Good Evening:
Hopefully, no one is awake. I finally have race results calculated and Wild Mt Invite teams selected. Congratulations to Charlie Smith and Vada Arbeiter for their victories tonight. Impressive skiing. Congratulations to the Washburn Girls for winning the Minneapolis Alpine Girls Championship and to the Southwest Boys for coming out on top as the Minneapolis Alpine Boys Championship. Seems like we need a traveling trophy... a pig? an ax? a ski? a golden boot? A note about Wild Invite selections. With very little time in gates, it was rather difficult to make team selections. We just didn't have a lot of data yet. We had to base our decisions on not only the results of tonight's race, but also the results of timing at Wild on Saturday and our impressions of your skiing in general. Some of you are noticeably faster and technically improved over last season. Everyone, keep working hard. I am so proud of your efforts, your positive attitudes, and your kindness toward one another. I love coming to the hill each day. I hope you do. Charter Bus Woes and Wild Invite Logistics I received some disappointing news from the school district today regarding Friday. The district was not able to charter a bus for us on Friday morning. At this point, we need parents to drive their athlete to and from Wild Mt, and also drive one, two or three other athletes as well. Attached is a race schedule. The lift spins at 7:30. I would like everyone to be at the top of the hill by 8am to warm up. Inspection opens at 8:30am. This means that you need to leave the cities NO LATER THAN 6:15 if you plan to arrive by 7:30. It will take a half an hour to ticket up, bib up, and boot up. If you take 35W to North Branch and then Hwy 95 to Alemud, you should be able to make it there in 75 minutes. Going through Chisago Lakes on Hwy or turning off 35 at Stacy is slower. Also, I am attaching all of the information that I have received to date about the Wild Invite so that parents who will be helping with tent set up and meals have what they need to move forward with race support planning. Note that tents can be set up anytime after 6PM on Thursday. We are allotted three tent spaces because we have three teams. I do not think we need to set up Thursday night. It wasn't clear to me that they were offering electrical hook up this year. I can pursue this question tomorrow. Back To Tonight's Race Thank you to EVERYONE who worked tonight's race. You did a great job. Thank you for your patience as the Hyland staff figured out the timing issues. Once we got going, everything went very smoothly. I have been at hundreds of USSA and FIS races and timing issues are common at those races as well. Good to get the kinks out. Athletes, there were a lot of disqualifications. I really appreciate your efforts to test your parents budding gate judging skills. They caught your mistakes. I won't ever ask you to intentionally miss gates again. Your parents passed the test and they are now qualified to gate judge all season long. Pod 12/11/10 Practice Time Change The 3:30-5:45PM Practice is now the 3:30-6:00PM Practice. I observed that it is hard for most of you to be on the hill by 3:30. So, I would like to extend practice by 15 minutes to 6PM. Most of you can get on the hill by 3:45. But you still have to hustle. I will have you take three warm up runs and then hop in gates immediately afterwards. We will ski gates until 5 or 5:15 and then clean up the hill for the next group. At 5:30 we will move to South Chair and work on improving our fundamentals through directed free skiing. I am excited to try this new format. I think working on fundamentals after training gates could be very effective. Note: If you can't make it to the hill and on the top of a run in your skis by 4PM, you should be coming to the 5PM practice instead, even if you are in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Check out the website for up to date practice times and lanes. See you on the hill tomorrow. Mark Good Evening Everyone:
The first run tomorrow will start at 4:30PM if all goes well. PARENTS: PLEASE SEND A NOTE WITH YOUR STUDENT TO SCHOOL TOMORROW REQUESTING AN EARLY RELEASE OF 2:45PM If YOU FEEL NEED THE EARLY RELEASE IN ORDER TO MAKE IT TO THE HILL ON TIME. I have requested the same from the Athletic Directors, but I got the request in later than I should have. Attached is the list of athletes who stated their intention to race. This is what I sent to the ADs. The middle schools do not always honor the ADs request and the ADs do not always get this information over to the middle schools. So, please send a note to school just to be sure the early release goes as smoothly as possible. And if someone other than you is picking up your athlete, please include that information in your permission statement. Daniel and I did make one tweak to the race plan. After enduing