Tag Archive | "XC skiing"

Interviews with Torin Koos and John Farra at 2011 US XC Nationals

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January 10, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – SkiTrax caught up with Torin Koos (Methow) , Saturday’s Freestyle Sprint champion, at the 2011 US XC Nationals in Rumford, Maine and USSA Nordic Director John Farra at the conclusion of the Nationals.

Koos expressed his excitement with posting three solid races at the weeks events, noting that there was “a lot of pride on the line.” The three-time Olympian also talked about his plans to train with the Swiss National Team in the coming weeks, before taking part in some Norwegian races.

Farra raved about what the volunteers were able to accomplish, given the challenging weather conditions. The former Olympian also talked about the electric atmosphere on what he called a “world class course,” saying these events were “one for the history books.”

Grey and Jones Earn 10/15km Skate Wins at Haywood NorAm WJ/U23 Trials

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January 09, 2011 (Thunder Bay, ON) – Competing on the domestic circuit as part of a plan to return to the World Cup circuit while their Olympic teammates wrapped up the Tour de Ski, Canada’s George Grey and Perianne Jones found their stride by winning the men’s and women’s skate ski races at the Haywood NorAms in Thunder Bay, Ont. on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Grey, of Rossland, B.C., is starting to discover the shape that helped him capture his lone World Cup medal two years ago in a team sprint with Alex Harvey in Whistler, B.C. The two-time Olympian captured his second victory of the weekend after completing the men’s 15-kilometre skate-ski race with a time of 39 minutes, 21.9 seconds at the Lappe Nordic Ski Centre.

“It was good race and a tough course today so I’m happy,” said Grey, who punched his ticket for a spot on Canada’s World Championship squad this weekend.

“Right now I’m going back to the drawing board. I’m working on my distance and getting my shape again. I have six weeks to go until Worlds so it will be good to get back around the team, and Justin (Wadsworth – head coach), to ramp it up to where I want to be.”

Grey has spent most of his summer and early season rebounding from knee surgery this spring.

“Motivation is tough to find for any athlete, and when you have injuries a dark cloud just follows you because you want to go but you have to be patient,” said Grey. “Everyone this weekend was peaking because it was trials for World Championships. To win twice I know I’m not far off so I’ll keep working hard at it.”

Grey was pressed for the podium by Graham Nishikawa, of Whitehorse, who claimed the silver with a time of 39:27.3, while Michael Somppi, of Thunder Bay, Ont., rounded out the podium in third (39:34.6).

Meanwhile Canada’s Perianne Jones is also patiently making her comeback to the elite international circuit. Jones, of Almonte, Ont., won her second race on North America’s premiere development cross-country ski race series after posting a time of 31:02.7 in the women’s 10-kilometre skate-ski event.

“I felt really good out there and I’ve known all year that I’ve just been feeling a lot better,” said Jones, who said her body felt a little bit up last year pushing the paces with the world’s best on the World Cup circuit. “My body was just really tired last year and it is nice to be building that confidence and racing professionally again here. I have been working hard on my technique and things have been going really well.”

Jones was put to the test this weekend with Daria Gaiazova, of Banff, Alta., who made her return from the World Cup. Gaiazova, who won a World Cup bronze medal in the team sprint earlier this year with Chandra Crawford, won the first two races of the weekend but was pushed to the second spot on the podium Sunday with a time of 31:18.3.

“It was awesome to have Daria here and bring the level of racing up a little,” said Jones. “It was a good reminder for me of how fast things are on the World Cup.”

Calgary’s Brooke Gosling claimed the bronze with a time of 32:27.5.

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

Open Female

1.    Perianne Jones (Nakkertok/NST) 31:02.7
2.    Dasha Gaiazova (Rocky Mountain Racers/NST) +15.6
3.    Brooke Gosling (Foothills/CXC) 1:24.8
4.    Sara Hewitt (Foothills/AWCA) 2:01.7
5.    Brittany Webster (Highlands Trailblazers/AWCA) 2:23.4
6.    Heidi Widmer (Foothills/AWCA) 2:34.4
7.    Alysson Marshall (Larch Hills/AWCA/BCST) 2:36.3
8.    Annika Hicks (Canmore Nordic/AWCA) 2:40.6
9.    Anne-Marie Comeau (Club Nordique M.S.A.) 2:44.3
10.    Erin Tribe (Team Hardwood/NDC Thunder Bay)2:44.6

Open Male

1.    George Grey (Black Jack/NST) 39:21.9
2.    Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse/AWCA) 5.4
3.    Michael Somppi (Lappe Nordic/NDC Thunder Bay) 12.7
4.    Brent McMurtry (Foothill) 55.0
5.    David Greer (Whitehorse/CNEPH) 56.1
6.    Erik Carleton (Rocky Mountain Racers/RMR) 58.4
7.    Jess Cockney (Foothills/AWCA) 58.8
8.    Graeme Killick (Banff Ski Runners/ NST) 1:20.9
9.    Pate Neumann (Canmore Nordic/AWCA) 1:33.0
10.    Kevin Sandau (Foothills/NST/AWCA) 1:34.1

Cologna Wins TdS Overall as Bauer Powers to 3rd – Kershaw 7th and Harvey 10th

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January 9, 2010 (Alpe Cermis, Italy) – It’s over. The 5th annual FIS Tour de Ski finished atop Italy’s Alpe Cermis today, crowning Swiss super star Dario Cologna as the best all-round ski racer in the world. Cologna had little trouble defending his commanding lead on the 9km uphill climb.

Norway’s Petter Northug claimed 2nd over all, but the real story was Czech Lucas Bauer’s phenomenal display of climbing prowess. Like Therese Johaug (NOR) in the women’s race Bauer hurled himself up the mountain, posting the fastest time of the day and vaulted himself from 10th to 3rd in the over all.

Canadians Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey, who throughout the Tour have posted some of their country’s most impressive World Cup results ever, finished in 7th and 10th respectively overall.

In come-from-behind moves of their own, Canadian Ivan Babikov and US skier Kris Freeman posted impressive results on the final day. Both skiers have struggled during the Tour, but today they left that all behind, skiing together and snagging the 6th and 7th fastest times of the day respectively – Babikov ended up 21st overall and Freeman was 28th.

For Freeman having the 7th best time up Alpe Cermis behind Babikov in 6th was a final coup for him at the Tour and retribution for yesterday’s waxing debacle in the 20km classic.

“For sure today was an attempt to make good on yesterday which was a 19-km sufferfest. I felt good going into the 20km on Stage 7 but knew after the first kilometre I knew that I was in trouble – it was a frustrating day out there and no one felt good about it.”

An interesting twist to Freeman’s day was forgetting his transponders, “a rookie move” as he put it. “I was distracted today because of yesterday and some personal issues and only realized at 1.5km into today’s race that I’d forgotten my transponders – a rookie move. Chris [Grover, Head Coach] appealed to the jury later and I was super lucky that they understood and allowed my day to count.”

For the first few kilometres of the race things stayed relatively calm. At 3.5km Harvey was skiing very well, having moved into 3rd behind Cologna and Northug with Kershaw in 6th. But by the 5.6km mark, Harvey had been overtaken by Italy’s Roland Clara and France’s Jean Marc Gaillard who had passed Kershaw now in 7th… as Bauer lurked behind in 10th.

Nothing much changed by the next interval at 6.5km but soon after everything did. Just as the skiers hit the toughest point on this toughest of courses, Bauer dropped the hammer and suddenly attacked vaulting himself into 3rd by the 7.4km mark. From there, it was all about masochism, and Bauer certainly knows how to punish himself.

So too, does Babikov, who last year took the win in the Tour’s final hill climb. The former Russian skier, and veteran of three tours said he felt strong on today’s stage.

“I always felt pretty confident on this stage,” said Babikov. “I knew I had a chance for a good time on the day, so I went for it hoping to get some points.”

He said this year’s edition of the challenging stage was especially tough.

“Every year it seems longer, or maybe I’m just getting older. Either way, it’s tough. Some places are very narrow and it’s hard to pass. With the 6th fastest time, I’m happy,” commented Babikov.

Devon Kershaw was quick to agree with his teammate.

“Hill climbing is super hard,” said Kershaw. “I moved into 7th, and I’m happy to have stayed in the top 10. Losing time in the overall is a little disappointing, but with four podiums and such solid races, we must have done some good training.”

With one bronze, two silvers and a gold medal from this Tour, Kershaw also takes home some significant prize money. Cologna will take home 150,000 Swiss Francs ($155,000US) for the overall win, with Northug picking up 100,000. Bauer get’s 50,000 thanks entirely to today’s powerful showing…not bad for a day’s work.

All told Kershaw will head back to Canada with 25,000 Swiss Francs. When asked about his plans for the cash, Kershaw joked, saying “The guys have been razzing me about my old ’96 Saab…maybe it’s time I passed it along and might get something newer in the spring.” A new set of wheels is certainly a well-deserved reward for Kershaw’s impressive results of late.

Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth couldn’t be happier with how this year’s Tour has gone.

“I knew Dev and the guys would ski well,” said Wadsworth. “They’ve been working hard. I thought one podium for sure, but four… I couldn’t have predicted that.”

U.S. coach Chris Grover was also gratified with Freeman’s solid day to end the Tour. “Considering our wax issues yesterday it was really important for Kris to have a good day – it was a great finish for him on good skis.”

Freeman heads to Munich later today and will be home tomorrow where he’ll take a short break and then prepare for the Nordic Worlds in Oslo in Feb.

Alex Harvey echoed his teammates enthusiasm for their accomplishments over 10 days of grueling racing.

“It’s like a circle,” he said. “Dev medals, and we all get pumped, and it pushes us. Then it happens again and it keeps coming around.”

Harvey posted some very strong splits early in today’s race, even taking over 3rd place for a short while.

“It was really good, I’m really happy with how my body felt. The real skiing, in the stadium and early on felt really good…but when I hit that wall, man, with all that off setting…my legs just cramped up. That climb is just so hard.”

Harvey also heaped praise on the coaching and wax staff, pointing out how well taken care of he, Devon and Ivan were.

“Justin’s been really good, pushing us on recovery and stuff like that. Having the bus was a huge advantage. It’s a great lounge for us after the races. We’ll have it again next year.” The Canadians may just be on to something. The tour bus has been such a hit that it’s likely other teams will follow suit.

For now, the Canucks are heading home. Kershaw and Babikov will head back to Canmore, and Harvey home to Quebec for a month of recovery and prep training before returning to Europe for World Championships. But Harvey will first make a quick stop at the U23 World Champs.

“It’s my last year U23,” he said. “And I want to use that. I’d like to go for a U23 World Champs title while I can.”

Men’s 9km Pursuit Results HERE.
Men’s 9km Pursuit finishing order HERE.
Final Overall HERE.
Final Overall detail HERE.

Johaug Destroys Alpe Cermis as Kowalczyk Defends her TdS Title – Randall 21st

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January 9, 2010 (Alpe Cermis, Italy) – Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) claimed her second consecutive Tour title on Sunday but all eyes were on Norway’s Therese Johaug who put on a show of force as the fastest woman up Alpe Cermis this morning, dominating the final stage of the 2011 Tour de Ski.

Johaug flew up the 9km uphill handicap start pursuit course to take the win by over a minute ahead of second place finisher, teammate Marte Elden. Third place completed the Norwegian sweep, going to Marthe Kristoffersen.

Kowalczyk finished 4th on the day, good enough to become the first person to defend the overall title. Johaug’s stellar performance earned her 2nd overall, atop Italy’s Marianna Longa who finished 3rd.

Overall winner Kowalczyk started cautiously compared to Johaug, who started strong at 3:21 behind the leader in the handicap start race.   Johaug picked off racer after racer, passing Slovenia’s Petra Majdic by 3.5km. By 5.6km Johaug had overtaken Italy’s Arianna Follis to claim 3rd.  Her charge continued up the mountain, taking 2nd away from Longa by 7.4kms.

Closing in on the finish she was taking huge chunks out of Kowalczyk’s lead but wasn’t able to close the final 1:21 gap, though certainly not for lack of effort. Though she wasn’t able to take the overall away from Kowalczyk, Johaug still put in a 100,000 Swiss Frank performance, her prize for 2nd overall. Kowalczyk takes home 150,000 for the win and Longa got 50,000 for her trouble.

“It is a really good victory to me,” said Kowalczyk post-race in a FIS XC interview. “It has been 10 tough days. I am very happy about being on top of Alpe Cermis, and next week will be all about resting.”

Johaug was triumphant with second place. “I had a dream about finishing second today – my shape is really good and I had great skis. This is the best I have done in my career so far. It will be good to come home and take a break – Oslo is of course my dream of the season.”

With large chunks of change on the line, considering the shocking attrition rate for a race like this, it’s safe to say the winners earned it. Of the 58 women who began the Tour, only 32 finished.

Among them was top American sprinter, Kikkan Randall, who became the first American woman to complete the Tour de Ski, finishing 23rd on the day and 21st overall. Completing the Tour was a landmark in Randall’s career and her strong effort on the final Stage 8 up Alpe Cermis was uplifting compared to yesterday’s 10km classic.

“Yesterday was pretty disappointing so for sure I wanted to have a strong day to finish the Tour,” Randall told SkiTrax in a phone interview. “This is by far the toughest, hardest, steepest climb I’ve ever done – nothing compares. And to complete it after the last seven stages…whew – I’ve got a lot of respect for the women at the front.”

