Feeling Minnesota – in a good way

Feeling Minnesota – in a good way{mosimage}Lauren Rykert was in a panic. Here she was at the start of the second run of slalom at the Shelley Glover Lusten Spring Series, her most competitive races of the year, and she couldn’t find her skis.

The Boyne Alpine Race Team first-year J2 arrived at the start of the third Lutsen slalom to prep her skis before her run, just as she had all season. Calling the Lusten series her first ‘REAL competition’ she just wanted to focus on her race – it’s not every day a 15-year-old from Michigan sees an 11-point penalty and an international pace field with skiers from the U.S. and Canadian national teams, as well as Austria, Sweden, Norway and Liechtenstein (to name a few).

But this time, Rykert was missing a key ingredient to her routine… her Atomics. ‘I walked all over the hill trying to find them, but they were nowhere to be found’ she said.

Rykert searched frantically about the start area, and then trudged down the hill to notify a race official, who made an announcement over the loudspeaker. All the while, racer after racer kicked out of the start, and the time for Rykert’s second run came closer and closer.

Resigned to the fact that she may not see her beloved ST11s again, Rykert began prepping her freeskiing boards for her run. They weren’t exactly her ideal race skis. ‘The only problem was that they weren’t the same model, they weren’t waxed, sharpened or even the legal FIS length’ she summed up.

As she prepped the clunkers, she filled her coach in on her predicament, and a nearby skier overheard the conversation and approached Rykert. Rykert had never seen the girl before, but the benevolent stranger explained that she had the same model as Rykert’s missing skis and offered hers to use. There was only one tiny problem. Rykert’s boots didn’t fit the stranger’s bindings.

‘She found a screwdriver and took apart her bindings’ said Rykert. ‘She continued working on the bindings until they fit my feet, all the while calming me down and saying things like, ‘These are really fast skis, but you can handle them.’ ‘

Thankful to have a familiar pair of skis beneath her and her nerves calmed a bit, Rykert made arrangements to return the skis after her run, and learned her benefactor’s name … Laura Scripture. The name wasn’t a familiar one to Rykert, but she was certainly happy someone had reached out to her. ‘I couldn’t believe that a fellow racer was willing to help out to that extent’ she said.

It turned out that Scripture’s skis weren’t even needed, as, with only about 15 skiers to go until it was Rykert’s turn, a snowmobile arrived at the start with her babies, which had been mistakenly picked up and brought to the bottom. Still, Scripture’s gesture was far from empty.

After the race, Rykert happily recounted her tale to a friend in the lodge. The friend got a kick out of the story, but stopped when Rykert arrived at the identity of her helper.

‘When I told [my friend] the girl’s name, she looked totally shocked’ recounted Rykert. ‘When I asked her what was wrong, she replied, ‘Laura Scripture is REALLY good.’ ‘

Sure enough, as Rykert was taking chunks out of her 990-point profile this season, Scripture was looking to crack 20. (A second-run DNF in this particular race did not help, however.) But Rykert wanted to share with the Waxroom that, no matter if you’re running in the top seed (like Scripture was in that race) or 75th (like Rykert), leadership and character make the biggest impression, and the effects of a good deed can permeate well after the fact.

‘On my race team back in Boyne City, Michigan, there are young girls who look up to me’ said Rykert. ‘I always make sure that I take the time to acknowledge them and help them out whenever they need it. I never realized how much of an impact an older and more skilled athlete can have on the younger ones – that is, of course, until someone took the time to help me.’