Adele Espy: Adele Espy was born and raised on the coast of Maine, where she lived with her parents, Lynne and Jay, her older sister, Hannah, her younger brother, Josh, and her cat and dog, Milo and Blue. She spent her summers in the mountains of northern New Hampshire. While growing up she had three major passions, fiddling (Bluegrass and Irish), cross-country running, and cross-country skiing.

Alberta World Cup: The Alberta World Cup Academy team of 15 dedicated athletes stormed the 2009 Canadian XC Ski Championships last March taking top spots on every day of the week-long competition collecting 22 medals and three Canadian titles. The Academy's mission is to promote cross-country skiing as a sport, through the development of programs and services for athletes, coaches and officials

Alex Harvey: Alex Harvey has grown up on skiis and bikes, he doesn't remember a time when he didn't ski. His home town in St-Ferreol nearby Mont Sainte Anne meant there was great skiing, riding, and hiking right outside his door fostering an opportune environment for him to develop into the athlete that he is today.

Cailtlin Compton: Born in New York City Compton learned to ski on weekend trips to Vermont with her family. They moved to Vermont when she was nine and Caitlin became active in many sports including Alpine ski racing.

Craftsbury Green Racing Project: The Craftsbury Green Racing Project was founded in the spring of 2009 to further the mission of the now non- profit Craftsbury Outdoor Center: To support and promote participation and excellence in lifelong sports with a special focus on rowing and Nordic skiing; to use and teach sustainable practices; and to protect and manage the surrounding land, lake and trails.

Drew Goldsack: Goldsack first started skiing at six years old when he was encouraged by his first coach and Grade 5 school teacher, Bob Vanderwater, to join the Jackrabbit Ski League. As a youngster, he loved skiing from the start. The opportunities to travel with friends and family, as well as play outside in the snow kept him involved over the years.

Haley Johnson: Growing up in Lake Placid, NY Johnson started skiing early and developed a passion for competitive alpine skiing. During high school she was encouraged to give Nordic skiing a try and was inspired her to spend her senior year at the National Sports Academy (Lake Placid) in Torsby, Sweden doing biathlon and going to school.

Holly Brooks: HOMETOWN St-Ferreol, Quebec AGE 22 TEAM Canadian National Ski Team (Senior World Cup Team) CLUB Club Nordique Mont Ste-Anne NOTABLE RESULTS 2010 Olympic Games, Whistler, BC, 7th (4x10km Relay) 2010 Olympic Games, Whistler, BC, 4th (Team Sprint Free) 2010 Olympic Games, Whistler, BC, 9th (30km Pursuit) 2009 ... READ MORE → 0 comments

James Southam: James was born and raised in Anchorage, AK in 1978 where he started skiing as a freshman at Dimond High School. After high school he spent a year racing for the University of Nevada followed by a year at Western State College before eventually moving back to Anchorage where he graduated from Alaska Pacific University in 2004.

Jessie Diggins: HOMETOWN Afton, Minnesota AGE 20 TEAM Central Cross Country Ski Association (CXC) NOTABLE RESULTS 2011 Junior World Championships, Otepaa, Estonia, 7th (5km Skate) 2011 US XC Nationals, Rumford, Maine, 1st (1.4km Freestyle Sprint) 2010 Haywood NorAm Mini-Tour, Rossland, BC, 1st (Overall) 2010 Haywood NorAm Mini-Tour, ... READ MORE → 0 comments

Johnny Spillane: Johnny Spillane grew up in Steamboat Springs Colorado, just two blocks away from Howelsen Hill Ski Club. Every time he walked out his door he could see the ski jumps and thought they looked pretty cool. At the age of two he was on skis, at 12 he took up cross country skiing, and at 13 he got his first set of jumping skis.

Kikkan Randall: Born in Salt Lake City, Kikkan Randall is one of the few athletes who can say she made her Olympic debut in her birthplace -- she was a member of the 2002 U.S. Olympic XC Ski Team at the Salt Lake City Games. Her family moved to Alaska soon after Randall's birth where she became a promising cross-country runner.

Liz Stephen: Liz Stephen was an alpine racer and a pretty good cross-country runner when she enrolled in the Burke Mountain Academy. She has started skiing early and was a promising alpine racer but her passion for alpine faded as she learned to love cross-country skiing after someone suggested that she try it as a cross-training sport for running during the off season. Stephen crossed over to xc skiing as a sophomore (Winter 2002) just as Matt Whitcomb was rebooting the BMA Nordic program.

Lowell Bailey: North Carolina is not known for producing many Nordic-sport athletes and Bailey only spent a few years of childhood there before his family moved to Old Forge, NY. It was in this rural upstate New York town where he first put on a pair of skis.

Devon Kershaw: Kershaw currently lives in Canmore, Alberta and trains with the National Ski Team as a member of the World Cup Team. In 2006 he started turning heads when he became the first Canadian to medal in a sprint event winning bronze in Borlange, Sweden. Since then he has added many more medals and accolades to his name.

Perianne Jones: Canadian XC Ski Team member Perianne Jones stepped onto her first set of cross-country skis at just three years old when she joined a Jackrabbit ski group in her hometown of Almonte, Ont. A love for the outdoors and sport helped propel the devoted youngster to the next level in her sport. At 15, her family joined the Nakkertok Ski Club in Ottawa and her career took off.

Reese Hanneman: HOMETOWN Fairbanks, Alaska (currently living and training in Anchorage) AGE 22 TEAM APU Nordic Ski Center – Elite Team CLUB Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks NOTABLE RESULTS • 2011 U23 Nordic Worlds, Otepaa, Estonia, 24th (Classic Sprint) • 2010 U.S. Nationals, 3rd, Anchorage, AK (Classic ... READ MORE → 0 comments

Sadie Bjornsen: I am currently racing for Alaska Pacific University out of Anchorage alongside the strongest women's team in the US. Last year I made the switch from Methow Olympic Development Team in my hometown to racing at APU and attending school in a quest to attain my bachelors degree in Accounting. I couldn't be happier where I am. The team atmosphere within the APU team is incredible.

Stefan Kuhn: Kuhn's cross-country skiing career began when he was 10 years old with the Canmore Nordic Jackrabbits, where he trained and raced, and learned that hard work equals a faster athlete (most of the time).

Tim Burke: A 2006 Olympian Burke fulfilled his life-long dream by making the USA's Olympic Biathlon team while winning the Pursuit format and placing second in two other competitions at the TD Banknorth Festival at Fort Kent.

Torin Koos: Two-time Olympian Torin Koos is the son of former U.S. biathlon skier and began skiing early while growing up in Washington state. Racing was a natural progression while he skied and ran cross-country, plus track and field for the University of Utah.