“Kikkan felt like she missed a few opportunities out there today,” said US head coach Chris Grover. “But overall she’s satisfied. The whole Tour has been a learning experience us. It’s the first time these guys have attempted it.”

Randall said she thinks the Tour is cool – she loves the different stages and the concept. In fact she told us the rest days were almost an intrusion. “I like the back-to-back racing and felt good each stage. It was hard to get going again after the rest days and almost felt like it was better not to have them. Now that I’ve completed the Tour I know what it takes. The mental element is huge – you need to dig in when you’re really tired – that’s the biggest part of the experience that I’m taking away from Tour.”

Randall, teammate Andy Newell and Grover will stay on in Val di Fiemme preparing for the upcoming WCup skate sprint in Liberec next weekend transferring there on Monday. She said she’ll take it easy over the next few days in preparation and looks forward to it and the possible match up against Norway’s Marit Bjoergen who sat out the Tour.

“I’m looking forward to the Liberec sprints after some rest. The next 2-3 sprints are all skating which is my strongest suit so I’ll be ready. Haven’t heard if Bjoergen will be in Liberec or not. But if I do get the chance to race her it will be sweet practice for Oslo!! Hope Follis and Majdic will be there too.”

Women’s 9km Pursuit Results HERE.
Women’s 9km Pursuit finishing order HERE.
Final Overall HERE.
Final Overall detail HERE.

Interviews with Tad Elliott and Liz Stephen at 2011 US XC Nationals

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January 09, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – We caught up with Tad Elliott (CXC) who claimed the men’s 30km skate race title and Liz Stephen, the winner of Thursday’s 20km women’s freestyle race at Black Mountain, Maine, site of the 2011 US XC Nationals.

Elliott talks about being the U23 National Champion in both mountain biking and cross country skiing. He plans to remain on the East Coast before traveling with the US Ski Team to compete in the U23 Worlds in Estonia.

Stephen, a member of the 2010 Olympic team in Vancouver, talks about that experience compared to her welcome result at the US Nationals and her future plans for the winter racing at WCups in Europe and later in Sun Valley.



The Way I See It – Exciting Racing, Canadian Uniforms, George Grey, US Nationals, Haywood Trials, Dynamic Duo, Worlds Selections

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January 09, 2011 – What a week of racing – so exciting at all levels – the Tour de Ski (TdS), US Nationals and  the Haywood Trials to both pick the Senior Worlds, Junior Worlds and the U23 Championship teams that will all be heading to Europe in the next few weeks for their championships.

First to the TdS where the Canadian men are making all kinds of astronomical break through’s when it comes to the results and standing on the podium. It’s a very grueling series of races, and if you don’t believe that, look at how many people will be on the starting line tomorrow for the final race and the crowning of the King and Queen of the Tour. A total of 79 men started this trek along with 58 women and there will be 40 men and 36 women left to attack the Alpe Cermis – a very huge climb – to  continue to takes it’s toll right to the last second.

Canadian Team uniforms are interesting when seen from a distance – the lower legs being all white gives the appearance that the Canadians are skiing in knickers – the old fashion way.

Coverage of all of the competitions has really lifted the level of media exposure – press reporting, pictures by the 100s flying all over the place, twitter, and the video links to the TdS are all really cool. I was at a dinner party tonight and half the guests knew all about what was taking place at the TdS, and knew the skiers names. They sure slaughter Northug’s name!!! All an outcome of last year’s Olympics in Vancouver and of course the excellent results help the big time media pick up the releases in both countries.

George Grey made a very interesting quote after winning the first trial race at Thunder Bay at the Haywood NorAm Worlds Trials.

“It was awfully tight and very technical out there today,” said Grey. “I don’t really have my shape but I think my experience put me in the front in the end. The last few weeks of training have been challenging because my fitness isn’t there. But it will come around.”

It’s getting late George, half the World Cup schedule is done, you were in Europe before Xmas and had less than good results and have had the better part of a month to get things in order. The “Big 4” from Vancouver is now down to the “Big 2” as Ivan is also struggling to find his shape. Rumours have it that you made only one training camp all summer and fall and of course we all know about Ivan’s reality trip to South America and car buying trip to the US. This sport takes a full year of training effort every year – hope you guys catch fire soon.

The US Nationals were one soggy mess the first day of racing in Rumford. Use your imagination and instead of calling this Rumford, call it Oslo, as during the time that the Worlds are being hosted there it can easily be that ugly and worse. Plus the next day can be ass rattling icy. You had some good practice – be happy.

Haywood Trials one more time, and where was Canada’s sprint champion, Chandra Crawford? I know that she is headed to Liberec along with Dasha Gaiazova next week for some more international racing. I would have thought she would want to race the T-Bay races to lift her racing fitness to be ready for this tour. I know that she has had only one race since coming back from Europe over a month ago. She could have gone to Rossland with all the boys and Dasha the next weekend upon return and given those races a real lift by being there. Her counterparts in Europe are now at the 16-18 races for the year level and Chandra is only at 6-8 races. If Chandra makes it as a sprinter only, she will be the only one in the world.

The women who are the top women in the world are both sprinters and distance skiers, at all levels. I would use Kikkan Randall, a close friend of Chandra’s, as an example of the necessary steps that have to be taken. She was trying to make it as a sprinter two years ago – the light bulb went on and now she’s becoming a really good sprinter (currently ranked 3rd in the world) and is slugging her way through her first TdS quite nicely – and ranked 23rd on the WC distance list as I write this. Racing fitness comes from racing – it is the only way! There are not enough sprint races on the WC circuit to get anyone in shape.

Update on Canada’s dynamic duo, Devon and Alex, as they have been working there way through the TdS, they have also been improving the standings on the World Cup. Devon stands in 7th place overall and Alex has placed himself nicely in 11th. Too bad Alex didn’t make a better effort of being ready for the WC races before Christmas, coming late to the tour and then going home for some school exams. Who know how good he would be now?

Who makes the US Team to the World Championships in Oslo, Norway – here are my choices and I don’t have a clue about the criteria.

Women – Randall, Brooks, Arritola, Stephens, Symth – and as a PS send both Diggins and Bjornson to the World Jrs and U23s with the proviso that if they can make the top 10 in any event they come to Oslo.

Men – Freeman, Newell, Flora, Southam, Elliott and Hoffman – and have Hamilton prove himself in Drammen.

Both teams are building towards Sochi with older leadership, maturity and youth and will be on the international long road to getting ready for the big show 2014.

PS remember, no one can ski the whole schedule and you’re bound to have some sickness. Also – Oslo will be one hell of a show – close to or the equal of Sochii. Great place for the newbies to get their feet wet – no pun intended.

Talk to you soon.

US XC Ski Nats – Toko 20/30k Freestyle Wax Report and Photos

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January 07, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – The waxing for yesterday’s skate races was predictable and straightforward. The organizers did add a bunch of freshly shot new snow overnight which made it necessary to add XCold to the HF Blue. So the wax was LF Blue, HF Blue/XCold mix, followed by a top coat of JetStream Blue. The Blue structure was excellent. Most people do not understand Nordlite XCold even still. XCold is an additive that increases durability and hardens the base, but that is not the most important thing that it does practically. What it really does is make the skis faster at slower speeds (ie breakaway speed). For this reason, it is superb in freshly shot man-made. If conditions are simply fast and cold, it is not needed. If it is slow and cold, it is the ticket (either mixed with Blue or as its own layer in extreme cases).

This was one of the most exciting and stimulating race days that I can remember. In the men’s race, there were 3 skiers who battled it out: Lars Flora, Noah Hoffman, and Tad Elliot. These three were very close throughout the entire race, despite the individual start format. On the last lap of the 30k skate, with about 1.5k left, Tad was 2 seconds up on Noah and even with Lars. I was happy for Tad that he finished .10 ahead to take the win. The impressive thing was that Noah and Tad had excellent information and simply kept doing what they had to do in order to win. Unfortunately for them though, Lars is skiing fast! They kept on having to suffer more and more in order to match Lars. It was an extreme game of “up the ante”. I am sure that had Lars followed the other two in the start order, he would have won. Congratulations to all 3 of these warriors on a great day and thank you for inspiring those who witnessed the battle.

The women’s race was another story. Evidently Liz Stephen skis really well when she is pissed. She took the race out with intensity and simply took the race. Her effort level, tempo, and will to win was simply unmatched today. She earned the big win, that’s for sure.

Stephen Scores the Win at Women’s 20K Freestyle

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January 06, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Liz Stephen, East Montpellier, VT, took charge in the women’s 20km freestyle event winning by just under a minute over APU’s Holly Brooks who landed on the podium for the second time at the US XC Ski Championship in Rumford. Stephen’s USST team mate, Morgan Arritola, from Fairfield, ID, who raced out of the Sun Valley Education Foundation before being named to the U.S. Ski Team, placed third.

Stephen was encouraged by her result. “I felt great out there and the course held up well,” said the winner. “I tried to put myself in a world cup race and make it even a bigger deal to get all that I wanted out of myself. I got some splits along the way but mostly was just going off the body. A big thanks to all the volunteers for making a great course.”

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Liz Stephen (Burke Mountain Academy/U.S. Ski Team), 50:03.5
2. Holly Brooks (Alaska Pacific University), 51:01.3
3. Morgan Arritola(Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation/U.S. Ski Team), 51:19.1
4. Caitlin Compton (Central Cross Country Skiing), 51:27.2
5. Kate Fitzgerald (Alaska Pacific University), 52:01.2
6. Evelyn Dong (Cross Country Oregon), 52:29.5
7. Chelsea Holmes (Sugar Bowl Academy), 52:43.5
8. Morgan Smyth (Alaska Pacific University), 52:44.7
9. Nicole Deyong (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation), 52:47.9
10. Jennie Bender (Central Cross Country Skiing), 53:07.9

Kowalczyk in Charge at TdS Cortina 15km Pursuit – Randall Strong in 15th

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January 06, 2011 (Cortina, Italy) – She may have had difficulties in yesterday’s sprint, but Poland’s Justyna Koxalczyk quickly sealed that chink in her armor by winning today’s 15km freestyle handicap start in Cortina, Italy, at stage 6 of the Tour de Ski

Kowalczyk took a page from the men’s race earlier in the day where winner Dario Cologna (SUI) got out of gate hard and never let up, staying out front from start to finish. Italy’s Arianna Follis and Marianna Longa claimed 2nd and 3rd at just over 22 seconds behind while Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla claimed 4th ahead of Petra Majdic (SLO) in 5th.

The USA’s Kikkan Randall also had a good day, moving up from 17th to 15th overall, a very solid result for the American sprinter.

“It was a really hard race and I am satisfied,” said Kowalczyk in a FIS XC post-race interview. “I hope the next race in Val di Fiemme will be OK as well, and then there is only Alpe Cermis left. Last year’s race in Val di Fiemme was not good for me, I hope this year will be better. Kalla, Follis, Longa, Majdic and Lahteenmaki are all contenders that can win the Tour de Ski, but I hope I can beat them.”

From the gun, it was clear this would be a race to catch Kowalczyk and it would not an easy task. Majdic also started hard, trailing Kowalczyk by only 39 seconds and ahead of Kalla who was 1:08 down.

By 5km Kowalczyk was still powering ahead while behind a small chase pack of four skiers had formed including Kalla, Majdic, Longa and Follis. About a minute behind them were two more chasers with Anna Haag (SWE) and the young Finn Krista Lahteenmaki hoping to bridge to the quartet.

The four chasers worked well together at first and were slowly chipping away at Kowalczyk’s lead until about 7.5km, when they started to lose ground.

By 10km Majdic couldn’t hold on, and was dropped as Kalla pushed hard at the front, trying to close the 51.8-second margin to Kowalczyk. Behind Haag shook off Lahteenmaki but the Finnish skier regained her composure and latched on to the Swede again soon after.

Kalla’s efforts paid off, as she, Follis and Longa cut Kowalczyk’s lead down to 25 seconds, leaving Majdic scrambling to recover with only 2.5km left to go.

Ultimately Kowalczyk proved too strong, and preserved her lead to take the win. On the finishing straight teammates Follis and Longa overtook Kalla, who had done most of the work, putting the Italians 2-3 behind the Kowalczyk. With that effort, Follis now moves into 2nd, at 27 seconds down on the leader. Longa holds onto third, 33 seconds down with Kalla and Majdic rounding out the top 5.

“It was a fun race today,” said Randall now in 15th overall. “I ended up in a big pack of 10 or so, so I tucked in with them for most of the race. In the last few kms I put on a few surges, which strung things out a bit.”

Over the last part of the race Randall found herself skiing close to Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgren who just barely nipped her at the line. Ironically it was Johansson Norgren who crashed in yesterday’s skate sprint women’s final and took down Randall as well.

The women’s races have been relatively short and incredibly high-paced, making for some grueling racing. That’s something that Randall said didn’t change despite today’s longer course. “The way the course skied with the climbs there were lots of surges followed by little recoveries, so it was still tough,” she continued in a phone interview with SkiTrax.

With a rest day tomorrow, the athletes will be preparing for Saturday’s classic race and Sunday’s final hill climb up Alpe Cermis.

“We’re planning on previewing the courses tomorrow,” said Randall. “We’ll check out the final climb by skiing it downhill and sort of see what’s in store for us.”

“We are very excited with Kikkan’s race,” said US coach Chris Grover in an email to SkiTrax. “She looked great. Fighting hard with lots of energy for so late in the Tour.”

