Three inches of fresh snow was a good thing.

The snow that fell Monday night created fantastic conditions for the second annual “Mini” Roy Varney Hornet Classic ski race in Turner.

But for Dustin Williamson, it also made him one tired coach.

“This is the first time I had to groom at 4 a.m.,” said Williamson, the Nordic ski coach at Leavitt Area High School.

Williamson had to wait until the last snowflake fell before grooming the course. He started at 4 a.m., finished by 6 a.m., and got to the high school were he teaches in time for the 7:20 a.m. school bell.

The snow was great. The timing of the snowfall not so much.

Nothing has made this particular race easy for Williamson to host. The first annual Roy Varney Hornet Classic in 2021 was limited to a small number of teams because of COVID-19 concerns.

In fact, Williamson held off naming the race in memory of Varney because so few teams could attend. It was referred to as a 5K classical ski race for the time being.

The 2022 version had fewer pandemic restrictions so the Roy Varney Hornet Classic was back on … but then it wasn’t.

The race was first scheduled for Jan. 15, but wind chill factors as low as negative 17 put the race on ice again. It was postponed until Tuesday.

One hundred and one skiers from ten Maine high schools participated in Tuesday’s race at the Maine Outdoor Wellness Center in Turner, about a third of the athletes that would have raced if the event would have been held on that frigid cold Saturday.

The Roy Varney Hornet Classic took on a name change once again. “I called it the Mini Roy Varney Hornet Classic,” said Williamson.

“Mini not because of Roy, but because of the amount of teams that could come,” said Williamson.

“There is nothing mini about Roy,” Williamson said about the  two-time Maine Class A Boys Nordic Classical State Champion who died at 19-years-old following a farming accident in 2019.

The race is held on farmland owned by Varney family.

The full version is scheduled for January of 2023.

RESULTS
Roy Varney Hornet Classic 5K classical race
At Maine Outdoor Wellness Center, Turner
Boys
Team scores: 1. Falmouth 769, 2. Maranacook 757, 3. Oxford Hills 757, 4. Leavitt 755, 5. Edward Little 709, 6. Camden Hills 781, 7. Dirigo 489, 8. Spruce Mountan 358, 9. Quarry Road SC 343, 10 Mt. Abram 196

1. Ryan Gray (Fal) 16:45.6, 2. Joey Rouhana (Fal) 16:52.8, 3. Abrahm Geissinger (SM) 16:58.8, 4. Logan Ouelllette (Leav) 17:17.4, 5. Alex Hemingway (MA) 17:30.2, 6. Silas Bartol (Maran) 19:08.1, 7. Issac Seeker (Falm) 19:15.7, 8. Nick Bancroft (OH) 19:20.5, 9. Max Omstead (Maran) 19:22.7, 10. Gray Vanderwood (OH) 19:28.2, 11. Wyatt Stevenson (Maran) 19:34.7, 12. Paul Rudman (OH) 19:57.0, 13. Simon Hall (EL) 20:21, 14. Nathaniel Bell (Leav) 20:29.3, 15. Keagan Hawksley (Leav) 20:36.8, 16. Jacob Dening (Leav) 20:40.2, 17. Cameron Sherbinski (OH) 20:43.6, 18. Gabe Durazo (Leav) 20:48.2, 19. Kurtis Mousseau (Leav) 21:13.3, 20. Owen Vincent (EL) 21:16.0, 21. Ben Adams (Maran) 21:17.5, 22. Elliott Shields (Leav) 21:18.0, 23. Aidan Lind (Leav) 21:18.5, 24. Zach Berg (Maran) 21:31.5, 25. Dean Rudman (OH) 21:31.8, 26. Pierce Coughling (Quarry Roads SC) 21:52.5, 27. Finn Gray (Falm) 21:53.5, 28. Quinn Riordan (CM) 21:56.4. 29. Dominick Toscano (Leav) 22:11.8, 30. Logan Fortier (Falm) :22:11.8, 31. Bode Retherford (Falm) 22:59.2, 32. Clay Trafton (EL) 23:01.8, 33. Avery Hackett (CM) 23:39.6, 34. Soren Beckstrom (CM) 23:40.8, 35. Hunter Berry (Dirigo) 23:46.2, 36. Chris Haynes (Falm) 23:52.1, 37. Owen Winslow (EL) 24:00.1, 38. Cooper Tarbuck (Maran) 24:16.0, 39. George Taylor (Quarry Road SC) 25:04.3, 40. Henry McDevitt (CM) 25:51.4, 41. Keaton Gregoire (Leav) 26:43.8, 42. Noah Damon-Travers (Leav) 26:45.3, 43. Colin Wright (CM) 27:27.1, 44. Sawyer Fish (Falm) 27:29.3, 45. Ian Larsen Leavins (CM) 27:37.0, 46. Benjamin Tohanczyn (CM) 27:45.0, 47. Ryan Zamer (Falm) 28:07.5, 48. Vince Bero (Maran) 28:49.7, 49. Hunter Milliken (Leav) 28:51.1, 50. John Lane (Dirigo) 32:06.7, 51. Tyler Welch (Leav) 32:30.9, 52. Daniel Wilson (SM) 35:09.6, 53. Bryan Beacage (Dirigo) 35:30.2, 54. Matthew Gortner (Leav) 41:40.4.

