May 10, 2013 (Alaska) – This summer APU is hosting a masters on-snow ski camp at the Thomas Training Center on Eagle Glacier. Come experience glacier training like APU and US team athletes Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Erik and Sadie Bjornsen, who use the method to extend their on-snow seasons.

“Skiers are made in the Summer”

The camp is coached by APU Elite coach Erik Flora, Dylan Watts, and Calisa Kastning. Flora has coached at Olympic and World Championship levels, including the 2011 and 2012 Overall World Sprint Champion. Watts is long time APU Master ski coach and overall winner of the Tour of Anchorage. Kastning is an APU Master ski coach and coach of the APU Women’s Master program. Snow camp will be from June 29 to July 3, including 5-6 ski sessions.

Camp includes classic and skate techniques. There is opportunity for participants to ski a lot, plus take part in technique discussion and video review. Cost $750. Includes skiing, coaching, housing, and food. Space is limited. Additional fee for helicopter transport.

Please contact Dylan Watts (dwatts@alaskapacific.edu) for registration and further information.

April 08, 2013 – APU Nordic is hosting a celebration of the 2012-13 season this sprint. Please join us on Friday, May 10 at 6:00 p.m. at the APU Atwood Building to celebrate the squad’s successes, including the crowning of the first American World Champion, winning the World Cup Sprint Crystal Globe, numerous podiums at U.S. Nationals, and more!

Hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and drinks will be provided. Plus, participate in live and silent auctions!

Please RSVP to Calisa Kastning ckastning@alaskapacific.edu by Friday April 26th

November 01, 2012 (Anchorage, AK) – Since getting back from Park City Camp, Anchorage has yet to get any snow. Of course, when every skier is looking for moisture, the sun finally decides to show in AK. With no snow, the temperatures haven’t hesitated to resemble the typical Alaskan weather at this time of year.

As temps dropped down into the single digits, rollerskiing gets less fun! Pounding freezing cold pavement isn’t exactly the nicest thing for your joints. But, with a little extra clothes, and a longer than usual warm up- we made it happen.

One day we were rollerskiing at a local park, where all the ducks have decided to reside around a half frozen pond. They also have chosen to poop all over the trail. So, aside from the trail being half frozen, our skis were also being stopped and tripped up by frozen pooo. It provided for some laughing, a little swearing, and fortunately only one fall that didn’t end up too bad.

Last weekend was also the annual APU ski swap, where all the elite athletes pass down our great equipment to the younger generation of skiers. This is one of the neatest qualities about this elite/junior/devo team. A great pair of skis never leaves the team as someone grows out of them, it just keeps living down the chain. The ski swap is also a time that Kikkan takes the opportunity to clear out her closet and raffle off all her stuff to the young kids.

This is one of the most exciting things I have ever watched. Kikkan manages to accumulate some pretty awesome gear, so the kids get called out by number, have 10 seconds to pick something on the table, and then the next person goes. It’s a pretty awesome thing Kikkan does- and I am sure that 90% of those kids mark the day on the calendar, it’s that exciting!!

On that same day we had one of the young devo team boys and Rob Whitney put on a fundraiser run for Mary Robicheaux, a young devo on our team that got hit by a car while she was biking. Mary has been in the hospitals for the past two months as she is learning to walk again. She suffered a fractured skull, many broken bones in both legs, a broken spine, and a tough road to recovery. She has been amazing though as she has continued to improve from day to day with a whole lot of heart.

Anyways, one of her friends, Luke Jager headed up a running race for the community. He set up a little 5k course that weaved over logs, through trees, around in circles… you name it. It was pretty fun. It was amazing to see the community come together, with around 300 participants, who managed to raise $14,000 for Mary’s recovery.

So, this leads to last weekend. On Wednesday last week, I headed up to Fairbanks for a little on-snow time. Since Fairbanks has about 3 inches of snow, our team was off to find it. This weekend is also the First Tracks Camp, where all the skiers of Alaska group together for the first “on-snow” camp of the season.