Elliott Wins the Men’s 30km Skate Title at 2011 US XC Nationals UPDATED

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January 06, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Tad Elliott (CXC) took no prisoners as he claimed the senior men’s 30km skate mass start title at the 2011 US XC Nationals at Black Mountain in Rumford, ME edging out yesterday’s 15km classic winner, Lars Flora (APU) by 1/10th of a second for win in a final lunge at the line. USST member Noah Hoffman, who is back from his first kick at European World Cup racing, snagged the final podium spot. It was a beautiful crisp, sunny day and conditions for today’s races were great with a pretty fast course that held up well.

For Elliott, the son of two-time US Olympian Mike Elliott, it was his second national title – his first was last spring at Ft. Kent, Maine where he won the national 50km freestyle. Flora was second in that race as well.

Elliott got good information while he was racing which helped him out. “I was getting a lot of great information out on the course. I knew it was going to be close, and I knew that my good friends Lars and Noah were close. Lars has been so good this year, and he’s a hero of mine. It just been awesome to ski with him.”  Elliott said that he had a good feeling when he awoke this morning. ” I just felt great and I put on my race skis from CXC and they were just crazy fast, which was so sweet.”

Full results HERE.

Results

1. Tad Elliot (Central Cross Country Skiing), 1:10:16.2
2. Lars Flora (Alaska Pacific University), 1:10:16.3
3. Noah Hoffman (Aspen Valley Ski Club/U.S. Ski Team) 1:10:19.2
4. Leif Zimmerman (Bridger Ski Foundation), 1:11:9.0
5. Michael Sinnot (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation), 1:11.13.5
6. Brian Gregg (Central Cross Country Skiing), 1:11:13.7
7. Alexander Treinen (University of Alaska Fairbanks), 1:11.39.6
8. James Southam (Alaska Pacific University), 1:12.10.3
9. Garrrott Kuzzy (Central Cross Country Skiing), 1:12:14.4
10. Sylvan Ellefson (Ski and Snowboard Club Vail), 1:12.25.9

Super Dario Wins as Harvey Takes 5th and Kershaw 10th at TdS 35km Pursuit UPDATED

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January 06, 2011 (Cortina, Italy) – Dario Cologna (SUI) hammered out a lonely 35km from Cortina to Toblach, Italy to maintain his dominant overall lead in today’s 6th stage at the FIS Tour de Ski. As leader of the Tour, Cologna started first in today’s handicap start, and no one could catch him. Swede Marcus Hellner came the closest, finishing second at 1:11.4 behind. Norway’s Petter Northug was the strongest in the chase group to finish third at 1:50.3 behind.

Canada’s Alex Harvey skied a very strong race today, finishing 5th. He helped control a chase pack of about 10 skiers that formed behind Hellner who broke away on his own attempting to bridge to Cologna to no avail. The group was intent on hunting down the leaders and by km 16, Harvey was pulling for Kershaw.

“It feels pretty good sitting in 5th! I’m kind of surprised, I was always coming to the Tour with the ambition of having 2-3 good days, not going for the overall,” said Harvey by email.

With Cologna skiing off the front at 5km, Canada’s Devon Kershaw had initially gained about 5 seconds on the leader and  was followed closely by Hellner but couldn’t maintain the pace.

“Today’s race was frustrating. I felt good again but when Hellner went by me he was on another level,” Kershaw told SkiTrax.  “I was going for it – but alone in the wind with a chase group of 10 breathing down hard on me – I was quickly swallowed up. I know I will celebrate my two 2nd place finishes and my career-first win when I get home, and I know I’ll be thrilled about them, but today I was left frustrated.”

Harvey said Kershaw’s three recent medals were on his mind as he raced. “I was motivated by watching Devon yesterday,” he said in a CCC press release.  “We saw Devon win a race and have three podiums – we know it’s possible. Today I was right there myself and I know I can get on the podium too.”

Along with the Canucks, the 10-skier chase pack included top skiers like Petter Northug (NOR), Lucas Bauer (CZE), Martin Jaks (CZE) and Daniel Rickardsson (SWE). The group skied well together at first, but by km 21 they seemed disorganized. When it became apparent that they weren’t likely to close in on Cologna or Hellner, they began to lose time as they each worried about the approaching finish line.

In the final few kms the pack began to splinter and it was every man for himself.

“The pack was very disorganized out there coming down the hill,” said Kershaw.  “Northug and Alex’s skis were definitely a notch above the rest, but with an opportunity for 3rd place in that pack – no one was willing to sacrifice to get back on Hellner.”

“I was pushing hard on the downhill part with Northug,” said Harvey.   “It seamed like people gave up on chasing Hellner and started racing for 3rd place, which is kind of stupid in a handicap start.  Who cares about the 3rd place really? I’d rather be 9th 30sec down on Hellner than 3rd 55sec down.  I was surprised that Northug was pushing the pace… he’s not known for doing that, but was 3rd in the end.”

Harvey said he felt that Kershaw’s pack could have done more to catch Hellner early on instead of resigning themselves to third, but as for catching Cologna, “No way in hell. He’s just better than anyone else right now, calm, strong and always putting himself in the right spot.”

As the skiers closed in on the finish line, Northug was able to best the few survivors of the chase pack, with Harvey taking a photo-finish over Rickardsson and Curdin Purl (SUI) to finish 5th. Kershaw finished 10th behind Matti Heikkinen (FIN) and Jean Marc Gaillard (FRA).

“It was OK for the guys today,” said Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth. “Alex was in good company to move up well. I would say it was a good day for him. Devon was OK too – he maintained his spot for the whole way up the hill, but succumbed to the group on the gradual down. It would have cost a lot of energy today for him to really go for it, and it might have been too much of a risk, especially with the 20km classic coming up. Ivan had a good day and moved up which puts him in a spot to improve more in the following days.”

Wadsworth said the team’s “rock-star” bus proved yet again to be a great tool for the athletes. “The bus is really serving it’s purpose with great recovery between stages, and a sanctum for the guys to prepare for battle. It came in really handy this morning in Cortina where there was no good place for the athletes to be.”

Canada’s Ivan Banikov finished 25th and the USA’s Kris Freeman placed 28th after starting in 20th and is 28th overall. Freeman’s teammate Andy Newell decided to call it quits and didn’t start today’s race. He joins 34 others who have abandoned the grueling Tour including Tobias Angerer (GER), Axel Teichmann (GER), Alexander Legkov (RUS) and Emil Joensson (SWE).

“Kris wanted more for sure and was hoping to move forward instead of falling back,” said US coach Chris Grover. “However, I was proud of his effort, especially for his first time seeing and skiing such a specialized course. I think this course requires some experience.”

As for Newell’s decision to withdraw, Grover said, “Andy and I decided it was best for him to stop the Tour. His distance skiing has not been close to his ability or potential this week, so we feel we need to take some days off and re-evaluate his preparation for the second half of the season.”

US XC Nationals 10/15km Classic – More Photos

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January 06, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Yesterday saw the action continue in Rumford, ME at the US XC Ski Nationals with the 10/15km Classic individual start races. In the women’s event, it was Sadie Bjornsen (APU) who grabbed the title, while team mate Lars Flora secured a second victory for APU in the men’s competition. Check out these great photos of yesterday’s races.

Winter Trails 2011 on Jan. 8 – Free Snowshoeing and XC Skiing at 80 Locations

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January 06, 2011 – Winter Trails takes place this Saturday, January 8, 2011 at over 80 locations nationwide. Winter Trails offers children and adults, new to snow sports, a chance to try snowshoeing and/or cross country skiing FREE at venues throughout North America. There is no charge for the use of equipment or trails. Most locations offer snowshoeing AND cross country skiing. Some locations only offer snowshoeing. Current alpine skiers and/or snowboarders are also encouraged to try an alternative snow sport.

Winter Trails locations, hours and offerings are posted at www.wintertrails.org as they are announced. Venues include alpine resorts, Nordic centers, state parks, National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service land. Details accompany each event’s listing on the Winter Trails website. Registration is also available on-site at each location.

There is no charge for equipment or trail fees. While most events take place on the “official date,” some are held on alternative dates. One of the largest – at Estes Park, Colorado – is being held on January 15, 2011 and is part of the Estes Park Winter Festival.

Snowshoeing and cross country skiing are winter outdoor activities that can be enjoyed by individuals, groups of friends and family members,” said Reese Brown, a Winter Trails organizer. “They are affordable, easy to learn and provide moderate to vigorous exercise, depending on an individual’s effort. With obesity rates in the U.S. at an all time high, Winter Trails can introduce active and not so active children and adults to sports that provide winter outdoor recreation.”

SnowSports Industries America (SIA), a national, non-profit trade association for snow sports suppliers, manages Winter Trails. Winter Trails sponsors and media partners included: Atlas, Backpacker Magazine, Crescent Moon Snowshoes, Cross Country Skier Magazine, MSR, Rossignol, SkiTrax, Snowshoe Magazine, Tubbs, Whitewoods, XCSkiresorts.com.

Kershaw Wins First World Cup Gold at TdS Toblach Skate Sprint

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January 05, 2011 (Toblach, Italy) – In dramatic style that’s been building since his two silver medals at the Tour de Ski, Canada’s Devon Kershaw went for broke and claimed the gold medal win he’s been craving as he brought the nation to it’s feet.

His coach predicted it and Kershaw delivered winning today’s 1.3km freestyle sprint in Toblach, Italy, the fifth leg of the FIS World Cup Tour de Ski.

Kershaw is only the third Canadian man to win a World Cup. Ivan Babikov won the final 10km freestyle uphill stage at the 2009 Tour de Ski while the great Pierre Harvey (father to Kershaw’s teammate Alex Harvey) won three World Cups, one in 1987 and two in 1988.

Kershaw’s been on fire lately laying down incredible results in the Tour this year. He racked up back-to-back silver medals first in the classic sprint, and then in the 15km classic. After his classic sprint performance, coach Justin Wadsworth predicted that “Devon’s first win was imminent.”

“I’m thrilled. I’m more than thrilled. I absolutely cannot believe it,” said Kershaw describing his win in a CCC press release. “Justin [Wadsworth – Canadian Ski Team head coach] kept telling me all year to be patient and the win would come. I wanted to believe him and I just kept staying with the plan. This is just unreal.”

Kershaw only narrowly sneaked into the final, taking the second lucky loser spot. Clearly, he took that near miss to heart, skiing an absolutely perfect final for the gold. He held back early on, staying in 4th and 5th position.

On the first climb he made a move to take over the lead, but it wasn’t until the final climb that he really blew the doors off, dropping the field and making for the finish like a man possessed. He opened a large gap heading into the final stretch and it proved enough to stave off the hard-charging Dario Cologna (SUI) and Petter Northug (NOR).

His break-away, which he called a “suicide move” wasn’t something he’d planned, said Kershaw.  “It kind of just materialized. I was tucked in the pack while some other guys were working for the first lap. When I saw [Marcus] Hellner making a bit of a move, I just went with it,” said Kershaw in a phone interview.

Waiting to hear about the lucky loser spot while the second semifinal raced must have been nerve wracking, but Kershaw said he was pretty relaxed.   “The reality is the goal was just to get through the quarters today,” he said. “I knew that worst case scenario I’d end up 7th…and the pace had seemed pretty high, so I was nice and relaxed.”

Kershaw had stellar skis under him today, and has throughout the Tour.

“Our hats go off to Yves (Bilodeau) and all our wax guys,” said Wadsworth. According to the NST head coach, their skis are turning heads in a big way. Even Cologna commented to Wadsworth that the Canadians have consistently had “the best skis in the field.”

American fast man Andy Newell qualified strongly in 6th this morning, and skied well taking the win in his quarterfinal. In his semifinal, he had some difficulties, getting boxed in on the last corner and finished third, but the pace in his heat was not fast enough to snag a lucky loser spot, both of which went to the 3rd and 4th skiers of the first heat – including Kershaw.

Newell’s teammate Kris Freeman qualified in a World Cup sprint for the second time in his career but was paired with Newell in the quarter finals and did not advance.

Canada’s Alex Harvey, 8th in the qualifications was also out early placing third in his quarterfinal heat – but gets more time rest is not a bad thing at the Tour de Ski.

Now with a win – and the 60-second time bonus that accompanies it – under his belt, Kershaw is closing in on Tour de Ski leader Cologna, but he said taking the over all win isn’t a priority for him.

“No, it’s definitely not a goal right now.” He said his goal for the Tour was never the overall, but to have solid races. He’s had four impressive results, including two silvers a now a gold medal, and he said he’s happy with that and is already thinking about preserving his form for World Championships.

Kershaw sounded a little nervous about Thursday’s 35km handicap start freestyle race, saying “I’ll be out there on my own for a lot of it, which isn’t the best. I just hope I can hang on.”  Even so, coach Wadsworth thinks Saturday’s 20km classic will be perfect for Kershaw. “That’s a race he could potentially win by 20 seconds or more,” said Wadsworth.

Tomorrow’s 35km handicapped freestyle race will be a challenge for Kershaw, but look for him to continue his medal streak in the 20km classic on Saturday. Finally there will be the infamous 9km hill climb in Val di Fiemme, Italy for the racers to contend with.

Video of Kershaw’s win HERE.
Press Conference HERE.

Sprint results HERE.
Overall HERE.

