2010 Iron Mountain FIS Continental Cup Ski Jumping Tournament !

This past Saturday I went up to Iron Mountain, Michigan for the 73rd annual Iron Mountain Ski Jumping Tournament at the 120 meter hill on Pine Mountain. Over 40 jumpers from across Europe and North America competed on a picture perfect winter day to the joy of several thousand spectators.

Anders Bardal (Steinkjer Skiklubb) won on both Saturday and Sunday with some impressive jumps.

(Anders Bardal - Norway)

(Christof Lenz - Austria)

The top 6 from Saturday:

1. BARDAL Anders Norway
2. Stefan Thurnbichler- Austria
3. Christian Nagiller - Austria
4. Manuel Fettner - Austria
5. Christoph Lenz - Austria
6. Herman Huczkowski - Finland



Much more tomorrow from this super event. It's getting late and my computer is just dragging too much. Check back then for some GREAT photos from the top of the hill !

Gallery: HERE

Ski Jumping! Suicide Bowl - Ishpeming, Mich.

The 123rd Annual Tournament from the Ishpeming Ski Club (the first being in 1888 on the famous 90 meter hill at Suicide Bowl (coined in a newspaper article years ago, it's been made much safer these days).

Well, I gotta tell 'ya that this was easily my hardest shoot I've done over the past two years I've been shooting. The competition was 3 hours long, the temperature was +2F, and my legs are still sore after climbing up and down that big dumb hill in snow that was usually up to my knees and once up to my hip! (I'm 6ft 5in tall). (Click on each to see whole photo)

1. Twin Bon Fires. Ohhhh, so nice. I should have taken a photo of the large pile of beer bottles at the end of the night.





2. The hill. Man, props to the athletes for climbing up there some 150 feet above the trees in such cold temps, then zooming down at 55mph. Holy wind chill!



3. Looking Down. A view from about 1/3rd of the way up. Although the little 60lb kids had no problem scrambling up higher, this was as far as I could go. I'm just too old.




4. Low Flyer. Dave Edlund of St. Paul, MN showing just how high above the slope they fly. This was actually a rather short jump.




5. Close Up. Trevor Wert of Steamboat Springs, CO.



6. Anton Gerosimov of Russia.




7. Side view. They bend forward at the hips to give a more 'wing like' shape for more lift. Dan Englund - USA.





8. Bottom View. This was as close as I could get to the very end of the out run without climbing 8 feet of snow and ice, mixed with tree branches. Very frustrating trying to get a good angle to shoot from here. You can see a few spectators on the right side of the hill ... that's the high point I shot from and you can see what you've got to climb to get higher. I'll get there next year!




9. Flying Finn. Jere Kykkanen of Finland who placed fourth.




10. The Winner. Hakon Helgesen of Norway. Horrible photo, I know, but he won so he get's his photo published.





Thanks for looking. I tried _real hard_ to do my best, hopefully I'll do better tomorrow in the sunshine at Iron Mountain on the *120 meter* hill ! (this one was 90).

Ski Jumping !!

Now it's time to shift gears over to that uber cool, fringe sport here in America, but huge in Scandinavia - Ski Jumping!

Beginning Wednesday there are three tournaments in five days right here in the midwest:

http://www.centralskijumpingusa.com/

January 27 - Ishpeming, MI (5 Hills Tour #2)

January 30/31 - Norge - Fox River Grove, IL (5 Hills Tour #3)

January 30/31 - Iron Mountain - FIS Men's Continental Cup K118

Here's some links to each event:

Ishpeming
Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain
Fox River Grove

I haven't been to Ishpeming in a long time and have never seen the 118m ski flying jump in Iron Mountain, so this is going to be very exciting. Last year I was at the Fox River Grove tournament and was very impressed.

Here's some video I shot:





I highly reccommend attending one of these competitions if you can, but if not, check back right here where I'll attempt to share the beauty and excitement of this thrilling sport!

2010 Lapham Loppet

The 2010 Lapham Peak Loppet - slow snow - yes, but the rain held off and it appears that attendance was good. I laced up the combat boots, pulled on the red "Guideware" jacket and tromped off to the foggy peak, camera in tow. Way too foggy for any kind of telephoto lens, so I chose to go in close and use a flash like I do when shooting cyclocross. It's tough though, and kind of hit or miss. I tell 'ya, if they started that race on time, it sure didn't take long for the leaders to come through. There was a tight pack of three with a good 20 seconds over the next skier. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good shot of all three together, but here's the leader at that point.

Chad Tolbert leads over the peak.