Girls
Team Scores: 1. Maranacook 771, 2. Edward Little 754, 3. Falmouth 743, 4. Camden Hills 735, 5. Quarry Road SC 729, 6. Leavitt 727, 7. Winthrop 493, 8. Dirigo 476, 9. Mt. Abram 386, 10. Spruce Mountain 322, 11. Lake Region 183

1. Ava Dries (Falm) 21:17.2, 2. Katherine Garcia (EL) 21:39.0, 3. Emily Kidd (MA) 22:08.4, 4. Jenna Badeau (Maran) ,m2:39.3, 5. Nora Condit (EL) 22:42.1, 6. Beatrice Beale-Tate (Quarry Road) 22:58.3, 7. Elsie Hildreth (CM) 23:11.6, 8. Elsa Bergdahl (Maran) 23:16.1, 9. Ali Dening (Leav) 23:18.4, 10. Olympia Farrell (Maran) 23:45.9, 11. Claire Holman (Maran) 23:52.2. 12. Teagan Barry (Falm) 24:06.3, 13. Autumn Pulk (MA) 24:19.0, 14. Lin Martinez Nocito (Maran) 24:39.4, 15. Allison Gill (CM) 24:40.2, 16. Izabell Wallingford (Quarry Road) 24:42.4, 17. Abby Marston (LR) 25:01.9, 18. Eleanor Cowan (LR) 25:07.5, 19. Iris Petrin (Leav) 25:10.4, 20. Lila Findlay (Leav) 25:22.6, 21. Natalie Garcia (EL) 25:56.0, 22. Gaelan McGuigan (EL) 26:27.9, 23 Lea Zwecker (CM) 26:30.1 178, 24. Maggie Hill (CH) 26:48.1, 25. Ruby Nelson (Maran) 26:58.4, 26. Mia Digirolamo (Quarry Road) 27:06.6, 27. Cara Digirolamo (Quarry Road) 27:17.5, 28. Elise Tardiff (Falm) 27:27.2, 29. Sophie Marr (Falm) 27:29.7, 30. Grace Stocco (Quarry Road) 27:46.5, 31. Maisy Clement (Falm) 28:02.4, 32. Phoebe Dow (Winth) 28:04.1, 33. Hannah Milliken (Leav) 28:22.1, 34. Ashley Roy (Leav) 28:42.5, 35. Lucy O’Brien (CH) 28:47.1, 36. Natalie Gill (CH) 29:08.7, 37. Amelia Porter (CH) 29:49.1, 38. Mary Hatt (Maran) 30:01.1, 39. Heather Mousseau (Leav) 30:02.1, 40. Emily Lucas (Maran) 30:38.7, 41. Hannah Perkins (SM) 30:58.0
42. Abby Murdick (Falm) 31:14.7, 43. Muriel Latin (Win) 31:26.8, 44. Kusha Kane (Maran) 32:06.8, 45. Emma Callejero (Leav) 32:40.0, 46. Sophia Blanco (Win) 32:50.4, 47. Savannah Williams (Dirigo) 32:59.9, 48. Megan Spaulding (Dirigo) 34:21.9, 49. Iselin Bratz (CH) 36:13.3j, 50. Charlotte Brooke (Leav) 38:22.4, 51. Katie Johnson (SM) 40:45.0, 52. Abbey Therriault (Dirigo) 44:51.5.