Schultz Miller Shines at Cloudy Ski-to-Sea
For the ninth straight year, Schultz Miller fielded a spirited team at the annual Ski-to-Sea Race, a Memorial Day weekend tradition involving 8 team members in a 90-mile relay from Mt. Baker to Bellingham Bay. Cross-country skier Carl Berg kicked off the race in a cold, early-morning mist on the lower slopes of Mt. Baker. Kayaker Geoff Cunard rang the finish bell in an afternoon drizzle on the shores of Fairhaven. Separating the two were 8 hours, 14 minutes, and 27 seconds, an elapsed time that gave our team, “Hammer Time,” its best showing yet: 16th place in the Recreational Open Division of 150 teams, and 95th place overall in a field of 464 teams.
Carl skied a 4-mile cross-country loop before handing off to downhill skier Ray Stevens, who climbed over 1000 vertical feet, then zoomed down the remainder of the 2.5-mile course to hand off to Marc Vassallo, who ran 8 miles down the road from the base of Mt. Baker ski area, with just enough uphill at the very end to make it that much harder on the knees. Marc handed off to road cyclist Paul Vassallo, who sped along a 38-mile route to the town of Everson. Paul handed off to our two canoeists, Stan Cox and Jeremy Von Wandruszka, who paddled together 18 miles down the surging Nooksack River before handing off to mountain biker Eric Biermann, who pedaled 14 miles up and down a course that was mostly deep mud, except where it bumped along railroad ties. Eric met sea kayaker Geoff at Squalicum Park, and Geoff paddled (in a wooden kayak he built himself) 5 miles to Marine Park in Fairhaven, south of Bellingham. Talk about collaboration.
