POSTED: Friday, May. 22, 2009
Cross-country: Beaver's Tree Service skier excels with low-key intensity
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closeBELLINGHAM - Jake Hartsoch doesn't see himself as "hardcore" as other cross-country skiers.
"I don't go racing every weekend; I think I do less (than other athletes)," said the 34-year-old Columbia neighborhood resident.
But while Hartsoch might see himself as the guy who does less, competing in Ski to Sea for traditional Whatcom County Division power Beaver's Tree Service is nothing to snark at. After all, the team has won the event 12 times and it's celebrating its 20th year participating in the annual event.
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2008 TOP GUNS
Male: Brian Gregg (Team Islagiatt) 19:00.30
Female: Dasha Gaiazova (Boundary Bay Brewery) 21:44.90
NEW THIS YEAR
Race start time: Ski to Sea starts a half hour earlier to accommodate the longer mountain biking leg.
The blast is now scheduled for 8 a.m., meaning racers have to leave for the mountain a half hour earlier than in years past.
It is advised that all participants in the race’s first four legs leave Bellingham no later than 5 p.m. to make it up the Mount Baker Highway, which now closes at Canyon Creek Road at 7:30 a.m.
And he wasn't brought onto the team for no reason. He's got some chops.
On April 4, Hartsoch hit the slopes of Whistler, Canada's Olympic Park for the first 30-kilometer Callaghan Winter Sports Club Loppet. It's the course that will be used in the 2010 Winter Olympics, and it drew some of the world's elite skiers, including members of the Swedish and United States World Cup teams.
Billy Demong, the current world champion in the Nordic Combined finished third in the race. Hartsoch finished just a little more than 16 minutes off the first-place finisher for a 23rd place showing.
The elites showing up was a surprise, he said.
"We didn't know until we got there," Hartsoch said.
Now he hopes to finish in the top 10 in Ski to Sea, the annual 90-mile, seven-leg relay race from the Mt. Baker Ski Area to Marine Park in Fairhaven.
Hartsoch says the cross country leg is so competitive because it's one of the few ski races in the nation in May. And Whatcom County itself has some top talent.
He's been training with hill runs and roller skiing and with his free time when he's not at home with wife, Beth, and 4-year-old son Quinn.
"I definitely take it pretty serious, but it's a more balanced lifestyle (than the every-weekend racers)," Hartsoch said. "I'm looking forward to all the great energy Ski To Sea brings to town."
BEAVER'S TREE SERVICE
Division: Whatcom County Open
Cross-country ski: Jacob Hartsoch
Downhill: Brent Molsberry
Run: Matt Hargleroad
Road bike: Brian Ecker
Canoe: Brian Boatman and David Williams
Mountain bike: Beau Whitehead
Kayak: Joost Zeegers
Reach SAM TAYLOR at sam.taylor@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2263.
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