Majdic Dominates TdS Skate Sprint – Randall 5th

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January 05, 2011 Toblach, Italy – The women’s 1.3km freestyle sprint in Toblach, Italy this morning was shaping up to be a showdown between the Tour de Ski’s biggest names but after the first round of quarter final heats two of those names were out. Tour leader Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden were eliminated quickly leaving the door open for classic sprint winner Petra Majdic (SLO) and US skate specialist Kikkan Randall among others vying for the podium.

As well as Kowalczyk and Kalla there were some other surprises. Sweden’s other speed queen, Anna Haag, who was part of the heat that pushed Kowalczyk out of the quarters, was herself eliminated in the semis by the French youngster Laure Barthelemy.

Majdic wasted no time in demonstrating her intentions charging to the front and dominating every heat she raced all day. Randall, who was looking for another podium, had also been strong all day as well, winning her quarterfinal heat handily, and skiing very well in the semifinals, placing second in a photo-finish with Italy’s Arianna Follis.

In the final Majdic took the pole position again early as the partisan crowd cheered on the two Italians, Follis and Magda Genuin, who had made cut as one of the lucky losers, but neither was a match for the neon yellow Slovenian.

Behind Randall was keeping pace and setting up to advance but her luck went south when she got tangled with Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgen, the second lucky loser, who crashed when another skier stepped on her pole.

At the front it was Majdic’s day again as the two Italians put up strong fight in the final meters but the Slovenian star took her second sprint win and was jubilant once again at the finish as Follis took 2nd ahead of Genuin while Barthelemy was 4th, Randall was 5th and Johansson Norgren finished 6th.

“I figured out how the race would go in the quarter final, and realized I can win although I was in the front all the time,” Majdic said in a FIS XC interview after her race. “I was scared for a moment though, because I heard the speaker said Arianna was attacking. When we went body to body, I knew that I was in front as I was prepared to put my foot on the finish line.”

For Randall there was no chance to recover and get back in the mix with such a fast pace. “It was going so well, I was feeling like I had a shot at the podium,” she said in a phone interview. “I’m really kicking myself.  Coming out of the draft and into the climb I tried to go right, but someone stepped on Norgren’s pole and we got really tangled.”

Randall has now moved up to 17th overall.

“Kikkan was disappointed because she was felt like she was feeling pretty good and had great skis,” said UST coach Chris Grover. “She’s had three podiums in a row in skate sprint on the World Cup and this was the first time she’s been off the podium in a little bit. She knows she can reach it [the podium] most days if things are going OK”

Tomorrow’s TdS race is a 15km freestyle handicapped start for the women, followed on Saturday by a 10km classic race and the final 9km hill climb on Sunday.

Sprint Results HERE.
Women’s Overall HERE.

Bjornsen Claims Women’s 10km CL Title at US XC Nationals UPDATED

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January 05, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Sadie Bjornsen (APU), who won the 1.4km free sprint at the Haywood Nor-Am in Rossland, BC, last month, took the victory in the women’s 10km individual start classic race at the US XC Ski Nationals in Rumford, ME, today. The classic 10/15km distance races, originally scheduled for Tuesday (Jan. 4), were moved to Wed. in order to allow better preparation of the courses for the rest of the competitions, as Rumford experienced very warm weather just prior to the Nationals creating very challenging snow conditions.

APU went 1-2 with Morgan Smyth (Park City, UT) claiming the second spot on the women’s podium with the U.S. Ski Team’s Morgan Arritola from Fairfield, ID in third.

“It was a great race out there today. Race officials managed to throw a great course together considering all the challenges they have faced over the week with the lack of snow,” said Bjornsen after her win. “I felt really great, hammered super hard the entire way and tried to stay positive. I knew that in order to make the podium today, I was going to need to put myself in a world of hurt- so I kept that thought in my head the entire way and just tried to keep the skis moving.

“Our wax techs did a great job of giving us fast skis that worked well, which is always nice in a classic race,” added the winner. “It was also fun to see how well my teammates did, with Morgan Smyth right behind me taking second place, and then a whole slew of APU’rs following. Thanks to everyone for the hard work today putting on the race! I had a great time!,”

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Sadie Bjornsen (APU) 32:09.9
2. Morgan Smyth  (APU) 32:40.0
3. Morgan Arritola (SVSEF) 32:58.5

Noah Hoffman Interview at 2011 US XC Ski Nationals

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January 05, 2011 (Rumford, Maine) – I have always loved sports writing, and especially Nordic journalism over the course of over thirty plus years. In recent times I am no longer coaching or traveling to JOs, or going to every ski national, or announcing at many local races.

There are so many wonderful new faces on the scene which fills me with boundless hope and encouragement about skiing and our potential in the global community. There was a time when I knew just about everyone in the sport by name, but now realize there are fewer skiers from the latest generation that I’ve actually come to know well. I find this so encouraging as it demonstrates that the programs across the USA are bigger than ever and I wish I could know each and every one of them.

With that in mind, I tracked down Aspen, Colorado’s Noah Hoffman for a sit down interview in his motel during the 2011 US XC Ski Nationals – one down, 500 skiers to go.

The Hoff
As he readies for the serious task at hand of racing at the 2011 US Cross-country Championships in Rumford, Maine, Noah Hoffman seems remarkably calm and collected. This Aspen skier, who hails from Evergreen, CO, is at once both calm and confident when it comes to racing. His eyes, looking directly at me, are bright and youthful.

The “Hoff” skis out of the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club and is coached by former US Olympian John Callahan.

At 21, he’s already a veteran of the World Juniors and U23 Championships and is ready to meet the challenges of this week, while embracing all the possibilities that loom before him.

Bitten by the Bug
Hoffman started xc skiing in the seventh grade in Aspen. He was a multi-sport athlete and enjoyed the wonderful diversity sport engenders.

“I always felt like I had more talent for endurance sports, despite the fact that I love soccer a lot and tennis, too. I could have seen myself as a competitive tennis player. So I was bummed when I gave it up.

“I didn’t really focus on skiing over running until my later years in high school. I guess it was first running and then skiing.”

Now despite all his training for cross-country skiing, Hoffman loves to cycle (road and MTB), alpine ski and still hits a mean tennis ball, I’m told. Running came naturally to him.

On the Virtue of Patience
“I would say patience is something that I have struggled with for sure it’s something that I have tried to learn, and I am still learning. Kikkan [Randall], along with [Andy] Newell and Bird [Kris Freeman] are all so good at that. So patient. So relaxed. Taking everything in stride. I think there a lot of lessons to be learned from them. Last year was a pretty frustrating year for me and I struggled to take it well.”

On Last Season
Hoffman figures he didn’t ski up to his potential last year, and naturally it bothered him.

“I think mostly it was changes in my training that didn’t necessarily give me the gains I was looking for. My technique focus was not at the same place – or as good a place – as it is this year. I am on a brand new program this year working with Zach Caldwell… and that has been awesome. I really feel like the focus is on maximizing my speed for the length of time I need to ski fast. How do you ski fast over 15, 30 or 50km, as opposed to being able to produce speed over 100 or 200 meters and at what cost? I’m also doing way less intensity training than I did last year and really focusing on energy management, and volume, and having a base – and having something that I will be confident in … my aerobic fitness.”

“Almost once a moth this summer I went down to Boulder to work with Zach for three or four days at a time – and got to work with him. We would do six sessions in a row, morning and afternoon, and then I would go home. In those six sessions I felt like I made tremendous gains and was able to solidify some of those gains over the month I was home. I think it worked really well for me. I am really happy with the way that all turned out.

“Now I am skiing more fluid and, well… it’s all about skiing without tension, without pulling on any one muscle group and all while being relaxed. The whole goal this year was being able to get into my aerobic capacity. Last year I felt like my fitness wasn’t that far off, but I was not able to utilize it all. I would get so tense. So the goal this year is ‘how do I ski, without getting in my own way?’ For me it’s all about feeling. Watching a video of myself does nothing for me,” he said with a grin.”

On Being on the European World Cup This Year
The pace, the travel, the crowds, perhaps even the hero worshipping can make the first several trips to Europe a daunting experience, so we wondered what he’d learned.

“I guess I’m learning to relax, and treat a World Cup race like any other. The pace is the biggest thing. I mean in the US there’s a bigger gap. Depending on where you fall on the seed list you can blow by the four people in front of you, and still not have a fantastic race, and not win it. Whereas, over there, if you catch your 30-second man you’re probably going pretty fast, because nobody is slow over there.

“So even in an individual start race and especially in a mass start race just it takes getting used to how fast everyone is and how fit everyone is. You just can’t ski away from people, which is a completely different mental deal. In all the races, especially earlier in the trip at Gallivare and Kuusamo, I felt like I was flying but I was just going the speed of everyone else. It’s kinda tough mentally to say ‘why am I not passing people, I am going so fast.’ It’s something you have to get used to.

He’s also keen on seeing new places and all the travel the sport affords him.

On Freeman
“I have spent so much time looking up to him and I’ve really taken a lot of his ideas and worked them through with Zach – he has a lot of experience working with Kris so it helps. I have never beaten Kris, though I hope I can someday and he is racing so well right now. He’s a role model for me.”

On Training
“I love to train and I love feeling like I am out working hard, even though this year I’ve had much more rest than last year. Sometimes in the past I’ve over done it – you need to rest. I haven’t really trained at all since I came back from Europe and now I feel super recovered and super ready to go. Hope it translates into some fast skiing on Wed. and the next days here at Nationals.”

Looking at his computer he adds, “I have trained 594 hours so far.” Noting that he really has no specific number in mind to meet.

Hoffman and fellow Colorado skier Tadd Elliott have already pre-qualified for the USA’s U23 Worlds team, and he’d like to make the USA Nordic World’s team as well. It looks like it will be a busy winter for him.

When asked about the Sochi 2014 Olympics he said, “Yes, I want to be on that team, but it’s not just about being on the team – I have performance as my goal.”

Hoffman would like to go to college and perhaps even ski on the circuit. “I think my dad will be happy to hear that,” he added with a large smile.

Life in the world of skiing has already been on a pretty fast track for this young man from Aspen, and one thing’s for certain – he’s enjoying the ride.

FLASH: Devon Kershaw WINS his First World Cup at Tour de Ski

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January 05, 2011 (Toblach, Italy) – His coach predicted it and Devon Kershaw delivered winning today’s 1.3km freestyle sprint in Toblach, Italy, the fifth leg of the FIS World Cup Tour de Ski. Kershaw is only the third Canadian man to win a World Cup. Ivan Babikov won the final 10km freestyle uphill stage at the 2009 Tour de Ski while the great Pierre Harvey (father to Kershaw’s teammate Alex Harvey) won three World Cups in 1987 and 1988.

Kershaw has been laying down incredible results at the Tour this year, racking up two silver medals in the classic sprint and the 15km classic, slotting him in second position overall behind Dario Cologna (SUI) heading into today’s skate sprint race. Following his classic sprint performance, Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth said that Devon’s first win was “imminent.”

Kershaw won his quarter final heat but narrowly sneaked into the final taking the second lucky loser spot. Clearly he took that near miss to heart, skiing an absolutely perfect final. He held back early on, staying in 4th and 5th position, and it wasn’t until the final climb where he really blew the doors off, dropping the field and making for the finish like a man possessed.

He opened a large gap heading into the final stretch that proved enough to stave off the hard-charging Cologna and Petter Northug (NOR).

With the win – and the 60-second time bonus that accompanies it – under his belt, Kershaw enters the history books and is now in perfect position to challenge Cologna for the overall Tour de Ski title as they head into the final three races of this grueling tour.

Tour de Trapp and Antique Nordic Ski Race – Jan. 8-9

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January 05, 2011 (Stowe, VT) – In celebration of the sport, the Vermont Ski Museum presents the 5th Annual Antique Nordic Ski Race on a 2.5 km classic cross country ski race on vintage equipment and in vintage clothing on January 9 at the Trapp Family Lodge Touring Center. Racers must compete on wooden skis with three-pin bindings and appropriate boots; vintage clothing is optional. Bamboo poles, wooden skis, and leather boots will be available in various sizes, but racers are encouraged to dig their old equipment out of the garage and bring it along.

Race registration $25 and begins at 9am, Race at 10am. Any changes in schedule resulting from weather conditions will be posted on our web site and Facebook page.

1st Annual Tour de Trapp – Trapp Family Lodge – Jan. 8
Many of you might remember the Vermont Ain’t Flat Race that was held years ago. This 0ne-loop 40km marathon will be the inaugural race for the VTXC ski team. The event will give racers an opportunity to get acquainted with the team members and even a chance to compete against them. This ski marathon is a benefit for the Vermont Ski Museum. Registration is at 8am, race at 9am. More details www.trappfamily.com

Join the Vermont Ski Museum HERE.

Rossignol Team Report – Torin Koos Wins CL Sprints at 2011 U.S. XC Ski Championships

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January 05, 2011 – Rossignol’s Nordic Team Athlete, Torin Koos, started the New Year off strong winning the CL Sprints at the 2011 U.S. XC Ski Championships in Rumford, ME. The win is a great start to the season. Torin trained hard this summer and was not surprised by his fitness when he spoke with press post-race. “I had great training this fall, went to Europe and had some good races over there. It should keep get better and better,” said Koos.

Torin races on Rossignol’s X-ium Classic package, including X-ium NIS Classic Ski, XCelerator Skate NIS Binding, X-ium WC Classic Boot, and Oneway’s DS 10 pole. It is the lightest weight classic race package Rossignol has ever offered.

