Skijor International honors and pays tribute to the 2016 Skijor Overall Champions.
"The Skijor Overall 2016"
In the spirit of unifying the skijoring community and encouraging racers to support equine skijoring venues big and small, Skijor International instituted The Skijor Overall at the beginning of the 2016 Skijoring Season.
While initially endorsed officially by a handful of race venues, The Skijor Overall gained the support of all skijoring competitions and several even sought us out to be certain they were included.
We take this as a vote of confidence.
Please remember that our aim is to encourage fair competition and sportsmanship within our broad community. In the end over 400 riders, horses and skiers finished in the top 10 and earned points. This means over 500+ competed! While other groups require membership and fees, we do not. We are NOT an elite group, and thus, next year's Skijor Overall will NOT include athletes who choose to be a member of a "governing or sanctioning body".
This is simply not our style. . . We are an Alliance. . .
First Place
Open Rider Champion with 98 points: Joe Scanlon
Open Horse Champion with 98 points: Mud D Duck
Open Skier Champion with 139 points: Toby McIntosh
Sport Rider Champion with 63 points: Dan Burggraff
Sport Horse Champion with 50 points: Cooper
Sport Skier Champion with 161 points: Aaron Griffen
Second Place
Open Rider with 86 points: Savannah McCarthy
Open Horse with 76 points: Tank
Open Skier with 126 points: Greg Dahl
Sport Rider with 63 points: Trae McInroe
Sport Horse with 48 points: River
Sport Skier with 92 points: Colin Cook
Third Place
Open Rider with 86 points (1 DQ) Kyzer Stoddard
Open Horse with 72 points: Leo
Open Skier with 120 points: Tyler Smedsrud
Sport Rider with 40 points: Amanda Hennessey
Sport Horse with 40 points: Silver
Sport Skier with 71 points: Connor Buckley
We, at Skijor International®, take the conferment of these awards very seriously. It has taken a full week to review the results of every race and create a "bullet proof" spreadsheet with official times, placements and subsequent points awarded by division. We apologize in advance for any errors in the preliminary findings as some result sheets were hard to interpret. This process has not only brought to light the champions among us, but also several concerns which we feel are important to take into account in determining the official 2016 Skijor Overall point standings.
Two horses were eliminated in The 2016 Skijor Overall, subsequently, their riders also sacrificed points. It is our opinion that from the start these horses should have competed in the Open Division. One horse ran times that would have put him in 1st Place in the Open Division in Whitefish, Jackson and Wood River. The other horse would have finished in the top ten in the Open Divisions of Bozeman, Jackson, Whitefish and Minturn, where the organizer requested the horse to be moved up on Sunday. In Leadville, he would have placed 2nd in the Open.
Here are some statistics:
1st Place Open Horse Whitefish: 17.82 Fastest Sport Horse: 17.54
1st Place Open Horse Jackson: 16.43 Fastest Sport Horse: 16.19
1st Place Open Horse Wood River: 17.04 Fastest Sport Horse: 16.72
If the second horse in question had remained in the Open Division after Red River and Silverton, he would have finished a respectable 5th Place in the Open Horse Overall with 52 points given the times he ran and the other horse would have finished in 7th place since he competed in 2 less races. Despite being approached by numerous organizers to move their horses up during the 2016 race season, the competitors did not feel inclined to do so, citing there was no rule in place forcing such a change in division. In an email on February 16, 2016, Minturn did attempt to remind competitors of the rules a week in advance of the race.
"We've seen skiers competing in open and sport divisions, horses competing in the open and sport divisions, etc. In order to maintain the integrity of our competition, as well as the the sport in general, Minturn will expect everyone to follow the rules as provided. To be clear, the horse rider is the only competitor that can participate in multiple divisions."
In contrast, another competitor, in the spirit of fair competition and sportsmanship, did take it upon themselves to voluntarily move their horse up to the Open Division after running faster than any Open Horse in Red River on Saturday with a 16.11 (16.22 being the fastest Open Horse time) and clocking a 16.52, the fastest Sport time of the day which would have been a 4th place finish in the Open Division on Sunday.
In depth discussions have already begun as to how to avoid this situation next season and any input from competitors is certainly welcome. The Skijor Overall will remain a point system which combines all races from as far north as Montana to as far south as New Mexico and would have included races in the North East as well had their races not been cancelled due to lack of snow.
Our mission at Skijor International® remains one of unification, not division, and community, not exclusion. Every competitor who is listed on The 2016 Skijor Overall roster will be receiving a small token of congratulations. The top three placements may receive additional prizes in time. As promised, first place finishers in the Open will be engraved on a trophy and first places in Sport, on a plaque.
Thank you, One and All, for competing in 2016.
To view the final points online go to www.skijorinternational.com and click on The Overall tab or visit The Skijor Overall on Facebook where a direct link to the Google Sheet is also provided. Please "Like" the page if you are so inclined and share any comments you may have or call us at 646.209.0229.
Watch for another email to follow shortly with links to photos from 2016 available for purchase from professional photographers, Mark LaRowe, Nina Galicheva and Vara Reese.
We look forward to a successful season in 2017.
JOR ON!
If you are listed on The Skijor Overall roster, please respond to this email with a
"YES, I Skijor!" and your mailing address to receive your congratulatory gift.
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© 2016 SKIJOR INTERNATIONAL®, LLC All Rights Reserved