hours upon hours of groans and complaints from certain unnamed varsity athletes, we have decided to give the JV athletes one small advantage tomorrow. The JV athletes will ski the same course sets as the Varsity skiers with one big HOWEVER. The JV racers will start the race in Lane B in stubby gates and the Varsity athletes will take their first run in tall gates on Lane A. After both groups have completed their first runs, we will replace the tall gates in Lane A with stubby gates, and the stubby gates in Lane B with tall gates. This switch will take place while you are inspecting the courses for your second runs. So, JV and Varsity can still race head to head and compare times. Boys and girls will alternate starts on the same course. Attached is a race run order. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to work the race tomorrow. There are still some coveted positions available. Please sign up. Reminder: we have created "shadowing" positions for gate judging and course working. This is a great opportunity to learn about the role without the pressure of actually performing the role. https://signup.com/go/YjqkVSj Tomorrow's Schedule: 3:30-3:45. Collect Bibs and Warm Up. 3:45-4:15. Course Inspection. 4:30. Run 1 Start 5:10. Quick Inspection and Switch Out Gates. 5:30. Run 2 Start 6:15. Hill Clean Up and Team Meeting. Parents: Just a reminder that the Team Gilboa Competition Center is NOT for us to use. If you need to warm up, use the chalet. Also, a race run flies by. Be social with your neighbor if you want, but never make eye contact. If you do, you might just miss your athlete's run. Keep your eyes on the race hill. That speed demon flying down might just be your child. Hopefully, I will get a fresh week-five update out to you tomorrow. More to come. Mark MAST Update Week Four Part II
Friday, December 10, 2021 Good Afternoon MAST Families and Coaches: A couple of quick announcements. Practice Cancelled Today As you likely now know, MPS has cancelled all after school activities today. Virtual Team Meeting Today at 5PM Because we have a race on Monday, the coaches WILL hold a VIRTUAL team meeting/training at 5PM this afternoon. I would like to cover a couple of topics, mostly related to racing. I know many of you are nervous about our race on Monday, especially because you have not had much time in gates. Our race on Monday is just between our three squads to minimize pressure. Our focus is, in part, to educate our new racers and refresh the memories of our returning racers about 1) how a race is run, 2) the rules of the sport, 3) best practices for maximizing performance, etc. I would also like to talk about how practices will “flow” now that the lanes have opened up for us to use. Here is a link to our meeting this afternoon: meet.google.com/rnx-wvcv-wij Please use your MPS Email account to log in. Parents: Race Volunteer Workshop and Training On Sunday, December 12. If we want our races to run smoothly, we need parents to volunteer to assist. There are many roles to fill at every race, most require no training. Some require a small amount of training. To help parents understand our race day volunteer needs, we are holding an online orientation on Sunday, December 12 at 4PM. This will not be a long meeting. Thirty minutes or so. We will fill you in on all the roles you can sign up to fill during the year AND a quick overview of how to perform some of the roles that require some training. You will also learn some of the rules of the sport going into our first race the following day. Even if you are a returning parent, please attend. It will serve as a good refresher on the rules. Maybe it will give you the confidence to take on a new role... moving from a gate judge to a finish ref or chief gate judge. Here is a link to log in: meet.google.com/wsr-gfts-xnf Parents: Race Worker Sign Up We need to fill many race-worker positions for each of our races. Please help us produce well-run, efficient, fair, and fun race events for our hard-working athletes. Most roles are very easily learned and executed. Here is a link to sign up to work our first race on Monday, Dec 13. Note: We have created sign up positions to SHADOW a race worker position for our first race. This is a great way to learn how to perform a race volunteer role without the pressure of "getting it right". Actually, none of the roles are high pressure as you will eventually learn. https://signup.com/go/YjqkVSj Practice Saturday morning is at 7:45am. Wear your protective gear and rope tow gloves. We are in the outer rope tow lanes. Hopefully the rope will be running. Athletes: Please tune your skis this weekend before the race. That’s all for now. Mark Conway 612-275-8392 Hello Again:
