August 08, 2010 (Wanaka, Zew Zealand) – The final day of racing wrapped up on Sunday at the Snow Farm, in Wakana New Zealand. The race also marked the end of the training camps for both the US XC Ski Team and Canadian National Ski Team, all of whom will be boarding planes in the next day or two and heading home.

Canada’s Chandra Crawford is one of those looking forward to coming home, but not without a healthy appreciation for the opportunities her and her compatriots have had in New Zealand. As she puts it, “Great people, conditions and awesome food. [The] Snow Farm is heaven and well worth the trip.”

Noah Hoffmann (UAS) took a fairly easy win today in the 10km freestyle, as he was the only North American national team skier to compete. Even so, Hoffmann still had to contest with the leftovers of yesterday’s snowstorm and soft, slow conditions. After the previous two days of racing, that could not have been easy.

According to New Zealand racer Sarah Murphy, the racecourse was shortened from one 5km loop to 2km – the men raced five laps and the women three. The rest of the USST (United States Ski Team) and the Canadian NST (National Ski Team) were busy packing their bags for the long flights home.  Forty seconds behind Hoffmann was Callum Watson (AUS), followed by Chris Darlington (NZE) in third.

The women’s race was a more competitive affair. Korea’s Chae-won Lee, narrowly beat out second place finisher Esther Bottomly (AUS) by only four seconds. New Zealand’s Sarah Murphy finished third, 1:18 off the pace.

Murphy spends her summers in New Zealand and bases her winter racing out of Canmore, Alberta, where she’s fondly known to many locals as ‘The Caniwi’. She was quite pleased with her third place today. “It was great,” she said, but modestly pointed out the absence of the CNST and USST skiers. On the whole, she said the races were well organized and fun.

“The FIS races have been amazing… run very professionally, which I think is important to make it feel like a real race, and with all the competition it is very exciting.” Murphy is an accomplished biathlete who has a regular presence on the IBU World Cup circuit, and represented New Zealand at the 2010 Olympics in Whistler. With biathlon as her trade, however, she doesn’t see a lot of time on classic skis.

“I decided to do all three races- why not? I did the 10km classic, my second classic ski of the season, and I really enjoyed it. It was fun to be racing classic again, which I hadn’t done since the Canadian National sprints in 2008 at the Callaghan Valley. Yesterday’s skate sprints were great as well. They changed the course from 800m (too short) to 1,600m (too long for women) so it was pretty gnarly. Our qualifier saw great beautiful weather but then the storm came in with brutal winds and snow, which made the track pretty slow, and the downhills were very painful on the face! It made for some exciting sprints.”

As a local in both Canmore (where her parents now live) and Wanaka, Murphy has a unique insight into the world of international ski racing.

“August is an amazing month when the USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, and even some Russians come to train and enjoy the amazing conditions.” She says the best part about the August camps are getting to train with people she also duels with on trails half a world away.

With the Olympic pendulum at it’s low point right now, Murphy has decided to shift her focus a little and squeeze in some academics amid all the skiing and shooting. “Last year I was able to do some training sessions with [the North Americans] but because I am now studying full-time in Queenstown, I missed training with them this year.”

Full results HERE.