Photos: Lars Spurkland Cross-Country Ski Race

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Anton Clark, of West High, leads Chris Fueg, of Chugiak High, off the start line in the boys B division at the Lars Spurkland Scramble cross-country ski race at Service High on Saturday, December 13, 2014. Clark finished in 3rd place and Fueg placed in 33rd place in the race.

On Saturday, high school skiers converged on Service High School to compete in the Lars Spurkland Scramble cross-country ski race.

The race was held to honor Spurkland, president of the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage and former head ski coach at East High, whose sudden death sent shock waves through Anchorage's nordic skiing community. Spurkland, 39, died Friday from a ruptured cranial aneurysm he suffered on Wednesday.

The race, held the following day, wasn't a sanctioned high school race. A sanctioned race had been scheduled at Kincaid Park, and teams from Fairbanks, Valdez and Homer were already in Anchorage when that race was canceled due to lack of snow. So instead organizers quickly put together the informal Scramble and named it after Spurkland.