Sorry for not communicating this clearly. I put it on the website but missed adding it to the Camp Update. SSU Registration for Giants Ridge Camp will open on Wednesday, Dec 8. At midnight to be exact. If you log in to SSU tomorrow, Giants Ridge Camp will appear next to Supplemental Training... or below...somewhere. You are not trying to buy tickets for a Bruce Springsteen concert, so do not wake up at midnight to register. You can, however, put a check in the mail if you like. I wanted everyone to read through the entire letter/update as a family. Discuss as a family. Decide who can drive your athlete to the airport to get tested on the 22nd or 23rd and then again on the 27th. Make sure you can live with the stated restrictions and requirements and possible risks associated with group living (like sardines) during a pandemic. Take the time to do this and then register tomorrow. Here is some additional information about getting tested before camp: MN Department of Health TestingIn partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health and Vault Health, a free COVID-19 testing site is open to the public at MSP Airport, providing a convenient location for the state’s testing program. Results in 48 hours Hours: 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Location: Level 2 of the Blue Ramp, Terminal 1 Cost: Free to all Minnesota residents Schedule an appointment with Vault Health Thanks. Mark Giants Ridge Camp Update 1
Tuesday, December 7, 2021 Dear MAST Athletes, Parents and Coaches: The MAST Board met on Sunday afternoon. On the agenda: Giants Ridge Camp. Our main concern is the health and safety of our athletes, coaches, and anyone with whom we have regular contact. In other words, we don’t want camp to create an outbreak of covid cases. To best achieve this goal, we need 100% buy-in from all families who would attend camp. 1. All attendees MUST BE FULLY VACCINATED (to whatever level you are eligible). 2. All attendees must take and pass (negative) TWO PCR covid tests (the spit test) prior to loading the buses. More specifically, the first test should be one week out from camp and the second test 48 to 72 hours out. So, a test on Dec 22-24 and a second test on Dec 26. 3. All attendees must be symptom free before loading the bus on the 30th. 4. All attendees MUST understand that this will minimize risks and create the safest experience possible, but it will NOT eliminate all risk. 5. All attendees MUST be prepared to be tested AFTER the camp if ANY person at the camp develops symptoms and tests positive afterwards. 6. Attendees need to understand that although a covid illness in fully vaccinated young adults is in most cases mild, it would result in a 10-day quarantine and the possibility of transmission to others (especially unvaccinated family members under the age of 5, older family members, or anyone with a suppressed immune system). 7. We RECOMMEND that any potential attendee who has a medical condition that makes them at higher risk for severe illness (for instance, diabetes, asthma, immune-suppressing condition) should NOT attend camp this year. I plan to have several covid rapid tests at camp should anyone develop symptoms while we are there. Should anyone develop symptoms and test positive while at camp, we will do our best to keep the person separated from the group, but we will also ask the parent(s) to drive to camp to bring that athlete home for care. Should anyone test positive prior to camp, you will receive a full refund of your camp fee. A few additional notes about camp. As you will read in more detail below, we are asking our skiers with limited skiing experience to attend training at Hyland instead of spending the money to go to camp this year. We are also giving our senior high athletes first dibs on filling camp positions. This does not mean that our middle school athletes cannot attend, just that our senior high youth will have a short window of time to secure a spot at camp before we confirm registration for any middle school athletes who want to attend. Finally, you can see that camp is being held over the New Year. We will celebrate, but not for long and certainly not at midnight CST. We will exercise our imaginations and celebrate on Icelandic Time. We only have three days to train, and I want you to get your sleep so you can maximize your training. Plus, a rested body will be in a better position to activate its immune system. Lights out will not be extended this year to celebrate the new year. If you don’t like this plan, stay home. Now... presenting everything you need to know about our three-day camp at Giants Ridge and how to register. Join us for our 15th Annual Giants Ridge Camp. Giants Ridge offers challenging terrain and sixty gate course sets. Camp Goal: Build technical and tactical skills on full-length (60 gate) courses and changing terrain. Dates: Thursday, December 30, 2021, to Saturday, January 1, 2022. Transportation: Load Thursday morning at 6:00AM; Depart at 6:15AM from Washburn HS Parking Lot (49th and Pleasant). Return to Washburn around 10PM on Saturday. Cost: $450 for 3 days skiing and 2 nights lodging. Camp fee includes transportation, meals, lodging, and lift tickets. Who Should Attend: 1. Camp participants should be able to execute controlled carved turns on most terrain. Because the terrain at Giants Ridge is challenging and because we will have limited (but sufficient) coaching staff at camp, all participants should possess strong carving skills and be able to stay in control on steep terrain. If you are still learning to carve your turns, you will be better served training at Hyland over those three days. If you are unsure whether you meet these criteria, please talk with your coach at practice. 