Valley skiers compete at Besh Cups in Homer

HOMER — Valley cross-country skiers traveled to the end of the road on the Kenai Peninsula for Besh Cup races 3 and 4 at Lookout Mountain in Homer over the weekend. Skiers racing with clubs race for points in the six Besh Cups to earn spots on Junior National teams to compete in the Arctic Winter Games.

“I think that Besh Cups are a really good opportunity to just like put a bullseye on peoples back and just like go for it and get after it and just have as much fun as you can,” said Rosie Whittington-Evans. “I’m in the rankings for Junior Nationals right now and I’m super psyched to be able to gain on people and get points and just go for it up here.”

The steep, challenging course in Homer allows for the best skiers in the state to test their fitness against each other. Valley skiers have the perceived advantage of skiing on a similarly hilly course at Government Peak Recreation Area.

“I feel like we’re kind of at an advantage to be able to just gain on people going down hills, but as well as up hills because our course at Government Peak is so hard,” said Whittington-Evans.

Whittington-Evans had skied in Homer two years ago and finished the 10 km interval start classic race in 19:09. Competing in the U16 division, Whittington-Evans finished in 8th place. Competing in the U18 division, Whittington-Evans’ teammate for the Palmer Ski team Aila Berrigan finished 9th in 38:43. Berrigan said her downhill skiing background helped during steep downhills that provide a challenge on thin cross country skis.

“You don’t see uphills like this and downhills like this everywhere so it’s really fun to like, it’s challenging coming down,” said Berrigan. “It’s a cool course. You don’t really race like this anywhere else except in Homer here.”

Kaj Taylor led U18 Valley male skiers with an 11th place finish in the 15 km classic race at 47:51. Taylor’s teammate Jaxson lee finished in 31st and Ziven Witzak finished in 38th. At the U20 division, Joseph Walling took 4th at 45:16.

“Getting more snow time before regions and state that’s really important to me and also getting race time because it’s of course different than practicing and you kind of get that feeling for it and it’s definitely cool to be out here because it’s a different feel. You have so many amazing athletes and I think that’s amazing to experience,” said Sofijia Spaic.

Spaic and Colony teammate Lydia Bushey were two seconds apart in the U18 10 km classic race on Sunday. Spaic took 20th at 41:50 and Bushey finished 21st.

“There’s some really sharp corners at the bottoms of the hills which makes it hard to stay in control and then that whole second half of uphills is like a km of uphill. It’s just draining,” said Bushey. “I think we just were excited to be somewhere different. We do a lot of skiing in the same places be it Anchorage or up at GPRA. We see a lot of the same people so it’s nice to have some different competitors in a really challenging course.”