March 30, 2009 (Fairbanks, Alaska) – Hey there are plenty of races still to come, but the formal part of the big racing calendar is a wrap after the completion of the US XC Distance Nationals yesterday in Fairbanks, Alaska. Did the season go by with astonishing speed this year for you? It did for me, too. On Sunday, to cap off a fine season, distance crowns were won by Liz Stephen in the women’s 30km and by James Southam in the men’s 50km. While Stephen grabbed the outright win, Southam found fast Canadian company with Stefan Kuhn and Ivan Babikov going one and two, Southam was the first American at the USSA Championships, and won the title.

Stephen of East Montpelier, VT wrapped up a fabulous series and a fabulous season as this was her third title at the championships. “It’s great to end the season confident going into next year. It’s fun to be able to be tired, but to still be able to hold on and pull off some great races at the end of the season,” she said.

In the women’s 30km Morgan Arritola of Ketchum, ID was second place, while Alaska’s Kikkan Randall was third. Stephen said her win yesterday was hard-earned. “The battle was really good. Morgan led for most of the race. There was about five of us. She (Morgan) was really pushing the pace and I was struggling to keep up. There was a lap and a half to go and I started reeling in people in and on the last huge hill I got some space from Morgan and was able to keep it.” Behind Randall was Kristina Strandberg of Sweden in 4th and former US Olympian Rebecca Dussault, Gunnison, CO of the Saab team in 5th followed by CXC Elite team skier Caitlin Compton of Minneapolis in 6th position.

For Stephen winning her third title of the season was especially sweet, doing it in Fairbanks, a venue she has long enjoyed racing at, “I’ve raced in Fairbanks well before, the hills are really hard but I know them really well. It means a lot to win the championships for sure, but to win them in Fairbanks is pretty fun for me. The volunteers and the fans are all out in force everyday and do a great job,” she added.

Regarding the men’s 50km the Canadian duo of Stefan Kuhn and Ivan “the great” Babikov put brilliant racing together, to go gold and silver. James Southam of Anchorage, skiing out of APU, who enjoyed a very strong week in Fairbanks, and also a strong season in general was third, while clinching the overall title as top American in the field. Southam also won the title in the men’s 10km classic. Other men figuring high on the scorecard, were 4th place finisher Noah Hoffman of Aspen while 5th in the men’s 50 went to Dartmouth skier Glen Randall, who has just competed in the NCAA’s the week prior to these championships,.

While the volcano eruption did cause some travel delays, especially for US sprint star Torin Koos and others, most were able to attend, and Koos and Chris Cook won the men’s team sprint title over the team of Garrott Kuzzy (Hayward, WI) and Leif Zimmerman by less than a second. Women’s team sprint crowns were awarded to the Vermont duo of Morgan Smyth (Vernon, VT) and Stephen in 23.19.3, in nearly a photo finish over Compton and Maria Stuber (Lakeville, MN;CXC Elite) who placed second.

As the championships come to a close, and some make plans to head someplace warm for the spring holidays, only to begin the endless cycle of training again, I asked US Head coach, Pete Vordenberg for his thoughts on the season.

“Going into the season we believed in our training and our fitness. I was very confident and not without evidence to support that confidence. It was interesting to see how in actually came out. The cookies look great going into the oven but came out with a mixed batch. It turned out that in some cases there may have been to much or too hard training – and these athletes never really had a big day all season, though they did have some solid races for sure. In other cases it worked out perfectly. Quite a few had some great races, their best results ever. I mean we took a medal at worlds, and we had several other really excellent results. So we head into next season with a few things to adjust, but also some earned confidence that we know how to pull this gig off.”