2. Because we were unable to hold camp last year, priority will be given to athletes in grades 9th through 12th. Everyone who wishes to attend camp can register anytime. However, camp space will be allotted to our high school athletes first and in the order that I receive payment through Monday, December 13. If you participated in the coffee/salsa fundraiser and plan to use the credits you earned to pay for camp, you can send a deposit of $50 to reserve your spot at camp. On Tuesday, December 14, I will start filling any open camp positions with 7th and 8th graders who have submitted registrations. Payment: PLEASE PAY THE CAMP FEE BY CHECK INSTEAD OF CREDIT CARD. The $450 camp fee is designed to break even and does not absorb the 3.39% cc fee that is charged to MAST when you pay by credit card (the American Express rate is even higher). We have built this expense into the price of registering for Supplemental Training, but not into the fee for camp. So, PLEASE help our budget and pay by check for the Giants Ridge Camp. Send payment to: Mpls Alpine Ski Team/4800 Harriet Ave/55419. Make checks payable to: Mpls Alpine Ski Team. Do NOT hand me checks at practice. I cannot be trusted to remember which pocket I put it in and it may be July before I discover it again. You can drop a check into my mailbox if you place it in an envelope and close the mailbox cover. Best to send me a text if and when you do hand deliver a check. Meals: The following meals are included in the cost of the trip.
Required Waiver: Participants and parents must complete a GIANTS RIDGE WAIVER/Release. I will send you that waiver once I receive it from Giants Ridge. Bring: Download the Packing List Here. Registration at: http://minneapolisalpineskiteam.sportssignup.com/site/ClientSite/help WE HAVE ROOM FOR 35 BOYS AND 35 GIRLS. REGISTRATION IS SECURED WITH RECEIPT OF CAMP FEE PAYMENT or a $50 Deposit. PLEASE MAIL PAYMENT TO: MPLS ALPINE/ 4800 Harriet Ave. South/ Mpls/ MN/ 55419 . Make checks payable to Mpls Alpine Ski Team. MAST Update Week 4
Tuesday, December 7, 2021 Dear MAST Athletes, Coaches and Parents: We are off to a great start. Nine training sessions in nine days. The coaches are seeing a lot of improvement. Keep working hard. Continue to embrace the drills we teach you. On Snow Training Continues This Week Hyland made a lot of snow over the last couple of days. The North end of the area will be open today. Sometime later this week we should be able to start using our assigned lanes. For now, we will ski all over the ski area. Continue to gather outside the chalet at the base of the center chair before practice. The coaches will figure out where to ski once we are gathered. I will let you know when to start bringing your shinguards. Tuesday through Thursday: Session 1: 3:30-5:45 Pods 12/11/10 Session 2: 5:00-7:15 Pods 10/9 Session 3: 6:30-8:45 Pods 8/7 Friday: Session 1: 3:30-5:45 Pods 12/11/10 Session 2: 5:00-7:15 Pods 9/8/7 Saturday: 8:45AM-11:15AM All Pods 2:30-10:30PM: Supplemental Training Supplemental Training #2 On Saturday, December 11, 2021 Wild Mt treated us very well on Saturday for our first Supplemental Training session. We set two courses on one of four runs that were open. Many of you are already registered for training on the 11th, so if you have not done so already and wish to join us, be sure to register as soon as possible. Once we fill the bus, I will have to close registration. The cost of each session is $60 and includes bus transportation and lift ticket. Bring a sack lunch to minimize time spent in the chalet. Bring a water bottle as well. CLICK HERE: SUPPLEMENTAL TRAINING REGISTRATION or https://minneapolisalpineskiteam.sportssignup.com/site/ Have You Stated Your Race Intentions For December 13 and 17 and January 28? See the attached spreadsheet listing the race intentions for Dec 13 at Hyland, Dec 17 for the Wild Invite and Jan 28 for the Afton Invite. If your name is not on these three lists, please state your intentions for these races by Friday, Dec. 10. RACE INTENTIONS. Sunday, December 12 4PM: Race Worker Training Our athletes work extremely hard in practice. On race day, they put the skills