It is pretty awesome, they all get to chase all the elite skiers around during training, and then there are a bunch of talks set up from Nutritionists, Health Specialists, NCAA skiers and coaches, and the World Cup Team. With everyone in the same place, everyone gets to take advantage of the others around them. This is the first time I have attended one of these First Tracks Camp, but it is pretty amazing. Thanks Matt Hajdukavich and Challenge Life Alaska for an awesome time!

The final day, we celebrated Halloween and dressed up in costumes for our ski. I was doing intervals this day, so it meant throwing down pretty hard in a pink onesie suit with a white cotton t-shirt on top. It provided for some entertainment though for sure.

Kikkan and Holly also organized a “world-cup field” for the final day where they brought all their race suits from other countries they have accumulated, and then raffled off who got to wear them the final day. The kids also got to wear world cup bibs on top, so it was pretty hilarious to watch the “foreigners” skiing around.

So after four days of sweet skiing, we had to head home for some good “home time” before leaving for the winter. This is also the hardest part. Trying to get your life truly organized before being gone from your home for potentially five months!! Yikes. In the mean time, if you see me on the side of the road dancing… I am just doing the snow dance!! C’mon snow.

January 05, 2012 (Oberhof, Germany) – Holly Brooks, who racing at her first Tour de Ski, injured her wrist while on a run just before the Tour started. She’s been hanging in and doing exceptionally well considering her injury and posted this blog after Day 1 [which we missed] that provides some insight into how she prepared for the biggest event on the ski calendar this season.

I figure that a short post is better than none at all…. so here it is: The Tour de Ski started today. While I had a poor result – by far, my worst “distance race” since being in Europe, I have to be happy in that I felt as if I could ski.

Yesterday, in the training day, my wrist was incredibly painful and I have to admit; I was worried to say the least. Today I had a top-notch tape job done by Steph, our massage therapist and a double dose of pain meds. The duo seemed to do the trick!

Conditions today were icy, squirrely and fast – not my favorite. But, it’s snowing outside right now which makes me happy. Klister covered conditions are some of my favorite and I have an awesome pair of skis if the waxing goes that way. I’ll have plenty of girls to chase tomorrow in the pursuit start so it should be fun to “hunt some down” and try and improve my overall placing, not to mention, aim for a solid “day of” result.

Other than that, one of the big themes of the Tour is RECOVERY. With nine races in eleven days, proactive recovery becomes imperative.

Here is the plan: after the race, reach for my Boost – yep, the “old folks drink.” I may be the only person on the US team that likes the stuff. Me and maybe my grandma 🙂 Change clothes afterwards… get a good, short cool down, ice my hand, change into dry clothes, hustle back to the hotel for a shower, put my feet up. I’m sure we’ll start using the mobile ice bath as fatigue builds up. Also, Kikkan and Bird did a bit of personal fundraiser to bring Steph Caverhill, a massage therapist over for the team.

Most teams travel with a massage therapist everywhere. While we normally do not have one, we’re excited to have Steph here to help us out over the next week and a half. As I said above, she did an awesome job of taping my hand.

It’s cool to have a female on staff…. I can tell with the little things like the fact that she used pre-rap on my tape job so I don’t have to pull off half of my arm hair when de-taping. Thanks for that Steph!

Thanks for everyone’s encouragement! Go team USA!

December 29, 2011 (Oberhof, Germany) – So…. I haven’t said much on my blog yet about the Tour de Ski but here it is – starting TOMORROW!  As there is no World Champs or Olympics this year, the Tour is kind of the pinnacle of the race year. Many of the top athletes have been aiming to perform well here all year. I was a last minute addition to the US Tour roster after having performances during period one of the World Cup this fall.

