Baic and Hardin win 6th Annual Black Mountain Nordic Classic.

Bright blue skies and nearly perfect snow conditions greeted racers and tour skiers Saturday for the annual Black Mountain Nordic Classic 34 km race and 10 km tour held at Black Mountain.

A record number of 104 skiers turned out for the event with a large number of volunteers and spectators. In the women’s race, Tracy Hardin of Cheboygan led from start to finish for an easy win and to clinch this year’s Michigan Cup series title for the third time. Ann Wager of Gaylord was second and Ivanka Baic Berkshire was third.

In the men’s race Milan Baic of Traverse City clinched the Michigan Cup title by winning the race for his second time. Baic and Denny Paull of Cheboygan exchanged leads until the final 10 km where Baic “put the hammer down” and easily outdistanced Paull who ended up second. Todd Vigland of Traverse City was third. All the results appear in the accompanying box.

IN WHAT has become standard weather protocol for the event, a storm dumped 12 inches of snow on the mountain one day before the race leaving event organizers scrambling to prepare a viable course.

Chief groomer, Jim Meyer of Onaway started the final grooming at 8 a.m. Friday and finished about 4 a.m. on Saturday in what was described as a “marathon grooming session.”

?The dryness of the snow made grooming particularly difficult to set classic tracks, but Meyer?s diligence paid off resultin

g in a great course with firm tracks,? said race director Denny Paull. Event organizers were particularly encouraged by a record number of 22 tour participants.

“This was our best event ever,” said Paull. “The Department of Natural Resources performed a good job at trail and parking lot maintenance throughout the winter then cut the Thunder Bay Trail Association group loose the final week to prepare the race course. This combined with a large number of great local volunteers really made for an event which we could all be proud of.?

THE FOLLOWING is a list of tour participants:

? Chad Coolman of Rogers City, George Felski of Cheboygan, Jeff Blumenthal of Alpena, Connie Mendyk of Harbor Springs, Garrett Ruffner of Tecumseh, Julie Hewlett of Tecumseh, Randy Seiss of Harbor Springs, Hal Butler of Alpena, John Paul of Traverse City, John Paul Jr. of Traverse City, Mike Kosiara of Rogers City, Laura Korz of Harbor Springs, Kyle Roberts of Lake City, Helen Dilworth of Fenton, Sandy Nelson of Fenton, Don Speer of Alpena, Jane Speer of Alpena, Mindy Moradian of Harbor Springs and Tom Moradian of Harbor Springs.

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