CXC decided to give a ski hat to the top U10 skier for each day of racing; Ethan received two hats!