I hung around at that spot and shot 50 or more skiers, before hightailing it over to the other trail crossing at the top.

Roy Nilsen of Waukesha

I walked as fast as I could, but probably should have run because the leaders were skiing fast. So fast that I almost missed them! (great photo, eh?)

Chad Tolbert leads Thomas Stuber over the peak on his way to victory.

I know I didn't get all of you from here, but there are a few keepers!

Jim DiDomenico of Elgin, IL crests Lapham Peak.

Since I only shot one pic per skier, I should get though them pretty quick.

GALLERY

Lapham Loppet and Jumping Preview

Nothing new from my camera, but check out the video from the latest biathlon races from Antholz, Italy: LINK Magdelena Neuner gets her first victory of the season in convincing fashion!




I've been struggling with the decision whether or not to head up to Eau Claire tomorrow to shoot the ski jumping. It's the first day of the "5 Hills Tournament" held here in the midwest:




http://www.centralskijumpingusa.com/

January 22/23 - Eau Claire Silvermine (5 Hills Tour #1) Registration/Invite

January 27 - Ishpeming, MI (5 Hills Tour #2) Invite

January 30/31 - Norge - Fox River Grove, IL JR/JOQ (5 Hills Tour #3) Registration/Invite

January 30/31 - Iron Mountain - FIS Men's Continental Cup K118

February 3 - Minneapolis K70 (5 Hills Tour #4)

February 5/6 - Westby, WI K108 (5 Hills Tour #5)

I think I'll pass on the 2 or 3am return to home, only to head back out at 8am for Lapham Peak, but I will go up to Ishpeming for Hill #2.

So, see you at Lapham Peak where I'll try to mix up the photos a bit. Make 'em more interesting.

2010 Greenbush USA Nordic Challenge

Thomas Stuber (WIN Racing) get's his fourth win of the season !(I believe) and doubles up on the week end after winning the Snekkivik race in Wausau on Saturday. Shown here leading team mate and last year's winner, Chad Tolbert, the pair developed a one minute lead over third place Matt Zak giving their team a sweep of the podium. Well done mates!




If you recall, last year Tolbert swept the local scene by first winning the Greenbush race, then taking the Lapham Loppet the following Saturday. WIN Racing is certainly a force to be recconed with.

Photo gallery is HERE.

World Cup Biathlon Video Highlights

Hey! Check out the replay of the latest biathlon World Cup from Eurosport: HERE

It's the women's mass start from Rhupolding , Germany where Biathlon is the sport of Kings. The crowds are huge and it's AWESOME!



Yes, that's Magdalena Neuner ... and she's awesome! LOL



Then see 'yall at Greenbush tomorrow.

Lapham Peak Weds Night Race

Just a quick check in. Found a new spot on the course to shoot photos. Haven't seen all of them yet so I'm not sure how many are keepers, but it looks promising! Will have all posted with the link to them by Thursday evening.

Edit: PHotos going up slowly: GALLERY

Birkie Feed Zone video

I made this video in 2008. It's the sights and sounds of the "OO" feed zone.

Enjoy!

Northern Illinois XC Challenge (Wheaton)

A group of well over 100 racers showed up this morning at the Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton, IL where the thermometer was stuck at 0 degrees F. Jan Myrda of Palos Heights, IL (Bib #1), led from start to finish. Props to *ALL* who braved the cold wind this morning!

GALLERY

Results

Lapham Peak Night Races

Wow, pretty good turnout in my opinion. Tough conditions for photography due to the low light, but I've got a few keepers out of it. Also, it's often tough to tell who's warming up and who's racing at times, so ... take these photos as a 'best of ' rather than a full race coverage.







I'll massage them tonight with Photoshop and post the keepers in the morning, so check back for that. GALLERY

This weekend, on Saturday, I'm going up to Minneapolis for some ski jumping on the 70 meter hill up there (Junior Olympic Trials) and Sunday I'll cover the XC ski race in northern Illinois. There should be enough snow for that one this year.

So, spread the word and check back for more midwest skiing pix!

Nashotah Race photos !

I'll have many more tonight, after I get some sort of heat going in this office. It's cold in here!

Good turnout this morning for the Nashotah Park race. I don't have any results but photos I've got. Here the 12k leaders are heading out for their first of two laps.



More in a bit.

jw

Edit: Got the heater going under the desk, the cats are loving the big box that it came in. Time to edit pictures!

Gallery is HERE

I may hit the racing at Elver on Tuesday and certainly will make Lapham on Wednesday. That Nashotah race was a tough one, the cold temps froze my camera! Have to send it in for repairs but fortunately I have a back up. Think snow!