The X-ium Classic ski offers a great compromise between kick and glide using the sure-kick concept. The X-ium boot’s seamless lace cover and more accurate heel hold results in better envelopment of the foot and weight reduction. The XCelerator binding has a flexbit system, closure system and unnecessary material has been removed to decrease the weight.

Oneway’s DS 10 Titanium pole is 100% Carbon reinforced with titanium making the pole stiff and ultra light weight. The rabbit strap allows for twice the adjustment of a regular strap and the cork grip provides warmth, comfort and anti-slip grip.

Watch for Torin and the rest of Rossignol’s Nordic Team throughout the season on the X-ium Race packages.

Swix US XC Ski Nationals Day 1 Report and Photos – Managing Dirt

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January 04, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – The USSA National Championship classic sprint race in Rumford, Maine lived up to expectations as an exciting and challenging event. The organizing committee did an amazing job given the prevailing weather conditions over the past week and Sunday’s race was fair for all the racers competing.

The weather forecasts were as predicted for Sunday with warm air temperatures and wet corn snow crystals. Track conditions were extremely dirty and keeping ski bases as clean as possible was one important aspect to having fast skis. Structure also played an important role in the ski preparation process, as the snow was very wet due to temperatures not dropping below freezing for the prior 48 hours before the race. Glide wax selection was straight forward, as the weather and snow conditions did not drastically change prior to or during the race.

Swix racing service was present at the event and ran a number of on snow tests to determine the optimum combination of glide wax, base structure and kick wax that was used by many top competitors in the classic sprint.

Starting with glide testing, we tested base and mid layer paraffin waxes. MB77- Moly Fluor Wax was an ideal base paraffin for these dirty snow conditions. On top of the MB77, testing found HF8BW to run the fastest, with the BW additive aiding in repelling the considerable amount of dirt on the race course.

Once we had our base paraffin and layer paraffin waxes identified and applied to our skis, the next step was to find the ideal Cera F top coat. Testing found that FC8X was the fastest Cera powder. The combination of MB77, HF8BW and FC8X is a widely used in World Cup racing with a history of providing excellent race results.

The morning of the race, Swix RS tested final layer Cera F liquids and base structure. We found FC8L to be the best liquid to use over the top of FC8X. The structure test revealed that the T401 Swix Super riller with the 1.0mm coarse bar combined with the 1.0mm Broken V structure roller over the top greatly reduced the wet friction created by the moisture in the snow. Also, this structure combination did not collect dirt, keeping the skis as clean as possible in these extremely dirty snow conditions.

Kick waxing was very straight forward, given the snow crystals present. A thin klister base of KR20, covered with a thin layer KR35 provided a strong binder layer for the top, race wax layer of KR70 with just a few dots of K22n mixed into the KR70. The KR70 provided great kick and the K22n added toughness to the KR70, reducing wear and icing. It was important to make sure the race wax layer was not too thick, as this would collect dirt and slow the skis down.

Weather conditions look to improve as the temperatures will be dropping below freezing for the next week. The snow guns are running and we are looking forward to testing in the new conditions. Look for updates at www.SwixRacing.us and SwixNordic on Facebook.

Only Swix’s Cera Nova wax matrix takes the guesswork out of waxing by creating a perfect wax for each snow condition.

Interview with USSA Nordic Director John Farra at the 2011 US XC Nationals

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January 04, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – SkiTrax caught up with USSA Nordic Director John Farra at the 2011 US XC Nationals in Rumford, ME. Farra expressed enthusiasm about Sunday’s successful sprint races and also commented on the decision to move the classic 10/15km distance races, originally scheduled for Tuesday (Jan. 4), to Wednesday (Jan. 5) in order to prepare the courses for the rest of the competitions. Rumford experienced very warm weather just prior to the Nationals creating very challenging snow conditions but as the temperatures have now dropped course workers will attempt to make, move, and find more of the white stuff in order to present world-class courses for the remaining US XC National races on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

US XC Ski Nats – Toko Sprint Wax Report and Photos

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January 04, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Conditions were as forecasted – warm, wet, (although during race times there was no precipitation) dirty, and soft. The wax recommendation held up all day and as we recommended, more structure was needed as the day went on. Attention to detail proved to be very important today as well. Small things made a difference especially in a short race with extreme conditions (wet and dirty) and with a finishing section consisting of a downhill with a long run out!

The wax needed to be brushed and polished off the ski very well today to prevent dirt build up. That applies to fluorocarbons as well. Even a slight greasy sheen on the base will attract dirt in such dirty and wet conditions.

The kick zones used today were pretty short as glide was so important. It was important to clean up the exposed sanded area so it wouldn’t attract dirt.

The Yellow Structurite bit proved to be really good over a 1mm linear structure as we recommended. After a few runs (including qualifying), it needed to be reapplied as it only got wetter out there.

Many had success with JetStream Red (as well as the more obvious Yellow). JetStream Red is surprisingly good in wet snow and is generally the call when conditions are wet and dirty. If wet and clean, JetStream Yellow is best. Sunday was a short race and of course people rewaxed for the heats, so Yellow was good despite the dirt.

Aussie XC Ski Team – Bottomley Podiums at Campra Swiss Cup

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December 31, 2010 – For the second year in a row, Esther Bottomley made the podium for the Swiss Cup Classic Sprint in Campra. Bottomley was third in the 1.2km Time Trial behind Swiss skiers Sereina Boner and Doris Trachsel, and that was how they finished in the final. Georgia Merritt and Belinda Phillips were knocked out in the quarter-finals, while on the men’s side only junior Phillip Bellingham made it into the finals with a strong 11th place amongst the field of 51 Swiss juniors.

The next day, Bottomley backed up with a very fine 4th place in the 10km Freestyle, just 7 seconds from the podium in one of her best distance FIS races in Europe. On the men’s side Ewan Watson scored a PB 105 FIS points in the 15km Freestyle in 18th place.

More details are available on the AUS XC Website HERE and full results from all the Campra FIS races are available on the FIS site HERE.

FIS Tour de Ski 2010-11 – Dec. 31-Jan. 9
It starts today, eight World Cups in ten days, Callum Watson is racing, that’s all the detail for the moment otherwise there won’t be enough time to wax his skis for the opening 3.5km F Prologue.

Other Coming Events

Fischen Night Sprint, January 4
That old family favourite, this year hopefully the team will make it to the start on time. Ten Australian athletes are entered, most of them travelling up from Campra in the morning before the race.

OPA Continental Cup, Oberwiesenthal, Germany, January 7-9
An even larger crew of Australians will compete in Oberwiesenthal, at last count thirteen athletes were entered. It will be a tall ask for team manager Brian Keeble and German coach / wax technician superstar Fabian Mauz but they are up for the challenge.

Reports will be posted on the AUS XC Website HERE.

China Tour de Ski 2010/11 Stage 3 – Xu, Eide Win

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December 30, 2010 (Beijing, China) – Wenlong Xu (Chn) and Mari Eide (Nor) won the men’s and women’s Stage 3 races at the China Tour de Ski’s 1.2km freestyle sprints respectively under clear skies in Beijing’s fabled Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium. In the men’s race, Stage 2 winner Johan Edin (Swe) grabbed second spot, with another Chinese skier Qinghai Sun in third and Finland’s Antii Haekaemies in fourth.

Women’s Stage 2 champion Dandan Man (Chn) had to settle for second behind her Norwegian nemesis Eide, while Hongxue Li (Chn) snatched the final podium position with Sweden’s Helene Soederlund in 4th. The 50km Classic Vasaloppet, the final leg of the China Tour de Ski, takes place on Sunday, January 2 in Jilin.

Men’s Final HERE
Women’s Final HERE

Nordic Meisters Begins Sixteenth Season at Great Glen Trails

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December 30, 2010 (Pinkham Notch, NH) – Nordic Meisters, the largest weekly cross country ski race series in the country, will begin its sixteenth season on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at Great Glen Trails. Nordic Meisters is a fun race series for all ability levels with $5,000 in prizes available through a participation raffle.

Nordic Meisters is a weekly cross country ski race series that allows skiers to compete at their own pace. From serious racers to beginning skiers, Nordic Meisters has divisions and courses for all ages and abilities. In addition, Nordic Meisters uses a unique age adjustment system to calculate the final times, so all skiers can compete on a level playing field. Points are awarded based on the order of finish in each category. Competitors race against the clock on either the long (5k) or short (2.5k) Nordic Meister courses using either skate or classic technique. Racers may log their times between 9:00am and 3:45pm for eight weeks from Tuesday, January 4 through Tuesday, March 1. (No race on Tuesday, February 22.) Competitors that complete 6 out of 8 weeks are eligible for placement awards (top three in each category) and the end of season prize raffle, which features more than $5,000 in prizes. The awards party and raffle will be held on Saturday, March 12.

For those looking to just enjoy the camaraderie of the series, Nordic Meisters also features an un-timed division. Untimed competitors are still eligible for the prize raffle, if they complete 6 of the 8 weeks.

Not just for skiers, Nordic Meisters also features a snowshoe division. Like the skiers, the snowshoe racers will have two courses to choose from. The long course will be just over 3k, while the short course will be approximately 1k. The snowshoe division will not use the age adjustment system but will offer placement awards, and all snowshoers that complete 6 out of 8 weeks will be eligible for the prize raffle.

Results are posted weekly in the Conway Daily Sun and on the Great Glen Trails website.

For more information and registration, visit www.GreatGlenTrails.com.

SkiTrax Fantasy FIS Tour de Ski 2010/11 – Deadline is Dec. 30

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December 29, 2010 (Toronto, ON) – The final deadline to register your team for the international SkiTrax FIS Fantasy Tour de Ski 2010 Contest is Thursday, Dec. 30 at 10pm EST. Don’t miss this opportunity to win fabulous prizes valued at over $4,000 and compete with other contestants from around the world.

There have only been a few adjustments to the FIS XC-TdS registered list of skiers since we first posted the list on Dec. 21 when we launched the contest – Francois Soulie (And), Nicole Fessel (Ger), and Monique Siegel (Ger) are not racing at the TdS and we have removed them from our menu. Note that Fessel is still listed as registered on the TdS site.

Please note that countries can make changes to their team up until 1pm (CET) on Dec. 30 and we will do our best to keep readers informed but recommend checking the FIS XC-TdS site directly to ensure that all of your team members are in fact racing.

The 2010/11 Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear kicks off in Oberhof, Germany on Friday, Dec. 31 and runs until Jan. 9 finishing at Val di Fiemme, Italy.

Here’s how the Fantasy FIS Tour de Ski 2010/11 Contest works
Register your team of four (4) men, and four (4) women including two (2) Outlaw Skiers (one male and one female) not in the top 15 of the FIS World Cup overall rankings. The menus for all skiers are at registration as well as a link to the FIS World Cup Ranking where you can find more details on each skier.

Deadlines, Points, Prizes
The deadline to register your FIS Tour de Ski 2010/11 team, or to make any changes, is 10pm EST on Dec. 30 – the day before the TdS launches. Earn bonus points such as Kick and Glide or Val Climb Points along with other opportunities to score points – all contest rules and information are available at TdS contest registration.

Points will be awarded following each TdS stage based on each skier’s performance and published regularly at skitrax.com so you can follow your team’s progress and see how you compare with the actual TdS standings and other players.

Register HERE.

SkiTrax Fantasy FIS TdS 2010/11 Contest Prizes
—————————————————–
*1st PrizeRossignol Xium WCS2 skis/boots, Xcelerator skate bindings, One Way DS 10 poles (value $1,620)
*2nd PrizeMont Ste-Anne – 2 nights lodging w/breakfast + 3-day XC gift certificate, tune-up (value $800)
*3rd PrizeAtomic WCup Classic boots (value $370)
*4th PrizeSwix Digital T72 Iron (value $350)
*5th Prize Halti Blow Down two-piece race suit (value $270)
*6th Prize – Sparkling Hill Masters World Cup 2011 jacket (value $200)
*7th PrizeSporthill Women’s Summit top (value $140)
*8th PrizeRottefella Xcelerator Skate/Classic Bindings (value $130)
*9th PrizeSkadi Package – BootBuddies, BootMates, BootDocks and Ski Scraper (value $90)
*10th PrizeAuclair Micro Mountain Olympic Gloves + Earbags (value $65)

Rest Day Leader Prizes
*Jan. 4 – $100 Gift Certificate Fresh Air Experience
*Jan. 7 – $100 Gift Certificate High Peaks Cyclery

Thanks to FIS and all of our great sponsors including Rossignol, Mont Ste-Anne, Atomic, Swix, Halti, Masters World Cup 2011, Sporthill, Rottefella, Skadi, Auclair, Fresh Air Experience and High Peaks Cyclery….

SkiTrax is North America’s premiere Nordic skiing publication and the official magazine of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and Cross Country Canada (CCC).



Tour De Ski China 2010/11 Stage 2 – Swedes Dominate

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December 29, 2010 (Inner Mongolia, China) – Swedish skiers stole the show at Stage 2 on a cold (-17 C) sunny day in China’s Inner Mongolia in the men’s 1.3km free style sprint, with Johan Edin, the fastest qualifier, and brothers Emil and Adam Johansson sweeping the podium. Fellow Swede and 2006 Olympic Champion, Bjorn Lind, qualified third but crashed in the small final to finish 8th. In the women’s competition, China’s Man Dandan qualified second, but toppled number one qualifier Mari Eide (Nor) in the final for the win. Li Hongxue (Chn) grabbed third spot.