I am ecstatic to have the opportunity to race this event. As a distance skier and high volume trainer, I absolutely LOVE the thought of racing day in and day out, challenging myself physically, mentally, and emotionally. I have no idea how I’ll do or what will happen to by body as the days of fatigue add up but this is a great time to try it and I couldn’t be more excited for the challenge.

There are a ton of friends, family, and even people I don’t know that have helped make it possible for me to be here. As many of you know, I’m responsible for providing my own funding and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the generous support and enthusiasm of many of YOU. I hesitate to name anyone personally because there are so many of you and I don’t want to leave anyone out but you know who you are.

The experience of needing support and needing it fast has really been really moving. I only hope that I can repay many of you back with the generosity someday be it in the form of a ski lesson, athletic inspiration, a smile, or perhaps one day, dollars to a cause important to you. I know that on Thursday, when I put a bib on, I will feel like I’m racing with the support of people from Washington and Alaska; Kongsberger Ski Club, Alaska Pacific University, and Snoqualmie Nordic Team. THANK YOU so much to ALL of you!

As far as challenges go, I feel the need to share something that’s been on the fore front of my mind lately…. Christmas Day I decided to go for a short run before dinner. It was dark out and icy in places. Just as I was about to turn around and head back to the Kobaldhof, I slipped on the ice, falling back, and caught myself with my left hand. I knew instantly that it was not good…. but I wasn’t sure how bad. And I still don’t know. The plan for tomorrow, and each day afterwards is to ice, tape, take some anti-immflatatory medication and go for it.

The US team doesn’t have a doctor here at the moment so this morning I went and saw the Norwegian Team’s Doctor and “Physio.” (The Euro name for PT). They were incredibly generous to see me and were encouraging in that they do not think my wrist has a scaphoid fracture – my greatest worry via a couple hours on email and web MD. (Always a bad idea and also guaranteed to give you nightmares). If Petra Madjic can win a bronze medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games with broken ribs and a punctured lung, perhaps I can race the Tour, and excel in it with whatever injury my wrist may have sustained. It’s not ideal but I’m certainly not the first athlete who has gotten a bit beat up.

Time for bed as often rest provides one with the best healing and rejuvenation powers! Thank you everyone for everything and I’ll do my best to keep you posted through this incredible journey!

Sincerely,

Holly 🙂

November 23, 2011 (Sjusjoen, Norway) – Check out the gallery of photos below from this past weekend’s World Cup opening races in Sjusjoen, Norway, courtesy of  the USST’s Holly Brooks. The women of the USST had a historic weekend, with personal best results in individual distances races by Kikkan Randall (8th) and Liz Stephen (18th), and a historic ninth place in the women’s 4x5km relay (anchored by Brooks), equaling their performance in the World Championships in Oslo last year. While the US men couldn’t match the success of the women’s team, they put in some good hard efforts, including finishing 11th in the men’s 4x10km relay, and will be looking to move up the results in Kuusamo, Finland this weekend.

For Women’s Relay coverage, click HERE.
For Women’s 10km Free coverage, click HERE.

November 09, 2011 – We’re excited to announce that US xc ski star, Holly Brooks, from Alaska, 2011 SuperTour overall winner, is joining SkiTrax’s team of bloggers this season. Her section on the site will be ready soon, but check out her great overview of APUs (Alaska Pacific University) stellar program that has produced top skiers like herself, Kikkan Randall, Lars Flora, James Southam, Kate Fitzerald, Morgan Smyth…

People often ask: What is APU? How does it work? You’re a University team that isn’t NCAA – What does that mean? These are all good questions and yes, the format (if you will) of APU can tend to be confusing to people looking in on us from the outside. However, here it is in a nutshell: We are community ski club based within a University such that skiers of collegiate age can attend school (undergrad or graduate) while pursuing ski racing at a high level. Our community program is then built both below and above the University-based team in age. We have APU skiers as young as 11 and as “senior” (!) as their mid-eighties! In all, our total program membership involves over 200+ people directly on a regular basis. It’s RAD.