they have developed to the test. They deserve to experience a well-run race. A well-run race requires race volunteers. A lot of them. I would like all MAST parents to consider working a couple of races during the season. None of the roles are complicated, as long as you bundle up properly. On Sunday, Dec 12 at 4PM, we will hold an ORIENTATION AND TRAINING SESSION FOR RACE WORKERS via google-meets. Here is a link: meet.google.com/wsr-gfts-xnf I will also send an invitation to the email addresses of all parents. Hopefully this will allow you to enter the meeting smoothly. You can learn more about race day volunteering and the positions we need to fill on our website: https://www.mplsalpineski.org/volunteer.html Please join us at 4PM on Sunday. December 13th Hyland Race Our first race is one week from yesterday. The race will begin at 4:30PM. I will request an early release from school at 2:45 for all those entered in the race. Schools do not have storage space for skis and boot bags, so you will have to help your athlete figure out how to rendezvous with his/her gear after school. Athletes should gear up as quickly as possible and skate over to the North chair. Usually there are a couple of tables set up at the base of the hill between the Gilboa Competition Center and the lift. Stop at these tables to pick up your bib. Sprongo We finally were able to shoot some video on Saturday. The clips are posted to Sprongo. Please watch them and tag yourself if you know how to do this. Many of you do not have an account set up. I just re-sent invitations to those of you who have not set up an account. Please get this done. Use your PERSONAL email account to set up your account. Do NOT use your mps email account. The invitation likely went to your mpls email. Also, use your first and last name to identify your account. No nicknames. This will help coaches and others tag your videos. Finally, use a password that you are willing to share with family members who may want to watch your videos in their free time. They will need to access your account using your log-in information. Winter Break Training Camp at Giants Ridge We are planning to hold a three-day, two-night training camp at Giants Ridge on December 30, 31 and January 1. For those not attending camp, there will be training at Hyland Dec 30-Jan 1. I will send out detailed information regarding camp later today or tomorrow morning. Our number one concern is keeping our team healthy. This will require everyone’s cooperation and will also require some extra work on the part of parents and athletes. More to come soon. See you tonight on the hill. Mark [email protected] 612-275-8392 Good Afternoon:
Three Announcements. 1). I just learned today that Wild is closing at 7pm tomorrow. We can still have a good training session in gates (stubbies and panel slalom) if we leave just a bit earlier and if you bring a sack lunch that you can bring out to the hill with you (perhaps in a small backpack) and devour between runs or on chair rides. 2:00PM. Meet the bus to load at Washburn (Pleasant Ave S. and 49th Street).Bus will depart at 2:15 or sooner. 3:30PM. Arrive Wild. Boot up. Warm up drills. 4:00PM. Coaches set training courses 4:30PM. Drill courses: Session 1 5:30PM. Reset. 5:45PM. Drill courses: Session 2. 6:45PM. Hill Clean Up. 7:00PM. De-boot and load trailer and bus. 7:15PM. Depart for Washburn 8:30-8:45PM. Estimated arrival time to Washburn. 8:45PM to midnight. Tell your parents all about the joys of training at Wild with your awesome coaches and teammates. Because we will be returning a bit earlier than anticipated, we will save a bit of money on our bus charter. Once I know the pricing difference, I will credit your SSU account accordingly. If the time change from 2:30 to 2PM does not work for you, please let me know. You can cancel your registration and I will issue you an account credit. But you must contact me today. No account credits will be issued if you cancel your registration tomorrow. Email me at [email protected]. No cancelations by text or phone. 2). Also on Saturday, Dec 4 from 2-3PM: Pick up your orders for COFFEE AND SALSA at Fuller Park (48th and Harriet). 3). Hyland is CLOSED ON MONDAY, DEC 6 in order to focus on making snow. This is good. NO PRACTICE ON MONDAY. Practice will resume Tuesday. I will send out the practice/lane/pod schedule on Sunday. For next week, each pod will be practicing at the same times that they practiced this week. One final reminder: EVERYONE must go to the ticket window everyday to pick up a lift ticket. The days of being able to run around with just your season pass in hand are over. All season pass holders must be wearing a lift ticket. Don't ignore this message and don't forget. Hyland is cracking down as they should be doing. See you on the hill soon. Mark [email protected] 612-275-8392 Dec 4th Supplemental Training is Full. Saturday Morning Practice Time. Love The Improvement.12/2/2021