The Tour De Ski China caravan, including athletes, team leaders, and event organizers, will pack up and head to Beijing tomorrow for Stage 3 to be held in the evening in the famous Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium.

With files from Nordic Ways.

Men’s Qualifications HERE
Women’s Qualifications HERE

Men’s Final HERE
Men’s Final HERE

Todd Lodwick to Host Nordic Ski Camp at The Home Ranch – Feb. 8-12

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December 27, 2010 (Clark, CO) – Ever wondered what it would be like to ski and train with an Olympian considered one of the finest Nordic skiers in the world? This spring, from February 8th -12th, 2011, Nordic combined Olympic medalist and world champion Todd Lodwick will host his first Nordic Ski Camp at The Home Ranch. The luxury ski camp will provide a highly inspiring World Cup-style training experience for enthusiastic skate skiers from ages 12-100. The camp will culminate in a 3KM sprint race on the Home Ranch meadow. Is your child or grandchild a competitive skier? Are you preparing for a competitive Nordic race like the Birkebeiner or just wanting to become a better skate skier? Whether your goal is to become a better skier, a faster racer, or a future Olympian, the camp promises to provide an unforgettable skiing experience.

Find out more HERE.

How-to Improve Your Snowplow Turns – Video

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December 27, 2010 – Check out this great instructional video on how to improve your snowplow turns on XC skis, demonstrated by SkiTrax Technique columnist, Keith Nicol. This skill will improve your ability to descend by helping you maintain control while moderating your speed. Nichol is also a CANSI Level 4 ski instructor and runs the winter outdoor pursuits programme at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Visit his web site HERE and for more information on CANSI click HERE.

Happy Hoho Holidays from Heidi

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December 27, 2010 (Banff, AB) – How I love the holidays. This year, the Christmas festivities started December 7th, the night before leaving for Rossland. Good friends and fellow racers, Michaela and Graeme, joined Joey and I for a gingerbread house making extravaganza! Making the dough from scratch, baking, decorating, having dinner and watching Jim Carrey star in ‘a Christmas Carol’ took up over 5 hours of our evening, but I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend it! This is Joey and I’s log cabin and got me right pumped about Christmas being just around the corner.

I am lucky to have my family close by, so the Christmas travel from the Condo for Phil and I was no more than a twenty minute drive. My brother Matt, made it home safely from Tofino as well as my sister, Ange, who’s home from going to University at Mount Royal. Simon, my sisters boyfriend from New Zealand, also joined us at Chez Widmer for some Swiss Zopf and turkey dinner. Mmm Goood! Is all I gotta say bout dat!

Mirror, mirror – Phil drew my name for the ‘Widmer Homemade Secret Santa’ and created this oak frame for the mirror from scratch, what a guy!

For my secret santa project this year, I had the vision of a lamp. The crew at Canmore Wood Crafters made a beautiful maple bed for my parents this year and I thought a bed side lamp for my dad would fit the bill. I called up, or rather Facebook messaged, Phil Tarchuk to help me out with this vision. After some brainstorming together, he generously crafted the lamp base from maple and walnut and I finished it off by creating the lamp shade with some copper piping and handmade paper then wiring the lamp. Check out Phil Tarchuk’s awesome website HERE.

After a leisurely morning, the Widmer bro’s went out to scope out the best ice around… they delivered! The most recent cold snap froze the remaining parts of Minniwanka, meaning that there was no snow on it and easily takes the title for the best ice in the BV at the moment.


Being his first time on skates since he was about 10, Simon, my sister’s Kiwi, was a trooper skating out to the good ice

My mom and dad teamed up in the kitchen for an awesome turkey dinner, it’s always more effort to pull off than you would think. And for dessert? We handed it off to Matt for some fruit flambé. The look on my mom’s face was priceless, no worries though, Matt had this dessert under control.

Christmas doubles as another Thanksgiving for me, in that it reminds me of how thankful I am for the family and backyard I have, plus we eat turkey again. After filling up on my fair share of turkey n’ taters in Banff, it was back to work today at the Canmore Nordic Center for some Zone 3 intensity with some of the Academy girls. Our next event will be a local Bow Corridor Regional Race Sprint Relay on December 29th.

‘Till next time!

Check out Heidi’s blog HERE.

Fast and Female Regional XC Ski Fest in Alaska with Kikkan Randall – Jan. 29

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December 24, 2010 (Canmore, AB) – Fresh off two World Cup sprint medals so far this season, Alaska-born Cross-Country skier and Fast and Female Ambassador Kikkan Randall now has her sights on spreading the love – the Fast and Female way! On Saturday, January 29, 2011, Randall and her teammate, Holly Brooks, will be hosting 250 young female skiers between the ages of nine to 19 years old at the Chugiak High School in Chugiak (Alaska) for a unique afternoon of inspiration, skiing, healthy eating and yoga.

Title sponsored by the Anchorage Women’s Clinic, this year’s event marks the third consecutive year that Randall is hosting a Fast and Female event in her home state of Alaska. The highly anticipated event will offer aspiring female ski champions the opportunity to be in direct contact with two of the World’s and Nation’s top cross-country ski racers.

“We’ve had so much fun with our previous events in Alaska and I’m really looking forward to testing out a new venue this year,” said Randall. “I hope to see participants from all over the state and celebrate together the Fast and Female motto of: Spread the Love and Dominate the World!”

Founded in 2005, Fast and Female is a non-profit organization based in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. The organization is intensely focused on delivering innovative non-competitive programming to increase the retention of girls in sports and offset the factors that make girls six times more likely to drop out of sports than boys.

Each year, the organization travels all over Canada and the US with Olympic and elite-level female athletes to offer sport-specific programming for female youth participants involved in Cross-Country Skiing, Biathlon, Alpine Skiing, Triathlon, and Cycling. Program scope and reach grows annually with the addition of new female ambassadors.

Fast and Female’s expansion into the US was made possible in 2009 thanks to the friendship and collaboration between Randall and Canada’s Chandra Crawford. Crawford is the organization’s original founder and won a gold medalist in cross-country skiing at the 2006 Olympics.

Since 2009, Randall has hosted two Annual US X-Country Ski Festivals in her hometown of Anchorage in Alaska, reaching a total of more than 300 girls. In 2011, the Annual US X-Country Ski Festival is moving to the State of Maine in early January – in sync with the National Cross-Country Championships which are held in the same region.

The 2011 Fast and Female Regional X-Country Ski Festival held in Chugiak promises to offer participants an experience of a lifetime thanks to the generous financial and in-kind contributions of the Anchorage Women’s Clinic, Best Buy, Subway, Cross-Country Alaska, Kaladi Brothers Coffee, Buff Multifunctional Headwear, and Cold-FX.

Registration for this event is now officially open and participants can secure a spot by visiting: www.FastandFemale.com or clicking HERE. The deadline to register is January 25, 2011.

The registration fee for the event is only $25 and includes a Fast and Female t-shirt, a Fast and Female ski tie, snacks, and access to the activities held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.. Financial assistance is available for participants in need. Please contact info@fastandfemale.com to inquire.

Toko Race Wax Tips for This Weekend’s Events

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December 23, 2010 – The Toko Race Wax Tips have been posted for this weekend’s events. Our goal is to have the tips posted 48 hours or more before each event. There are some events (that are on Sunday for example) that we have not received good information on yet. These recommendations will be posted in the next day. Also, should the situation arise that we need to update the wax recommendation, we will make the changes directly on the website. The Toko Race Wax Tips can be accessed directly HERE.

Toko Race Wax Tips have been posted for the following events:
– Sunday, Dec. 26: Snowshoe Thompson Classic and JNQ, Auburn Ski Club, Soda Springs, CA
– Sunday, Dec. 26: West Itasca Xmas-New Year Ski Festival Time Trial I, Rainbow Resort, Waubun, MN
– Sunday, Dec. 26: Como Championships, Como Park, St. Paul, MN
– Sunday, Dec. 26: Holiday Classic, Boyne Valley Lodge, Walloon Lake, MI
– Sunday, Dec. 26: Bozeman Creek Climb, Sourdough/Bozeman Creek, Bozeman, MT
– Monday, Dec. 27: Christmas Classic, Lost Creek Trails, near Ketchum, ID

2011 U.S. Ski Championships Set for Rumford – Registration Closes Dec. 29 UPDATED

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December 23, 2010 (Rumford, ME) – Although Mother Nature has been stingy with natural snow, the Chisholm Ski Club is still set to hold the 2011 U.S. Ski Championships in Rumford, Maine, Jan. 2-8. Organizers report that snow making weather has been great. Snow has been stock piled in the new stadium and in areas out in the open and snowmakers are now moving out on the trails – “…all guns are pointing to Nordic.”

Black Mountain has been getting a couple of inches a day of natural and it’s adding up. “They have limited snow on the ground, but they do have the capacity to make 5km of trails with a highly effective snow-making system. The 10-day outlook looks favorable to keep those snow guns running right up until official training for Jan 2, the first race,” said John Farra, USSA Nordic Program Director.

The weather forecast calls for more snow and cold weather. Plans are coming together and everyone is looking forward to great racing.

Register HERE.

USSA Release – Rumford Ready for U.S. Champs

RUMFORD, ME (Dec. 23) – World Cup regulars will align to kick off 2011 with the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Rumford, Jan. 2-8. The U.S. Ski Team headliners will include returning U.S. Champion Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO) as well as Liz Stephen (East Montpellier, VT) and Morgan Arritola (Fairfield, ID), who are coming off their best World Cup finishes, and Noah Hoffman (Aspen, CO).The event includes two sprint and two distance races.

Officials expect good sow conditions for the races beginning just after New Years.

“We certainly do have snow at the venue! The weather is predicted to be favorable for making and keeping snow, with additional natural accumulation also expected,” said Roger Arsenault, Organizing Committee Chairman. “We’re looking forward to hosting the Championships and having everyone here in Rumford. As Chummy would say, we’re going to have a great race!”

Black Mountain of Maine has made several changes since last hosting the Championships in 2004, including widening the trails and expanding the stadium to accommodate the growth of the sport as well as to meet the USSA and FIS regulations. The snow making system has also been expanded over the years to cover up to 5k of the trail network, providing a great insurance policy for an early January event like this in the Northeast.

“The Chisholm Ski Club is very excited to play host to the 2011 U.S. Cross Country Championships at Black Mountain of Maine. We last hosted this event in 2004 when the field exploded to over 500 racers,” said Arsenault.

The field will be stacked with 2010 two-time U.S. Champion Hamilton, Stephen, Arritola and Hoffman leading the charge as they vie for U.S. Championship titles. Also looking to take top podium spots are USSA SuperTour leaders Lars Flora (Anchorage) and Holly Brooks (Anchorage) who have been posting strong results in the USSA SuperTour and Canadian NorAm circuits this fall.

In addition to the titles on the line, the Championships will act as the official trials for the Junior and U-23 Cross Country World Ski Championship teams, as well as the Junior Scandinavian Championships trip where athletes 17 and younger are eligible to compete.

Not only is this the one chance to win a 2011 U.S. Championship title, but it is also the final USSA National Ranking List races to be scored before the 2011 Nordic World Ski Championships team selection. The 2011 Nordic World Ski Championships will be held in Olso, Norway Feb. 23 – March 6.

The Chisholm Ski Club, originating in the 1920s, has been host to many national competitions including U.S. Championships, NCAA and USCSA Championships, 1950 Nordic World Ski Championships as well as the 1952 Olympic Trials. The 2011 U.S. Cross Country Championships marks the fourth time that the Chisholm Ski Club will host the event. The Club has also committed to holding the event in 2012.

The Championship series will kick off Sunday, Jan. 2 with the men’s and women’s 1k classic sprint race.

Registration for the 2011 U.S. Cross Country Championships closes Dec. 29th with late fees applicable after Dec. 26th. More information about the 2011 U.S. Cross Country Championships is available HERE.

Fans can also follow the event on the U.S. Cross Country Championships Facebook fan page HERE.

2011 U.S. Cross Country Championships Schedule
Rumford, ME

– Sun., Jan. 2 Men’s and women’s1k classic sprint
– Tues., Jan. 4 Men’s 15k and women’s 10k classic
– Thurs., Jan. 6 Men’s 30k and women’s 20k mass start freestyle
– Sat., Jan. 8 Men’s and women’s sprint 1k freestyle

Quebec: Merci!

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December 1, 2009 (Quebec) – I’ve talked with many skiers who’re intrigued at the thought of visiting the French-Canadian province of Quebec. Mostly Americans ask questions such as “Do they have mountains?”, “They have snow?”, and “Do they speak English?” Respective answers are “Yes,” “Yes, lots!,” and “Mostly.” Oh yeah, and suitably important I’ll add that the skiing is fantastic. You’ll find cross-country resorts, day areas and inns that rival the best anywhere in North America, great terrain and grooming (note there are many more classic than skating trails) and absolutely phenomenal dining (believe me, it’s not just “food”!). Hospitality, history (more on that in a moment), it’s all waiting in Quebec. To test endearing memories from my last visit more than 10 years ago, I flew from Colorado to Quebec City this past March, saw some old friends and new places and confirmed that skiing there is a treat unlike any other.