Here we are, a small club in Anchorage, AK that has duel goals of winning Olympic medals and teaching 11 year old how to huck jumps! Or, making it possible for University students to attend online classes while at training camp on Eagle Glacier and teaching a mother of four to V2 alternate.

Erik Flora, the APU elite team head coach and APUNSC Director wrote a great update to our programs at 3am this morning – I thought it was worth sharing. It explains what each group has been up to the past couple of weeks!

APU Program Members
Winter is off to a great start! We have already had groups skiing at Glenn Alps, Hillside, Hatcher Pass, and Russian Jack. Glenn Alps and Hatcher Pass have mid-winter conditions. With snow in the air, it is a good time for program update. Of course there are 100 more items, here are a few.

Junior Program has had a strong off-season of training. We have had full programs with lots of new faces and athletes reaching a new level of fitness. Part of the group participated in last weeks camp in Fairbanks. Next up is an early season snow camp in Hatcher Pass where they will focus on volume and technique (plus a whole lot of fun!). High School skiing started this week. Impressive as two junior team members were named to US National Training Groups Tarynn Hunt-Smith and Thomas O’Harra.

Devo’s have been ripping up with coach Charlie, Erin, and Dylan. This group keeps on getting faster and faster. It is amazing to watch this group as they continue to have fun and explore the joys of ski training. Keep an eye out, if you see a group of unusually fast moving-jumping-excited kids blasting through the woods and across the trails. It is a good chance it is the Devo’s!

Master Programs are in full-swing with Noon, Evening, and One-day Women Groups. Winter session has started off well with mix of dry-land and skiing at Hatcher Pass. The move to 2 and 5 day options has been a great way to get more people involved and enjoying ski training. We are excited to add a coach to the Master Programs this winter. Calisa Schouweiler is going to join Dylan and Sam for Evening Masters, Noon Master, and Women’s One-day. Calisa has a strong background in coaching. She will start in mid-November. More to follow.

The Elite team is getting ready to travel. We have had a good summer with most athletes setting record amounts of training and new PR’s on interval courses. APU members Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Sadie Bjornsen, and Lars Flora are heading to Norway next week to compete on World Cup. The rest of the team will focus on early winter domestic race series starting in Fairbanks, racing West Yellowstone, Bozeman, SilverStar BC, ending at Kincaid at Besh cup 1 and 2. After Christmas we are competing in Maine at the US Nationals, World cups, Alaska Races, and World Junior and U23 World Championships in Turkey. APU added more athletes to US Ski Team programs: Kikkan, Sadie, Erik Bjornsen, Kinsey Loan, and Celia Haering. Plus Men and Women current Super Tour Leaders Lars and Holly. The Elite team was on tonight’s 10 o’clock news, click hereto watch. Best community outreach year to date with athletes really busy hosting Fast and Female events, helping at kids events, and working at junior camps.

Coaches have stepped up community support of nordic programs. Two of our coaches, Dylan Watts and Sam Sterling, are going to help with local high school programs. Dylan at West HS and Sam at East HS. Eric Strabel at Regional Elite Group camp at Hatcher Pass. Eric and Charlie will coach at Junior Nationals. Casey Fagerquist stepping up this fall to help World Cup waxing during fall schedule. Erik Flora coached 3 US ski team camps and First Tracks High School camp in Fairbanks. Plus we hosted a new Alaska “open” Junior Glacier Camp. This is a good year for coaches to extend their experience to help strengthen Alaska and US skiing.

Good for our programs, Anchorage skiing is really good for early season right now. Glenn Alps and Hatcher Pass are race ski ready with good coverage. Russian Jack and Hilltop are skiable, but quite a few rocks/grass. The NSAA did a great job rolling Hilltop today. Let’s help Nordic Ski Club of Anchorage set record sales of trail pins. The more support they get, the better grooming we will see! click hereto join.

