The final event of the 2006 Junior Olympics was the 3-skier freestyle relay, held Saturday March 11 under sunny skies. This race was a favorite for spectators, with both the "scramble" mass start and transition zones providing some close-quarters competition. See the video of a tag-off in the transition zone by two Great Lakes skiers here (1.5 Mb AVI file).
Full results of the relay race are available at http://www.2006juniorolympics.org/results/relay/result.pdf.
The Alaska Cup was awarded to the JO team with the most points earned over the week of racing. This year, the New England team finished first, with the Alaska and Midwest teams in second and third.
The Great Lakes team, representing Michigan and Ohio, finished ninth out of 10 teams. The team's results reflect a number of factors, including the limited on-snow time and lack of depth/participation of high school skiers in this region. However, there were many strong individual performances on the Great Lakes team. Most importantly, the skiers experience a much higher level of competition at JOs, skiing against the top Nordic athletes in the country. Many team members plan to return to Junior Olympics next year, where the venue will be Soldier Hollow in Park City, Utah.