Unsung heros

Much credit has been paid to the Kiwanis Ski Club for their tremendous efforts to try to keep the ski jump tournament going in spite of 45 degree weather. And rightfully so. I visited the top of the hill during Sunday’s delay and saw up close just how hard they were working.

What was a little bit lost in the events of the day was the another part of that group who deserves big time credit. I’m talking about the fore-jumpers, which included Kingsford’s Zak Hammil and Florence’s Nita Englund among others.

With melting snow and a very sticky track, this group never once backed away when called upon for a trial run. Ski jumping under percent conditions takes a lot of guts. Imagine being asked to jump when nobody knows for sure just how the run down the slide is going to go.

Amazing as it was that one complete round of jumping took place Sunday given the conditions, it would not have been possible if not for the test jumps provided by our local fore-jumpers.