This is a great club to be a part of. I look forward to seeing everyone on the trails!

Sincerely,
Erik

Erik Flora
Director, APU Nordic Ski Center

November 01, 2011 (Fairbanks, AK) – As a young girl, Fairbanks’ Becca Rorabaugh had the opportunity to cross paths with Beckie Scott – the first Canadian and first North American woman to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing with gold at the Salt Lake City games and silver at the 2006 Games in the team sprint with Sara Renner.

“North American elite skiers once did early season training in Fairbanks, and when I was about 10 years old I was lucky enough to meet Becky Scott,” explained Rorabaugh. “Basically the only words we exchanged were “Hi! My name is Becca too!”, but the inspiration of meeting her steered me to aim for the Olympics,” recalled the enthusiastic athlete.

Twelve years later, Rorabaugh, who is now 22 and an aspiring Olympian in cross-country skiing, took it upon herself to host a Fast and Female event in the hope of recreating this same magic for the next generation of Fairbanks racers.

On the eve of Halloween, Rorabaugh fulfilled her vision. Teaming up with APU Nordic Ski Center teammates and Olympians Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks, she hosted more than 50 young female skiers ages 9 to 19 for the first ever Fast and Female Fairbanks event.

On this special occasion, the Fairbanks Nordic Ski Club saw a sea of girls in pink take part in cross-country ski drills, yoga, motivational presentations and a poster signing session – all led by Rorabaugh, Randall, and Brooks.

“Many of the girls seemed to really enjoy and absorb some great technique pointers from our experienced Ambassadors,” specified Randall, lead Fast and Female ambassador in the US and double World Cup winner on the Cross-country circuit in 2011.

“Some of the highlights for me were watching the swirl of neon colors, and especially the pink, zing around the four ski stations and then watching everyone synchronized in the warrior II pose during the yoga session,” added Randall, a full-time World Cup athlete who has already hosted three Fast and Female events in her hometown of Anchorage over the past three years.

Rorabaugh knew she accomplished her goal as girls left the event with huge smiles on their faces and a renewed sense of commitment to their own Olympic dreams.

“Kaya, Zoe and I REALLY got a lot out of it,” confirmed mom and volunteer Kim Troxel in an email following the event. “We all feel energized to go for it with skiing and running! These types of opportunities make a huge difference in girls’ (and women’s) lives so THANK YOU,” she concluded.

This activity was made possible thanks to valuable local partners such as the presenting sponsor – SBS Retirement Consultants LLC, as well as the Fairbanks Nordic Ski Club, Bettisworth North, Lulu’s Bread & Bagels, Equinox Physical Therapy, Martha Hanlon Architects, Fairbanks Cancer Treatment Center, Beaver Sports, Challenge Life Racing and Goldstream Sports.

“I can only hope that today’s event might have a similar affect for the next generation of girls, and I am proud to have helped bring it to Fairbanks,” added Rorabaugh who will soon kick off a busy season of racing. “The community response was incredible and I am very thankful that so many businesses and volunteers were so generous. Fairbanks certainly embraced the Fast and Female mission with open arms,” she concluded.

Fast and Female’s national sponsors – including Best Buy, Buff Multifunctional Headwear, LUNA Bars, and LIT Glitter – also provided key resources to making this event possible.

The next Fast and Female youth event will be the December 3 Alpine day held in conjunction with Alberta Alpine’s Legends Club in Canmore and Lake Louise, Alberta. For more information about this event, visit: www.fastandfemale.com

October 27, 2011 – The snow has finally fallen enough to accumulate some ski trails up at Hatchers Pass. Lots of pictures and stories have been circulating around already, so I think the word is out that the Alaskan Crew got to ski on October 20th!! Thats so early. What this means is I skied every month of the year this year, besides one! So I skied on snow 11 months of the training year… how many racers can say that???