Capital City Skiing
There are hundreds of kilometres of groomed trails at a dozen areas within an hour’s drive of spectacular old Quebec City. And anywhere you go, it’s truly another culture, from language to architecture and cuisine.

I started off in the city itself, on the Plains of Abraham trails that wind across National Battlefields Park. There’s no really advanced skiing here, since many of the routes follow summer roads, but there’s a nice mix of wood and open space.

It was fascinating to watch big freighters gliding along the St. Lawrence, bellying through ice-clogged water. It was even more of a treat to ski among old cannons pointed toward the river and around centuries-old fortress-tower walls.

I’m fascinated by history, so it was a little awe-inspiring to ski across the battlefield where Englishman General Wolfe defeated Frenchman General Montcalm in 1759. The big deal here is that the battle pretty much determined that the English would control Canada.

Cross-country concessionaire Colette Pepin, formerly on Canada’s Olympic rowing team, is a ball of fire, full of smiles and energy and ideas. You can rent ski packages, snowshoes and kicksleds at the Discovery Pavilion, a little off the trails. There’s a bit more classic skiing than skating, plus walking and snowshoeing routes.

The Everything-Resort
It’s been grooming since some time in the 1970s, but Station Touristique Duchesnay really became a Nordic destination when a 48-room hotel opened in 2003. It’s a winter mecca, roughly a half-hour drive from Quebec City, with so much to enjoy in addition to cross-country that a multi-day stay is definitely in order. Other activities include tubing, ice skating, snowmobiling, ice fishing, even an elegant new spa.

The resort is a full-service ski operation. The day lodge, L’Horizon, rents both waxable and waxless classic skis as well as snowshoes and has a snack bar, retail shop, lounge and games room. It’s also the centre for day tours and instruction (by reservation) and the jumping-off point for more than 70 kilometres of trails — track or classic ski a half-kilometre, dip down through a tunnel and then take off on an increasing number of diverging routes, most of the near-in ones easier and farther ones longer.

There’s a lot of fun ski terrain left by glaciers — hills, valleys (La Vallonnée is probably the resort’s signature trail), ponds, with fine views of sizable Lac Saint-Joseph and maple and yellow birch forest, with occasional bursts of fir and spruce. A great many of trails are groomed for classic skiing only and most are one-way. A little atypical for Quebec, there’s only one skating trail, a there-and-back 25-kilometre route.

I really enjoyed the heated trailside huts, where skiers lazed around in the March sun and birds land to feed from your hand. You can also stay overnight at most of the shelters, though conditions are rustic.

Station Duchesnay has all kinds of lodging fairly near the trailhead, from lakeside cabins with kitchens, to the hotel complete with restaurant, bistro-bar and even an indoor pool. For a unique treat and a one-of-a-kind memory, check out the spectacular and graceful Hotel de Glace, built of ice and snow.

High, Deep and Dry
On the drive up to Camp Mercier, I thought about the enormous contrasts to Station Duchesnay – weather (transitioning from light rain to sloppy snow as I climbed), distance, services, amenities, winter emphasis – it’s all different.

Camp Mercier is only about 50 kilometres north of Quebec City. It’s a pure ski-and-snowshoe resort, a much wilder-feeling place than Station Duchesnay. You’re surrounded by coniferous forest, which happily gives good protection from the wind.

If you’re looking for deep snow, dry snow and a long ski season, this is the place to go, although it’s barely known to Americans, who tend to visit Mont-Ste-Anne. You can figure on five to six metres (16-20 feet) over a four-month winter, where the lowest point on the trail network is more than 300 metres (1,000 feet) higher than the highest point at Station Duchesnay.

There are only a couple of skating trails versus 15 or so classic doubletrack trails (52 kilometres total), five heated shelters – most of them pretty well out on the trail system – and another 20 kilometres of new and separately marked snowshoe trails. The higher you go, the better the views.

There’s really no expert skiing at Camp Mercier, but plenty of fun and simply great terrain along hills and ridges, streams and lakes. One of the things I enjoyed most was trailside interpretive signs, touching on everything from trees to rabbits.

The Chalet Mercier day lodge rents waxless and waxable classic skis as well as snowshoes, but not skating gear. There’s no instruction available, but there’s a small pleasant cafe, waxing area, small retail shops and large lounge. Signs, maps and printed materials are all in French, but some of the staff speak excellent English.

Lodging is simple but very pleasant cabins with electricity, showers, kitchen and wood stoves. I stayed in the Chalet Lac-a-Noel cabin #2 and skied right down to trail #2.

Speaking of wild, the afternoon’s weather began with rain showers, sleet and wind, and changed to dry snow, dropping several inches overnight, while the temperature fell 5°C – and this was in March!

Incidentally, Camp Mercier, Mont-Ste-Anne and Station Duchesnay offer a shared pass for up to five days.

Pierres’ Cross-Country Ski Area
Monte-Ste-Anne (MSA) may have the largest groomed network in Canada, so well maintained in summer that it only needs 10 centimetres (four inches) of packed snow to open some trails.

Statistics aren’t everything but they say a lot – more than 100 non-repeat kilometres, including many with a skate lane. There’s a mix of doubletrack, doubletrack with skating, a skate-only route, even singletrack. MSA simply offers great skiing, with almost-endless options, with short loops near the base and longer loops farther out. Easier trails are near the Centre, black diamonds the farthest out, with lots of intermediate trails in between, and forest everywhere. There’s even riverside skiing. The views are fantastic, and you can overnight at several of the rustic warming huts. The area has a full-scale Centre (Chalet du Rang St. Julien) with rentals, retail, instruction, cafeteria and lounge.

When I think of Monte-Ste-Anne, I think of two Pierres. Pierre Vezina is a human dynamo, was a Canadian National Team member and has been the Nordic director since 1986, while multiple World Cup winner Pierre Harvey (father of current Canadian National Team member Alex Harvey) lives near the trails.

My final day at the resort, I skied with (well, behind if you must know) Vezina. At one point, I was passed by an inspiring, fantastically fit, smiling, 82-year-old woman on classic skis. An hour later, heading back to the lodge, we followed a winding route where moose tracks crisscrossed the trail a dozen times.

I found that a great way to end the day at Monte-Ste-Anne is to stop off at the elegant Zonespa (www.zonespa.com), right on the road back to the main resort. You’ll be suitably refreshed for the evening, and the next day’s activities.

Mo’ Info
Two good resources on cross-country skiing in Quebec are www.xcskiingquebec.com (it describes areas near Quebec City) and www.rssfrq.qc.ca (it covers the whole province).

Quebec City
The Plains of Abraham have 12.6 kilometres of free groomed trails, 3.8 kilometres of snowshoeing trails, walking trails, heated shelters, equipment rentals, a waxing area and instruction. The ski season can run as long as late November into April.

If you’re looking for lodging, I recommend the imposing Loews Le Concorde Hotel (www.loewsleconcorde.com), a moment’s walk from the trails. It caters to cross-country skiers, and there are fantastic views from the 27th-floor revolving restaurant.

Station Touristique Duchesnay
The four-season resort (www.sepaq.com/duchesnay) offers a wonderful variety of activities, from snowmobiling to spa, and has 88 rooms spread between villas, lodges and the hotel. You can also stay at the 3,000-square-metre Ice Hotel (www.icehotel-canada.com).

There are 71 kilometres of groomed cross-country trails and 20 kilometres of separate marked snowshoe trails. The ski season typically runs from the second weekend in December into late March. Trail passes are included with accommodations, with all kinds of packages available. The elevation range is 738-1,148 feet.

Camp Mercier
It’s a ski/snowshoe day and destination area. You can usually ski from early December through early April on 50-plus kilometres of groomed trails. If it is ever closed, it is due to lack of guests, not snow. Cabins go from approximately $59/person [CDN], double occupancy – overnight privileges include skiing and snowshoeing plus tubing and ice skating nearby. You’ll need to bring linens, bedding and groceries. The elevation range is 2,306-3,277 feet. Website HERE.

Monte-Ste-Anne
Monte-Ste-Anne’s 100-plus-kilometre ski trail system and 40-plus-kilometre separate snowshoe network (www.mont-sainte-anne.com) can often open in November and stay open into April. It’s a famous four-season resort with alpine skiing, ice skating, dog sledding, even paragliding a few miles from the cross-country Centre. The elevation range is 1,200-2,100 feet.

My favourite accommodations are at trailside B&B L’Auberge du Fondeur, famous but not fancy, with its wine and coffee bar, lunch and dinner kitchen privileges, lounge, waxing room and sauna. Lodging includes ski passes. An option at the alpine resort is the full-service Chateau Mont-Sainte-Anne (chateaumsa.com).

Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas

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December 22, 2010 – Still stumped on what to get your favourite skier this holiday season? Whether it’s a racer, recreational skier, or young gun that you’re buying for, these gift ideas will help keep the skier you love warm and gliding along. From clothing to skis, skate or classic gear, you’re sure to find something to put a smile on the face of that special skier on your list – happy holidays.

Swix Overmitt – $42
When the temperature suddenly drops or you’re standing around outside before or after hard skiing your hands can get cold quickly. Swix’s new over mitts fit right over your racing gloves and keep those digits nice and warm. www.swix.com

Fischer RCR Skatecut JR – $159
Kids that want to skate will love this ski. It looks just like the full race skis they saw on the Olympics. It sports a World Cup Pro base and Ultra Finish grinding to make them fast. You’ll like its durability and nice price. www.fischerskis.com

Sporthill Infuzion Splice Top – Men’s $90
Skiers get a full range of unrestricted motion with this super soft and stretchy top. Use as a base layer for cold weather or single layer for less chilly days. www.sporthill.com

Rossignol Evo Action JR AR kid’s skis – $130
If you want your kid’s to enjoy skiing they need to have skis that provide good grip and fun glide. They also need to be easy turning and narrow enough under foot so small feet and legs can control edge to edge movements. The Evo Action JR does all of this and looks cool too. www.rossignol.com

SkiGo Easy-Glide LF wax – $20
This fast, low fluoro wax is designed for all snow types from +10° to -10°C . It contains no solvents to dry out bases or stink up the room and is very easy to apply. www.skigo.ca

Skadi Nordic BootMate with BootBuddies – $30
BootMates are a clever device that snaps under the boot to fill the space that would otherwise collect snow. When not wearing the ski boots the BootMates snap into the BootBuddies for a handy handle making boots easy to carry and store. BootMates come in NNN, Pilot or Profil models. www.skadinordic.com

Cross Country Canada calendar – $10
This 14-month calendar is filled with great images and deserves a space on any Nordic skier’s wall. Your purchase supports Cross Country Canada as well. Checkout their website for other great gifts: www.cccski.com

Rossland NorAm Mini Tour Stages 1, 3 – More Photos

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December 22, 2010 (Rossland, BC) – Here are some more great photos from Stages 1 and 3 of the Rossland NorAm Mini Tour taken by Julien Locke. Stefan Kuhn (CAN) took top honours in the men’s tour, while Jessica Diggins (USA) won the women’s overall. Check out the full results HERE.

View more of Julien Locke’s photos HERE.

2011 Winter Universiade – Canadian XC Skiing and Biathlon Teams Announced

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December 21, 2010 – Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) announced Monday the student-athletes and coaches who will represent Canada in cross country skiing and biathlon at the 2011 Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey. The 24th Winter World University Games will run from January 27 to February 6. The cross country skiing events get under way on Jan. 28, with the biathlon competitions kicking off a day later.

Heading the Canadian cross country skiing delegation in Erzurum will be Mary Waddell, who will act as team leader for the third straight Universiade. The coaching staff is comprised of head coach Mark Tierny and coaches Sara Nielsen and Kirk Potter.

The five-member women’s squad is made up of Carleton University’s Adele Lay, Laval’s Alexia Pichard-Jolicoeur, Utah’s Zoe Roy, Laurentian’s Mary Thompson and Alberta Augustana’s Maja Zimmermann.

Pichard-Jolicoeur of St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., and Thompson of Woodstock, Ont., are both veterans of the 2009 Games in Harbin, China. Pichard-Jolicoeur had her best individual showing – a 37th place – in the 15 km mass start and also finished 40th in the 10 km pursuit, 41st in the sprint, 44th in the 5 km freestyle race and 12th in the team relay. Thompson was 44th in the pursuit, 45th in the mass start and 50th in both the sprint and freestyle.

On the men’s side, Canada is also sending five competitors including Laval teammates Benjamin Hébert and Vincent Ruel, Carleton’s Colin Abbott, UBC’s Jesse Heckrodt and Calgary’s Anthony Killick.

Canada won its lone Universiade medal in cross country skiing back in 1985 in Belluno, Italy, when the foursome of Alain Masson, Wayne Dustin, Owen Spence and Benoit Létourneau claimed bronze in the men’s 4×10 km relay.

In biathlon, most of the Canadian roster comes from the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus, including team leader Joan Skinstad and coach Hans Skinstad.

The women set to wear the maple leaf uniform are Augustana’s Lauren Brookes, Elizabeth Mawdsley, Carly Shiell and Kathryn Stone, while their male teammates will be Jonathan Forward, Alex Frost and Jon Skinstad, all of Augustana, as well as UBC’s Jaime Robb.

Stone of Camrose, Alta., and Forward of Corner Brook, Nfld., both have previous Universiade experience. Stone competed in 2009 in China and finished eighth in the mixed relay, 35th in the individual 15 km, 38th in the 10 km pursuit and 39th in the 7.5 km sprint. Forward was 41st in the 12.5 km pursuit and 48th in the 10 km sprint in 2007 in Turin, Italy.

