More than 250 young racers and their families brought Multorpor to life on Sunday with a noisy and spirited season-opening Kids Kandahar race down Mt. Hood Lane.
The long-overdue opening to the Mitey Mites race series on Mount Hood started well before 8 am, with hundreds of kids and their parents crowding into the Multorpor Lodge to finish up paperwork and get their bibs. Out on the hill, race organizers power-drilled through the ice and into the dirt to set up gates for a nice, fast giant slalom down Mt. Hood Lane.
That’s a trail that hardly gets any sun in winter, so the snow was firm and icy as racers inspected the course. Conditions were slick enough that the start was delayed until 11 am. Racers got one run each down a fast, challenging GS with a tricky bump on the second-to-last gate just before the finish. The course softened up slightly in the afternoon but never really turned sloppy, and the gates stayed well anchored in spite of the thin snow base underneath.
The Mount Hood Race team and Skibowl deserve a lot of credit for working together to get the kid racing season launched in some seriously challenging conditions. It was only the second day of the season with chairlift operations at Skibowl due to lack of snow, but it turned into a lively scene indeed once the race finally got underway. Kids were cheering on their teammates, coaches were yelling out instructions, and parents were applauding the racers, shooting videos and cranking up the cowbells. There were several high-speed crashes but nobody was hurt.
253 racers aged six to 13 competed in the 2014 Kids Kandahar: 113 girls and 140 boys. Ability levels and styles varied widely, from tiny first-timers in snowplows to junior racers making seriously angled turns at very high speeds.
Luke Musgrave of the Mount Hood Race Team recorded the fastest time of the day of 32.58, followed by Tucker Scroggins of the MAC club at 33.63.
Some of the younger kids can really rip it too. Look out for Sutton Bell LaFevre of the Cooper Spur Race Team. She finished in 38.96, beating the next fastest U8 girl (or U8 boy for that matter) by almost seven seconds.
Here is a slideshow tracking Kid Kandahar 2014 from pre-race play in the ice to the awards ceremony. If you are reading this on a phone, recommended viewing is with the phone turned sideways. And if anyone has photos or video to share, feel free to send it in.
Scroll down below the slideshow for the race results.
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Racers were divided by gender and age, with four age categories: U8 (under eight years old as of December 31, 2013), U10, U12 and U14.
Here are the top three podium finishers in each age and gender category, with racer, team and time. Racers without a listed team competed independently. If you see any errors, please contact me and I will fix them.
U8 Girls
- Sutton Bell LaFevre, Cooper Spur Race Team, 38.96
- Maddie Wood, Meadows Race Team, 45.49
- Isabella Beilen, Cooper Spur Race Team, 49.93
U8 Boys
- Tyler Howell, 45.16
- Jack Barrow, Meadows Race Team, 45.19
- Jack Morris, Cascade Winter Sports Club, 45.74
U10 Girls
- Shelby Willett, Meadows Race Team, 38.01
- Sarah Davies, Cooper Spur Race Team, 38.92
- Ella Tollefson, Cascade Winter Sports Club, 40.31
U10 Boys
- Markus Falconer, Meadows Race Team, 38.39
- Remy Bourgault, Mount Hood Rade Team, 39.75
- Kellen Larson, Meadows Race Team, 40.33
U12 Girls
- Madeline Stern, Meadows Race Team, 35.60
- Frances Melby, Cooper Spur Race Team, 35.61
- Falon Hanna, Mount Hood Race Team, 36.40
U12 Boys
- Ty Glumbik, Mount Hood Race Team, 34.69
- Colt Musgrave, Mount Hood Race Team, 34.93
- Joshua Nardone, 35.51
U14 Girls
- Louise Howe, Cooper Spur Race Team, 34.89
- Sami Woodring, MAC, 35.05
- Isabella Hoffman, Mount Hood Race Team, 35.39
U14 Boys
- Luke Musgrave, Mount Hood Race Team, 32.58
- Tucker Scroggins, MAC, 33.63
- Cassell LeFevre, Cooper Spur Race Team, 34.28
For full results for the boys, click here. Full results for the girls are here.
Last modified: January 20, 2014