The skiing has been great. Extra blue, packed tracks, and blue bird cold days!! The APU crew headed up last thursday for a distance ski, and by the following day I was sore. It’s funny how rollerskiing never seems to train the exact same muscles, so you are sore the first ski of the season, regardless. We then skied a second time on saturday… so by the end of the three hour ski, I was cooked. I have to say, this is the main reason that I love training in Alaska. The opportunity to be on snow as much as we are I see as a huge benefit. By getting that early “snow shape” back together in October, you can sometimes jump start the engine for the early racing season.

Speaking of early racing season, I will be on a different path this fall period. For the first time, I will be racing on the World Cup Circuit for Period 1 along with a group of 4 other girls. This has been super exciting news for me, and I have to say, I have been counting down the days for the “2012” experience to begin! The greatest thing about this year is it is the year to experiment and try new things. Because there are no main Championships of the year, I can set my own expectations and goals. Having never raced much in early season, nor raced much on the World Cup Circuit, nor left my home from November 6th until the end of March…… I will be switching things up quite a bit.

Last year I had a small introduction into this top level of racing, and ever since I have been working hard to jump into that category. This fall will be a great opportunity for me to open my eyes wide, learn some new skills and tricks, and have a great time skiing along with the best skiers in the world.

My schedule starts with me Leaving November 6th for Beitostoelen, Norway and follows:
– November 11-13, FIS Races in Beitostoelen
– November 19-20, World Cup in Beito
– November 25-27, World Cup Kuusamo, Finland
– December 3-4, World Cup downtown Dusseldorf, Germany
– December 10-11, World Cup Davos, Switzerland

Following that, December 12th I will fly back to Washington for a short break in Washington before Nationals, early January in Rumford Maine.

Unfortunately this opportunity has come with a price. Being named to the US SKi Team this last year has provided me with the opportunities and the steps at reaching this next level, but it has also provided me with some responsibility for completing these steps. Having major budget cuts this year resulted in the funding being cut for all B-Team level athletes for this top level of competition. What this means for me is that the spot is available for me, but I must find my own funding to get there.

I am not sure on my definite plans for the entire year, but I am going to guess the financial need will remain at the same level through Period 2 as well as Period 3. What it looks like for this first period of racing can be broken down easily between room and board as well as plane tickets to and from Europe, and between race venues. This comes to a total around $8000.

Being an athlete similar to every other nordic athlete in the country, this is not the kind of money we can ask our parents for, or we can raise on a side job. This is the kind of financial support we must find in our supporters and followers. This is also not only a problem for me, but every other talented young athlete in this country that is ready to make another step in their development. It starts at the 16 year old level skier who just made Scando Trips, and continues through the World Juniors level, affecting everyone all the way up to the top level of World Cup Racing.

The Nordic community has been working hard recently to make these unrealistic financial expectations more realistic. With the new push at the National Nordic Foundation level, supporters are beginning to see the sad truth of the financial demands affecting the opportunities for a new level of talent our country is now experiencing. This is just the beginning, but it is a step forward.

Which brings me to my final point. I have a long year in front of me, and it could cost me around $30,000 to race at this level throughout the season. If you would like to support either myself, or the other athletes in getting there; there are several options. As with everything, even the smallest amount makes a difference and builds towards that end goal. Just like us athletes; it wasn’t the 4-hour ski we did that made us fast, but it was the culmination of all those 1 hr., 2hr. and 3hr. workouts that made us great. So please know that every effort is greatly appreciated!

Your options for supporting our skiing goals for the year are:

1) Methow Valley Ski Education Foundation- The community in the Methow has been extremely helpful and supportive towards trying to help make this next step available. The team has created an Elite Opportunity Fund with 501(c)(3) status. Money can be donated to help support the athletes of the Methow participating in international level competition. If you would like to send a tax-deductible donation towards me, or the athletes of the Methow Valley, send to:
MVNSEF Elite Opportunity Fund
PO Box 1063
Winthrop, WA 98862

2) Donations directly towards me. Email me at sbjornsen@alaskapacific.edu if you have questions.

