The ISD 196 boys’ and girls’ Nordic Ski teams finished Saturday’s pursuit-style race in 11th and 13th, respectively, of 21 teams. The race took place at Theodore Wirth Golf Course in Minneapolis in sub-zero wind chill conditions.

“The snow gets really slow when it’s cold out,” ISD coach Andy Dodds said. “There was also quite a bit of wind for the second race … [the wind will] cover a bit of the trail with snow.”

The race was a pursuit style. This means the first race was a mass start with all the racers. The second race, then, starts each skier at the time they ended in respect to the lead skier.

“It’s a lot more fun, and you can really see kids put their game faces on,” Dodds said about the pursuit style race.”The typical style has an interval start … it’s you versus yourself.”

Brian Bettes was the Apple Valley skier with the fastest total time in the pursuit-style race, covering the 7.7KM course in 26:03 over the two races. Jackie Tan came in next for Apple Valley at 31:03

Ruby Carlson had the fastest Apple Valley time on the girls side with a time of 33:09.

“Today was really tough to keep those skis moving hard, to keep them moving fast,” Dodds said.

The atmosphere of the race was, despite the cold, a wild one. Fans were congregated at key points, shaking their cowbells and making a ruckus to keep the skiers going.

Catch ISD 196 Nordic in action next on January 13 at 3:30pm at Valleywood Golf Course.