Home | About Us | Short Track | Long Track | Duathlon | Race Results | Adventure | Calendar | Links | Wanna Try?

Speed Skate-Skate Ski Duathlon

The annual AMH speedskate-skate ski duathlon at the Cuddy Family Midtown Park was held on January 10th. The event was a fundraiser for "nice ice" at the skating and fitness oval in the park. The course was 10 laps around the skating oval, which is about 4 km, then a switch to skis, and 4 laps of skate skiing around the 1 km perimeter of the park. Blue skies, moderate temperatures, and perfect ice greeted the participants.

Twelve-year-old Lydia Blanchet was the overall winner of the women's open category. She skated strong and steadily, and she is an even stronger skier - on APU's junior team. Former nordic skiing Olympian Adam Verrier won the men's open category. He is the first repeat winner of the individual race, and he won the event in the inaugural year, four years ago. Peter Haeussler skated and Dave Blanchet skied to victory in the relay category. Daniel Goodwin was the youngest skater in the shorter youth event - he is only 5 years old. Full results can be downloaded below. Andy Goodwin took a bunch of great photos, and they can be viewed here.

Speed Skate-Skate Ski Duathlon

There are many similarities between speedskating and skate skiing technique. Combining the two into a single event is a natural thing to do, and challenges both aerobic and muscular endurance, as well as technique. Come and try this fun event, which is also a fundraiser for ice maintenance of the speedskating oval at Cuddy Family Midtown Park.

Location: Cuddy Family Midtown Park: The skating will be done on the 400 m oval at the park, and a roughly 1 km skate ski track will also be laid out on the trail that winds around the park. The easiest parking is to turn onto 40th Street off of A or C. See the Long Track page for a map.

Date and Time: Sunday, January 10, 2010: Registration will be $10 day of the race at the oval, starting at noon. Races start at 1 PM. Enter as many events as you want with one race fee. We will ask you to consider donating a minimum of $5 to AnchorageSkates, which provides for ice maintenance at MidTown Park. $10 buys an AnchorageSkates pin! Note: the race will be cancelled if the KTUU weather station temperature is below 5 degrees F at noon on Sunday.

Technique & Start Format: There will be categories for individual, relay, men, women, mixed, and kids. The skating will be first, skiing second. The clock will be running from the beginning of the skating until the end of the skiing. Any type of skates (speedskates, nordic skates, hockey skates, figure skates) or skis can be used. Nordic skaters have consistently placed highest. The order of the races will be: Women, Men, Kids, Mixed. The Kids race will not be timed. Competitors may compete in the Women’s or Men’s and the Mixed for one race fee. Racers should arrange themselves in the starting area so that faster racers are in front of less competitive racers. Please be considerate of your fellow competitors. It is helpful if you can bring with you one person who can count laps for you.

Course & Distance: We are planning on 4km of skating and 4 km of skiing, or 10 laps around the oval, and then about 4 laps around the 1 km skate-ski track. For the kids category the distances will be 3 laps around the oval (1.2 km) and one lap around the skate-ski track.

The start and finish will be on the east side of the oval. Spectators should be able to see the on the entire course.

Hosts: Alaska Speedskating Club (ASC), Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking (AMH), and Alaska Pacific University (APU).

Pre-Race Activities: Learn basic speedskating skills at any of the speedskating practices at the oval. Instruction is free. See the calendar for times.

Volunteers: Races such as this are not possible help from volunteers like you. All race officials and organizers are unpaid volunteers. Non-racers can help at timing, bib-pickup and feed stations for longer races. Please email Peter Haeussler or Marc Phillips if you can help out.

Questions? If you need more information or if you would like to volunteer to help, please contact race organizers: Peter Haeussler (688-6585) or Marc Phillips (564-8314)