3) Donations towards the National Nordic Foundation, which is a non-profit organization aimed at supporting the nordic athletes of the US. They are recently doing The Drive for 25, which will include a small support of a large spectrum of supporters. Check out this site to get an idea of what we do and learn how to help HERE.

4) Support through the APU Ski Club

There are many ways to help out and support including you standing on the side of the trail cheering and screaming. It all counts, and it all keeps us going. So keep it up, and get ready…. race season is coming!!! Thanks to everyone that has helped so far, and that may help in the future! You guys are truly making it possible!

May 16, 2011 – SkiTrax would like to welcome new blogger Sadie Bjoernsen. Check out her latest blog, including lots of photos, and stay tuned for more updates from Sadie.

Springtime!
Mmmm, springtime in Alaska!!!! It’s just too good. Not many places can you Nordic ski all the way into middle of May. This spring I decided I was going to live a little more of a “true Alaskan winter” and spend some more time doing the kind of skiing where gravity is doing most the work. I am super lucky though, many of my friends are really into backcountry skiing, so I was having to hold myself back from going and playing every single day. Trying to stay caught up in school, and fit in some work here and there…. I got a bit behind playing that much. The good news is, for the first time I had a pretty active spring, which means I am not nearly as out of shape as I normally am May 1st. That was my first goal for this year. In staying in shape through the resting period, I don’t loose the first two months just trying to build my fitness back up.

A lot has unfolded and happened in the last month since I have started phasing into my new season. For one, it has now been exactly a year since I joined the “Big Blue APU”. I couldn’t be happier that I joined this squad, and now I managed to convince my brother to jump onto the wagon and ski for APU as well.- so its going to be fun! For the past week we have been training hard in our annual “start up camp” Start up camp normally consists of two-a-days with lots of intervals, lots of skiing hard, and lots of soreness and stiffness.

Last year I was nearly in a wheel chair by the end of the week of training with the new team, so this year I knew what to expect going into it… which is why I tried to bridge my seasons together more by keeping my fitness up during my rest period. But, of course, I still managed to put myself in a world of hurt all week. You know you are doing the right thing when showing up to training is more than just another day of work. It’s amazing, every day, regardless of how wrecked everyone is, everyone is always smiling and ready to throw down when they show up for training. I think thats what makes this training group so successful. The energy within it is always positive, so it’s hard not love it.

Read a nice article Beth wrote in the Alaska Daily News HERE.

The second big thing of my spring is being named to the National Team. I am super pumped about it. I think the National team has something great going on now. With lots of focus on young development, I think they are determine to build from the ground up and make something really happen in the future. It’s also awesome because we have our little rabbit, Kikkan Randall to watch and aim for. Being named to this team means joining in with some of the fastest girls in the country periodically throughout the summer and fall and getting in some good training.

This year, the woman’s National Team, the Canadian woman’s National Team, and some of the top APU ladies are all going to join up for a week of training up at Eagle Glacier. I don’t think those girls know what they are getting in to. I have this feeling they are going to fall in love, and before we know it, everyone is going to want to be moving to Alaska. Anyways, I am super stoked and honored to be representing not only APU now, but also the US. Unfortunately, as always in this sport, there is not much funding out there, so being on the B-Team means covering most of our own costs. So I am still always looking for support.

Which brings me to my last point. For the past month we have been working our butts off planning and putting together an awesome fundraiser for the APU team to cover racing costs for the season. We will be putting on an auction with lots of sweet items including trips to hawaii as well as bikes, skis, artwork and much more.

If you are in the Anchorage area, come out and check out what we are about! More than just a fundraiser, this is also a celebration of all the great successes we have had this year including USSA club of the year, coach of the year and athlete of the year. We are always looking for people to join the family of support and help us reach great levels. So, if you are around Anchorage, the event is May 10th starting at 6:30.

