November 20, 2008 (Anchorage, AK) – As the excitement builds towards the kick off the FIS World Cup season in Gallivare, Sweden this coming weekend, it’s also building for many Alaskan skiers as the 13th annual Flint Hills Resources Alaska Town Race Series gets under way with the Fairbanks Youth Sports season opener Nov. 22 at the Birch Hill Recreation Area. The Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Team is sending members of it’s junior and university teams, along with coaches Dylan Watts and Eric Strabel to Fairbanks to begin their seasons.

Over 400 racers are expected to start, including teams from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the University of Alaska Anchorage. “The competition will be strong and is a great way for us to begin our season,” states APU athlete Peter Kling.

The races will kick off at Saturday, Nov. 22 at 11am starting with kindergarten up to grade 8 skiers. The high school and open category mass-starts will follow. The women will be racing 5km and the men 7.5km freestyle.

For more information on the event in Fairbanks click here for an article by the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.

The APU-Elite team will be departing this Saturday November 22, for West Yellowstone, Montana where they will begin their season at the opening weekend of Super Tour race schedule Nov. 28-29. Top Alaskan skier, Kikkan Randall, leaves around that time and will fly to Kuusamo, Finland to join the US Ski Team to begin her XC World Cup season campaign on Nov. 29.