June 12, 2014 (Houghton, MI) – With the recent USSA Congress having concluded, many of you are interested in details for Senior Nationals – Houghton 2015.  Our website should be live sometime this summer with dates, course maps, local info, etc. The website address is www.nordicchampionship.org.

©2015 US Nordic Ski Nationals

Our schedule will be as follows:

2015

• Prior to Jan 2 – Arrival at Team and Athlete leisure, Trails open to recreational skiing and unofficial training, purchase of trail passes required
• Fri Jan 2 – Registration and Unofficial CL only training to preview the CL sprint course and the CL MS course (All Courses signed and tracked CL only)
• Sat Jan 3 – Registration and Official Training/Course inspection 10/15 FS
• Sun Jan 4 – Ind. FS 10/15K races (2x5K/2×7.5K courses)
• Mon Jan 5 – CL SP races (Sprint course)
• Tues Jan 6 – Unofficial Training or Off Day for athletes (Courses signed, All groomed for FS technique with single CL track on side)
• Wed Jan 7 – Official Training/Course inspection 5/10/20/30 MS CL
• Thur Jan 8 – 5/10/20/30 MS CL (1x5K/1x10K/2x10K/3x10K courses), USSA Team Naming Celebration/Dinner
• Fri Jan 9 – Official Training/Course inspection FS Sprint
• Sat Jan 10 – FS SP races (Sprint Course)
• Sun Jan 11- Athlete/Team Departures

For lodging, those who are familiar with Houghton likely know winter vacation homes or condos are pretty much non existent.  It is just not something that is in demand here other than for National Cross Country Ski Races.  Our main winter tourism driver is snowmobiling, which does not start up until later in January and demands more of a comfortable room close to restaurants.  The good news is that there should be plenty of traditional hotel lodging available with in 10 minutes of the trails and in close proximity to affordable dining.

Our Partner Hotels with group sales contacts are as Follows:

Budget Minded –

Houghton Super 8 – contact Eric Wisti, 906-482-2240

Magnuson Copper Crown – contact Eric Wisti 906-482-6111

Midrange Hotels –

Ramada Inn – contact Laura O’Neil 906-482-8400

Franklin Square Inn – contact Brian Waters 906-487-1700

Country Inn & Suites – contact Ross Halvorsen 906-487-6700

Holiday Inn Express – contact Carla Beck 906-482-1066

We also have a spa/B&B partner –

La Rose Wellness Retreat – contact Cheryl La Rose 906-353-6714

The retreat is about 20 minutes away from the trails.  (I would recommend this location for parents/spectators.  If you have a “high maintenance” parent that you would like to get away from a bit, send them here.  May be they’ll get a spa treatment, mellow out and give you some space.)

These are also the places I would stay at if I were coming to town.

For waxing, we will again have assigned space for you in the Boss Wax Center based upon team affiliations.  We will have 9 rooms where we will likely assign between 30 and 45 athletes a piece.  This will be provided for free.  We are also working on private wax trailers/cabins.  (Somewhere between 6 and 12 total.)  Industry Sponsors will have first crack at these.  Remaining trailers will be available for about $1250/trailer.  (Final price will depend upon price to bring in trailers and to power them.)  These will be available first come first serve with some preference to teams with a large number of athletes and an entourage.  If you are traveling with your own wax trailer, you are welcome to bring it to Houghton.  There will likely be a fee for parking and hooking up to power -this is still TBD.

I will be creating a Sr Nats coaches email list to provide further updates.  If you want to get on this list, please send me an email with your request to get your email on our coaches list email.

Those are our updates for now, if I missed anything, feel free to ask!

We look forward to seeing you and your athletes in January!!!

Joe Haggenmiller
Head Coach CC Running, Nordic Skiing, and Track & Field
Michigan Tech Athletics
1400 Townsend Dr.
Houghton, MI 49931
Office Phone 906-487-2986