From here until May 20th, I will be training in town and starting up summer school before I take off for Bend, Oregon for my first US Ski Team Camp for 10 days. I think this year I am going to see if I can ski every month of the year. September might get a little tricky, but I am determine to make it happen.

www.sadiebjornsen.blogspot.com

January 03, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Alaska’s Holly Brooks lead an APU podium sweep at the 1.4km Classic Sprints on Sunday winning her first career National title along the way. It was a dream come true for the talented skier who came to Rumford really motivated to win and she was happy to share the podium with “…a bunch of my APU teammates.” SkiTrax caught up with the new US women’s classic sprint champ after the race for her thoughts on her performance and the conditions.

December 19, 2010 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – It was a day of podium sweeps at the final stage of the Rossland Haywood NorAm mini-tour. The Americans owned the women’s tour podium but the Canadian men responded by taking all three top spots in the men’s. Thanks to the pursuit start, which factored yesterday’s results and time bonuses from Friday’s sprint, the first across the line today took the mini-tour title.

CXC’s Jessica Diggins won the women’s 10km pursuit with a blistering second lap to catch APU’s Holly Brooks and teammate Sadie Bjornsen, who had started 1st and 2nd respectively in today’s pursuit. By the end of the race, the start positions had reversed themselves with Diggins in 1st, Bjornsen in 2nd and Brooks in 3rd.

Bjornsen caught Brooks near the 3km mark, and the two skied the majority of the race together until Brooks started to fade on the final climb. When Diggins went by on the last few climbs, neither APU skier could hold on.

“We skied parallel for a lot of the race,” said Bjornsen. “It was probably mostly habit, just like we ski in training all the time.”

Diggins was trailing Bjornsen and Brooks by 15 seconds heading into the second lap. She was quick to give credit to her wax team for giving her the skis that helped speed her to the finish.

“The coaches did an absolutely awesome job with the wax,” said Diggins. “I’m in awe of how fast our skis were.”

As for her impressive final lap, Diggins said it just sort of happened.

“This might sound kind of weird, but I didn’t really have a race plan today,” she said. “I went into today having had a great weekend, and just waited to see what happened. My coaches have really helped with my classic technique this year, so when I had such good skis I just went for it.”

Conditions were very difficult, with unanticipated heavy snow flying all morning. Some teams struggled with wax, and those that nailed it were rewarded with podium spots.

“It was tough out there,” said Bjornsen. “You really had to pound it to make the skis work.”

“When it started snowing harder during the women’s race, the conditions started to transition,” said Canadian coach Eric de Nys. “We went with a bit more binder under the wax for the guys, mixed with a few drops of klister, and it seemed to work really well.”

The men’s results certainly reflected the Canadian team’s wax choice. Canada’s Stefan Kuhn put the perfect cap on his weekend, winning the men’s 15km pursuit after battling back from a difficult starting position and sprinting to the line with fellow Canuck, 2nd place finisher George Grey. Team mate Drew Goldsack (CAN) nipped Lars Flora (USA) for 3rd.

The race started with Goldsack, Flora and Grey forming the lead group and Kuhn, Jess Cockney (CAN) and Mike Sinnott (USA) chasing them down.

“I had to make up 19 seconds,” said Kuhn. “so I hammered from the start. Cockney and Sinnott went with me, and we caught the lead group pretty quickly, but I was pretty taxed when we did. I spent the middle part of the race yo-yoing off the back. The conditions dictated that the leaders would be working probably 20 per cent harder, so I used that. Coming into the finish I followed George. He plowed 80 meters of fresh snow; I only had to plow 20, so I was able to take him at the line.”

“It was an interesting race,” said 4th place finisher Flora (USA). “I was surprised how fast the three chasers caught us. I need to work on my classic skis a bit; I think I chose the wrong pair today.”

Women’s results  HERE.
Men’s results  HERE.
Overall Mini-Tour results HERE.