Jumptoberfest and Chicago Tour for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Team
The ski jumping nordic combined crew embarked on a memorable journey last week to Fox River Grove, Illinois, for an enriching training experience and two days of thrilling competitions at the Norge Ski Club Jumptoberfest October 5-6, 2024. Did you know? The Norge ski jumping complex, a significant part of our trip, was built by Carl Howelsen before he ventured to Steamboat and constructed Howelsen Hill!
SSWSC had 19 athletes, from U10s to U16s, and three coaches traveled to Norge. The team was fortunate to have some excellent Midwest fall weather. SSWSC definitely showed up and proved to everyone that all their hard training had paid off. This competition is also a very fun event for athletes, as they jump in front of large crowds of people from all around the Chicago area to watch kids fly through the air.
For our first day of competitions, the event started with a running race for the U12s and down. It was a 1-mile fun race, and then on to the jumping competitions for that day. Starting on the K10 meter, Hazel Keller landed in 2nd place! Next was the K25 competition, where Clara Keller ended up 1st, and Hazel Keller landed in 4th. The team really crushed on the next events on the K40 meter, with McKenzie Maines coming in 1st place and Charlotte Fleming in 3rd place. The boys had a fantastic day on the K40, with Fritz Gamber winning his class, Langdon Devin in 2nd place, and Arthur Keller taking home third place to round it off. Coaches were very proud of all the U14s, showing how hard work pays off! The tricky tailwind during the K70 competition made jumping far very hard. Nico Bowdre showed us how to jump through the tail by landing a third-place spot, Kaden Graham and Miles Warnke falling right behind him. McKenzie Maines took home second place, also showing how to jump over the tailwind. Overall, SSWSC had outstanding results for everyone on the first day.
The second day of competitions started early with 3k and 5k roller ski races. There were perfect conditions for our races. Everyone skied hard and put their best in. For our 3k race, McKenzie Maines was 1st, Charlotte Fleming 2nd, Clara Keller in 3rd, and Ellie Freidman followed right behind. For our 3k boys, Langdon Devin came in 1st, and Arthur Keller fell right behind in 2nd place.
Right after the roller ski race, athletes competed on the K70. However, there was still a very tricky tailwind to deal with. McKenzie Maines pulled off third place for herself, and Nico Bowdre jumped into third place, with Kaden Graham, Miles Warnke, and Everett Baldwin right behind.
After a week of training and competition, it was time to get a little education for the athletes. On Monday, a group of 17 athletes visited downtown Chicago, starting with an hour train ride to the city’s center. From there, the team got on a bus that traveled all over the city. A fantastic tour guide, Wayne, helped educate the coaches and athletes on downtown Chicago’s history, and they were fortunate once again to have beautiful weather while walking around downtown. The team checked out the Chicago Fed Money Museum and the Northerly Island to get a fantastic view of the Chicago skyline on Lake Michigan. The team explored Millennium Park, played in some water features, and checked out the famous Bean! After that fun, the athletes learned all about the famous Chicago fire and saw where it all started and how it started from a cow.
Speaking of fires, the team also checked out where Chicago Fire is filmed, the TV show. Before lunch, the team went to Navy Pier, a fun ride called Fly over Chicago, which was a blast with moving chairs. For the last activity, the team went to the top of the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) to see an incredible view of Chicago from 103 stories up. On top of all that, the team experienced many other small things and learned a ton about the history of Chicago to bring back home.
The team ended the night with traditional deep-dish pizza! Overall, this was an amazing trip with these athletes. Keep up the great work ski jumping nordic combined team.