Champion kayaker killed in XC-skiing accident

2003 National Marathon K-1 Champion (Kayak) Mark Johnson
killed in XC-accident
http://www.uscanoe.com/pubs2004/markmemorial.html

I'm sorry to read about this. Is this in Connecticut? The report says he
was hit by a snowmobile while he was skiing across a lake in the
evening. Few details available, nothing specific about the state either,
but I think maybe CT.

Serge wrote:

2003 National Marathon K-1 Champion (Kayak) Mark Johnson
killed in XC-accident
http://www.uscanoe.com/pubs2004/markmemorial.html

--

Jeff Potter
****
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Seem top to me this should be called a "snowmobile accident", or
perhaps just an "accident".

JT

Damn. Sorry to hear this. I'd call it a snowmobile accident.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Serge"
To: "Multiple recipients of list NORDIC-SKI"

Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 12:54 PM
Subject: Champion kayaker killed in XC-skiing accident


2003 National Marathon K-1 Champion (Kayak) Mark Johnson
killed in XC-accident
http://www.uscanoe.com/pubs2004/markmemorial.html

Perhaps we should hear the results of the driver's blood alcohol test
first. He must have been motoring.

Gene

Erik Brooks wrote:

Damn. Sorry to hear this. I'd call it a snowmobile accident.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Serge"
To: "Multiple recipients of list NORDIC-SKI"

Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 12:54 PM
Subject: Champion kayaker killed in XC-skiing accident

2003 National Marathon K-1 Champion (Kayak) Mark Johnson
killed in XC-accident
http://www.uscanoe.com/pubs2004/markmemorial.html

Perhaps we should hear the results of the driver's blood alcohol test
first. He must have been motoring.

Gene

Of course, if you're out at night and hit a patch of open water, you'd want to
be moving pretty good to skim over it.

I say learn from other's (unfortunate) mistakes (or misfortunes) ... light
yourself up like a christmas tree when out at night!

Had a young local snowmobiler killed recently in town ... he hit a guy wire
holding up a telephone pole. Probably never saw it.

jw
milwaukee

(Serge) wrote in message . com...
2003 National Marathon K-1 Champion (Kayak) Mark Johnson
killed in XC-accident
http://www.uscanoe.com/pubs2004/markmemorial.html

This was Mark Jacobson, not Johnson.
This is not the Mark Jacobson who runs Weston Ski Track here in MA and
is not, at least that I know of, a relation to Gary Jacobson who is
frequent poster here on RSN.

I expected this topic would show up on this newsgroup in time, but I
was not in the mood to start the thread. I grew up with Mark
Jacobson. His dad and my dad were both college professors at
Washington and Jefferson College in western PA. Our two families went
on many outdoor adventures together including skiing and paddling
trips and well as just picnics. I went with Mark and his dad to my
first ski races over 20 years ago. They were both instrumental in
helping me develop my love for xc skiing which has since become my
life long activity. I also competed on a couple triathlon teams with
Mark in the 1980s before we both left the idyllic hills of western PA.
After we moved away we lost contact even though I would often check on
how he was doing when I saw Mark's dad or when my dad passed along
information. Last fall I got back in touch with Mark Jacobson (thanks
to the Weston Mark Jacobson who knew him via mutual paddling contacts)
and we had planned on going skiing together sometime this winter and
maybe paddling in the spring.

Mark completed his PhD is chemistry at Purdue and worked for Nestle
near New Milford CT and was becoming a well known scientist with many
patents. Mark leaves behind a wife and a 16 month old son.

When I knew Mark well, he was one of the nicest and most focused
individuals I have ever had the honor to know. From excellent
articles in the local paper such as:
http://www.newstimes.com/cgi-bin/dbs...rds=1&id=59349
It appears that the Mark that I knew in his childhood and young adult
years had not changed much at all. More details in this article about
his kayaking exploits. It this link does not work, send me an email.

As for the accident, I have my own thoughts and new information on
that which I am not going to share with this newsgroup at this time,
but it is under investigation by the police.

The world is better place due to Mark and he will be missed by many.

Enjoy every day,
John

ps sorry if this got posted twice Google has been problematic this
morning.

"John Forrest Tomlinson" skrev i melding
news
Seem top to me this should be called a "snowmobile accident", or
perhaps just an "accident".

What is the probability to hit i skier on a big lake? Seems like murder to
me.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

Of course, if you look at a snowmobile news group, you will see questions
and comments like "I wonder if he was wearing reflective clothing." In the
absence of a lot of facts, or in this case, almost all of them, suggesting
murder can be slanderous and irresponsible. For the sake of making both
activities safer, I'd like to see someone do a "root cause analysis" of this
accident and them broadcast the findings. Throwing around accusations isn't
part of that process.

"Terje Henriksen" wrote in message
...

"John Forrest Tomlinson" skrev i melding
news
Seem top to me this should be called a "snowmobile accident", or
perhaps just an "accident".

What is the probability to hit i skier on a big lake? Seems like murder to
me.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

"Terje Henriksen" wrote in message
...

"John Forrest Tomlinson" skrev i melding
news
Seem top to me this should be called a "snowmobile accident", or
perhaps just an "accident".

What is the probability to hit i skier on a big lake? Seems like murder to
me.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

I agree it's a snowmobile accident, not a skiing accident. I'm not
intending to be an apologist for the snow mobiler, but let's reserve
judgement. Some possible explanations:

Skier could have been skiing on established packed track on lake that is
also (or maybe even exclusively) used by snowmobiles.

Skier could have been wearing dark, non-reflector clothing.

Snowmobiler could have been going at a reasonable cruising speed. From my
experience driving to work in the morning, it's very tough to see kids in
non-reflectorized clothing, even going very slowly it's dangerous. A
collision between a machine and a skier even at a slow speed, like 20 MPH
could be fatal.

Of course, the skier could be completely faultless, but I'm just urging
everyone not to assume the worst (and this from me who really doesn't like
snowmobiles).