Cold weather and snow provides favorable conditions for the North American VASA races.
TRAVERSE CITY -- Groomers and a touch of fresh snow helped things go smoothly for the 33rd annual North American VASA ski races.
The cross country event is a northern Michigan tradition, no matter what the weather.
Despite the mild weather over the past few days, mother nature didn't let the skiers down. Instead it was a race to the finish line along snow covered trails, something VASA skiers were hoping for.
"Little fresh snow, the tracks were a little glazed over but they were very fast," says VASA racer, Randy Woods.
"The new snow helped out a lot and it was really good gliding and the tracks are really nice," says VASA racer Michael Sauer.
From start to finish racers say the trails couldn't be better.
"Our groomers were working through the night they finished around four-thirty this morning and they said there was 6 hours of continuous snow, very light snow," says North American VASA president, Pete LaPlaca.
LaPlaca says the constant upkeep of the VASA trails along with some cold temperatures did the trick for keeping the race on schedule.
"There was no ice that we had originally feared, when you have a lot of melting you can have ice form and there was none of that. We have a great base, the course is holding up really well," say LaPlaca.
So is the number of people that registered to race. LaPlaca says hundreds of people locally and from all over the country made their way to Traverse City.
"I talked with some fellas from Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania...we're very please to have the local skiers as well as those from out of state," says LaPlaca.
"I started nine years ago and I haven't missed one since...I wouldn't miss it. This is terrific, this is a community event and I like to show my support," says Woods.
It's this continued support that not only brings skiers out to the trails, but also brings an economic boost to northern Michigan.
"We do a survey after the race and we ask people how much they spend and we can estimate that we bring in about 200 to 250 thousand dollars just over the weekend," says LaPlaca.
LaPlaca says groomers plan to be back on the trails Saturday night to continue to make sure they're in shape for Sunday's races.
The start time is nine a.m. at Timber Ridge resort in Traverse City.
For a list of race winners you can check out the North American VASA website at: http://www.vasa.org/.