Hello Everyone:
I just want you to know that the DEC 4th Supplemental Training session is filled and that I have closed registration. We have a full bus. Please remember to wear a mask and to bring a sack supper and water bottle. If you have a ski bag, please use it to transport your skis on Saturday. It looks like we will be able to set gates (stubbies and panels) so bring your protective equipment. Saturday morning training time change: We do have training on Saturday morning from 8:45 to 11:30am. The website listed the start time as 7:45 but the calendar on the website listed 8:45am. So I got it half correct. One final word of encouragement: the coaches are seeing a lot of improvement on the hill. Stay focused on learning the drills and executing them to perfection. We recognize that you would rather be ripping it up, but working the drills to build the fundamentals is the MAST formula for success and it has served us well over the years. But it requires discipline and focus on your part, and a strong embrace of the character trait of "delayed gratification." Ten weeks from now you will understand what I mean by this. Watch Mikaela Shiffrin's second run at Killington last Sunday. Amazing victory. She tied a record for world cup slalom wins with her victory and she will crush that record by the time her career concludes. Here is a link: Shiffrin Wins Again at Killington Mikaela got this good by working the drills just like you. She is a fantastic role model. See you this afternoon. Mark Good Morning Everyone:
For those of you who sold coffee and salsa, your orders will be ready for pick up at Fuller Park (48th and Harriet) between 2PM and 3PM on Saturday, Dec 4. If you are going to Wild Mt on Saturday, you can pick up your orders before heading over to Washburn to meet the bus or your parents can drop you off and pick up the order afterwards. Please be aware that Grand Ave is closed at 48th street. So, if you are coming from the East, you will need to take either 46th street or 49th street to Harriet Ave. Grand is open from 49th street about a half a block only. I suggest finding a spot to park on Harriet. Please wear a mask when you enter the Fuller Park building. If you are unable to pick up your order on the 4th, please contact Kirsten Arbeiter at 612-839-6363, preferably by text, to arrange a pick up time. See you tonight on the hill. Mark Hello Again:
First: We are missing Bib #10. This fall, I ordered replacement bibs and new bibs numbering 110-140 from our supplier. This will give our team a full inventory of bibs numbered 1-140. When I went to integrate the new bibs with our old bibs this weekend, I discovered that we were missing bib #10. I know that #10 was in play at least as late as Feb 26th last season. This number would have been used by a varsity skier at either the Welch race or at Sections or State. If someone used it at Sections or State, it could have been either a boy or girl. RETURNING VARSITY SKIERS: PLEASE CHECK THROUGH YOUR BAGS, JACKET POCKETS, LAUNDRY BASKET, HEN HOUSE, DISHWASHER AND SEE IF BY CHANCE YOU HAVE BIB 10. IF SO, YOUR REWARD WILL BE A BIG THANK YOU AND A HIGH FIVE. Second: The Afton Invitational just opened for entry. The race is scheduled for a 10:30AM First Run Start on Friday, January 28, 2022. MPS is OFF of school that day which makes this an especially good race to enter. I entered three teams.
We should be able to bus to/from Afton. Most likely we will need to leave Washburn sometime between 7:30 and 8:00AM. We may need to ask families to cover the cost of the lift ticket, which will possibly run in the neighborhood of $30. MAST is covering the race entry fee for each squad of 28 athletes and MPS will cover the cost of transportation. I would like all athletes and parents to look at your calendar and then State Your Race Intentions for the Afton Invite. The first 42 boys and 42 girls who respond YES will be guaranteed a spot on one of the teams. If the race does not fill with other squads, I can possibly enter more racers to the JV race, but I will need to know this by December 20th to have the best chance of getting more start positions. The race is limited to 20 teams, and we have already taken up three of the spots. Here is a link to state your race intentions to the Afton Invite on Jan 28th. https://www.mplsalpineski.org/january-28-2022-race-intentions.html Thanks for getting this done. Do not state your intentions for any of the other races in January at this time. Attached is a spreadsheet listing the athletes who have stated your intentions for the races on DEC 13 and 17. Intentions for each race are listed in separate tabs. If you still need to do this, please get it done by the end of this week (DEC 2). Thanks Everyone. Mark |
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