Canada has never medaled at the Universiade in biathlon.

Canada’s participation in the Universiade is managed by the CIS International Programs.

Team Canada website HERE.
2011 Winter Universiade website HERE.

Team Canada XC Skiing Roster and Schedule

Athletes
– Colin Abbott – Carleton University – Whitehorse, Yukon
– Benjamin Hébert – Laval University –
– Jesse Heckrodt – University of British Columbia – Enderby, B.C.
– Anthony Killick – University of Calgary – Fort McMurray, Alta.
– Vincent Ruel – Laval University – Charny, Que.
– Adele Lay – Carleton University – Eden Mills, Ont.
– Alexia Pichard-Jolicoeur – Laval University – St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que.
– Zoe Roy – University of Utah – Bracebridge, Ont.
– Mary Thompson – Laurentian University – Woodstock, Ont.
– Maja Zimmermann – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Edmonton, Alta.

Staff
– Team Leader: Mary Waddell, Laurentian University (Wahnapitae, Ont.)
– Head Coach: Mark Tierney (Corner Brook, Nfld.)
– Coach: Sara Nielsen, University of Alaska Anchorage (Whitehorse, Yukon)
– Coach: Kirk Potter (Whitehorse, Yukon)

Schedule (local time)
– Jan. 28 (10:00): Women’s individual 5 km
– Jan. 28 (11:00): Men’s individual 10 km
– Jan. 29 (9:00): Women’s & Men’s sprint (qualifications)
– Jan. 29 (11:00): Women’s & Men’s sprint (finals)
– Jan. 31 (10:00): Women’s pursuit without break (5 km classic & 5 km freestyle)
– Jan. 31 (10:00): Men’s pursuit without break (7.5 km classic & 7.5 km freestyle)
– Feb. 2 (11:00): Women’s relay 3 x 5 km (classic, freestyle, freestyle)
– Feb. 2 (12:00): Men’s relay 4 x 10 km (classic, classic, freestyle, freestyle)
– Feb. 3 (10:00): Mixed team sprint
– Feb. 5 (10:00): Women’s 15 km mass start (freestyle)
– Feb. 5 (11:00): Men’s 30 km mass start (freestyle)

Team Canada Biathlon Roster and Schedule

Athletes
– Jonathan Forward – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Corner Brook, Nfld.
– Alex Frost – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Edmonton, Alta.
– Jaime Robb – University of British Columbia – Hay River, N.W.T.
– Jon Skinstad – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Camrose, Alta.
– Lauren Brookes – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Halifax, N.S.
– Elizabeth Mawdsley – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Fort Smith, N.W.T.
– Carly Shiell – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Camrose, Alta.
– Kathryn Stone – University of Alberta (Augustana) – Camrose, Alta.

Staff
– Team Leader: Joan Skinstad, University of Alberta – Augustana (Camrose, Alta.)
– Coach: Hans Skinstad, University of Alberta – Augustana (Camrose, Alta.)

Schedule (local time)
– Jan. 29 (10:00): Men’s individual 20 km
– Jan. 29 (13:00): Women’s individual 15 km
– Feb. 1 (10:00): Men’s sprint 10 km
– Feb. 1 (13:00): Women’s sprint 7.5 km
– Feb. 2 (10:00): Men’s pursuit 12.5 km
– Feb. 2 (12:00): Women’s pursuit 10 km
– Feb. 4 (10:00): Mixed relay (2 x 6 km women & 2 x 7.5 km men)
– Feb. 5 (10:00): Men’s mass start 15 km
– Feb. 5 (12:00): Women’s mass start 12.5 km

Silver Star Loppet – Jan. 23

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December 21, 2010 (Silver Star, BC) – The Silver Star Loppet is set for Jan. 23, 2011. This mass start event starts at 11:00 am and is skier’s choice of skate or classic technique in a 7.5 km tour or 10 km race or 20km race. This event is for all levels of ability! We are bringing back the race component of the event at the same time keeping an option for people to do the tour.

Cost: $35.00 includes post event BBQ, Children (under 18) $15.00

Register: Race Day –  Sunday, January 23, 9:00-10:00 am at Tube Town

Tour Trails: Bridle Trail, Sidewinder and Meadow Trail (beautiful views with easy terrain)
Race Trails: Bridle Trail, Sidewinder, TJ’s Corkscrew and Meadow Trail (TJ’s spices things up a little bit for the race course.)

Prizes for: 1st, 2nd, 3rd in 10 km and 20km men and women

Location: Tube Town Adventure Park/ Firelight Lodge

TD Bank Eastern Cup Series #1 – Reynolds and Caldwell Strike Gold

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December 19, 2010 (Craftsbury, VT) – While much of New England waits for skiable snow, over 300 of the fastest cross-country ski racers took to the 1.3K sprint course at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center today to contest the first TD Bank Eastern Cup of the season. A member of Craftsbury’s own team, the Green Racing Project’s Tim Reynolds and junior skier Skyler Davis from Stratton Mountain School were the men’s favorites heading into the day’s sprint. On the women’s side, the the field was equally stacked, with recent World Cup competitor Green Racing Project’s Ida Sargent and her Dartmouth College teammate Sophie Caldwell headlining the women.

The racing did not disappoint. Reynolds and Caldwell put down blistering times to pace their respective fields in the morning qualifier, with Davis and Sargent close behind. Despite thin snow, the hard work of Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club volunteers and Outdoor Center staff created a great skiing surface that held up well and the course allowed spectators to see the entire loop as racers went head-to-head in the afternoon heats.

A tangle in the semifinal round kept Skyler Davis from advancing to the A-final, but Reynolds skied cleanly though all of his heats to line up in the final with teammates Patrick O’brien and Dylan Mcguffin, Northern Michigan University’s Kevin Cutts, Middlebury’s Doug Debold, and UVM’s Alex Howe. In the end it was Reynolds, Cutts, and Mcguffin grabbing the top spots on the podium, with Davis winning the B-final and earning top honors for juniors.

The women’s final saw a pair of Dartmouth College skiers, Sophie Caldwell and Hilary McNamee on the start line with Stratton Mountain School’s Heather Mooney and Rachel Hall, UVM’s Caitlin Patterson, and UNH’s Cambria Mcdermott. Caldwell continued her domination from the qualifying and took the victory, followed by Mooney and Patterson to round out the podium. In taking second place overall, Mooney was also the top junior woman.

Today’s event was hosted by Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club, the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, and the New England Nordic Ski Association. Tomorrow’s 5 and 10 kilometer classic mass start races have been moved to the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vermont because of improved snow conditions at that venue. The same strong fields with the addition of about forty skiers including Olympian Justin Freeman will compete for tomorrow’s victory.

TD Bank Eastern Cup events are sanctioned by the International Skiing Federation (FIS), the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and NENSA; it is widely recognized as the premiere regionally skiing circuit in the United States, attracting strength of fields second only to the Super Tour in this country.

See NENSA.net for full details, and after the event, check back for results, photos, and more. For immediate updates during the events, follow the athletes and coaches directly at www.twitter.com/nensa/athletes

Full results HERE.
Men and J2 Boys HERE.
Women and J2 Girls HERE.

Kananaskis Country: Nordic Heaven

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December 18, 2010 (Kananaskis Country, Alberta) – Last winter, we visited areas in Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, Montana, Idaho and Colorado — an amazing assortment of ranches, resorts, backcountry lodges, regions — and even to two Canadian cities (Quebec City and Calgary). Every ski writer dreams of breaking an exclusive story on something or someone mind-boggling in our little world — an incredible new inn, a revolutionary equipment innovation, the first interview with someone who just took Olympic gold….

I’ve gotten a great kick out of writing a couple of stories like that, even if it’s just temporary recognition, and now I’m stoked to be writing about an area where stellar groomed trails have been there for years, in fact, for a couple of decades. Yet this amazing site is still mostly a big black hole for many cross-country skiers if you’re not from the Calgary, Alberta region, where this Nordic heaven is virtually in its backyard. I have to qualify the preceding sentence (“still mostly…”) because Kananaskis Country (also known as “K-Country”) includes the renowned Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park, home to the 1988 Olympic cross-country and biathlon trails. The Nordic Centre is one of the most famous cross-country operations in the world, especially in Elite racing circles, but it’s really just a very prominent tip of the K-Country iceberg.

Who are Those Guys?
Kananaskis Country lies in the foothills and mountains west of Calgary. Run by the province of Alberta, it’s a region that concentrates on recreation. It’s immense (1,600 square miles/4,250 square kilometres), diverse and spectacular — a true mountain playground filled with streams, meadows and lakes, and much of it very wild indeed.

K-Country is partially composed of a series of provincial parks, and it’s named after the Kananaskis River, which runs through it. More than half is protected from development, so you may see moose, elk, bighorn sheep, even cougar — but not encounter many people, especially compared to nearby Banff National Park. The rest of the land is multiple-use, from recreation to forestry, grazing and even petroleum exploration.

Winter visitors can go track and backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, mountaineering, snowmobiling, even downhill skiing at Nakiska Mountain Resort. There’s no snowmobile access to groomed trails, and snowshoers are asked to stay to the side of cross-country routes or use separate trails. No dogs are permitted on the groomed ski trails, but they’re welcome elsewhere.

Location, Location, Location
There’s a huge variety of cross-country skiing in Kananaskis Country, starting with Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park (which is distinct from the nearby town of Canmore). The Centre has the region’s most consistently groomed trails (more on this later). It’s a spectacular one-and-a-half-hour drive from Calgary’s International Airport via the Trans-Canada Highway and only 20 minutes southeast of the town of Banff.

Canmore is one of the two major winter access points to K-Country, along the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail (Road 742). The other access — the Kananaskis Trail (Route 40) — is even closer to Calgary, but not quite as convenient if you’re in a hurry to get to extensive groomed trails.

There are other groomed trail concentrations in Spray Valley Provincial Park (Mount Shark), Peter Lougheed Provincial Park (approximately 75 kilometres), Ribbon Creek (another 60 kilometres or so), plus a smattering elsewhere. Funding limitations may have cut down on grooming frequency in much of the region.

Yes, one can legitimately get a little confused by the geography, but if you download the Kananaskis map at the Alberta Parks website (www.tpr.alberta.ca/parks), all will be revealed.

What’s Up at Canmore
You can read dozens of articles and blogs about Canmore’s Nordic Centre, so I’ll keep this short. Simply, it’s a wonderful place to ski: great, recently toned-down competition trails, refurbished day lodge, expanded snowmaking to guarantee skiing, more than six kilometres of lit trails, some very nice recreational trails, an outstanding rental/retail shop, truly glorious mountain surroundings and a pleasant town a few minutes away.

The big news is that the province of Alberta and the Canadian national government are funding a new 30-kilometre recreational trail network in the park. It’ll be designed not just for skiing, but also for snowshoeing, hiking, walking, cycling and mountain biking.

Home Base
There’s only sporadic lodging in K-Country, which reflects the fact that there are just a few hundred full-time residents in the region (outside of the town of Canmore).

One exception is a place I visited for the first time last winter and thoroughly enjoyed: Mount Engadine Lodge, near the south end of Spray Lakes Reservoir. It’s a beautiful place in a magnificent private setting. It’s also centrally located, with close to 150 kilometres of groomed trails within an hour’s drive (call it 45 minutes from Canmore along the well-maintained Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lake Trail).

Mount Engadine Lodge is a remarkable place — comfortable, hospitable, eco-friendly, with fine food. And it’s really convenient to skiing, more so than any place else in the locale. Shari-Lynn and Chris Williams, the innkeepers, have a great work ethic along with attention to detail and a sense of humour, creating a warm ambiance that’s always appreciated.

And, yeah, it’s really nice to come home to an outdoor hot tub with gorgeous sunset views and lots of space to relax or socialize. And if you have children in search of fun, there’s a sliding area beside the lodge. The lodge doesn’t have rental equipment, but can arrange instruction by reservation.

This part of Spray Valley Provincial Park has probably the most reliable snow in Kananaskis Country. That’s partly a reflection of the altitude (approximately 6,200 feet/1,900 metres), which is higher than either Canmore or Lake Louise. Storms can drop as much as 100 centimetres (40 inches) of snow over several days. Temperatures can be rather nippy (-30° Celsius or Fahrenheit at the extreme), but days tend to be comfortable and sunny.

Nearby peaks rise as high as 3,097 metres (10,160 feet), with Mount Engadine, northeast of the lodge, just a little lower. In other words, the place is gorgeous.

The Skiing
For stuff close to the lodge, Chris grooms two forested single-tracked loops just off-site and sometimes maintains a trail on Moose Meadows, just below the lodge, though there’s more likely to be snowshoeing or ski-set trails down there.

The nearby Mount Shark system was one of the areas proposed as the 1988 Olympics cross-country and biathlon venues, and it’s primarily intermediate to advanced terrain. There are a half-dozen linked one-way loops, with one extensive easier loop. It’s also the jumping-off point for backcountry tours into Banff National Park and Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia.

Since trail grooming can be inconsistent in the area (machinery seemed to be at work mostly on weekdays when I was there), it’s worth checking for the latest conditions.

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park has another major system, apparently with more reliable grooming than at Mount Shark. The trails also tend to be easier. The Visitor Information Centre is open every day, as is the Pocaterra Hut, from where many routes disperse. Incidentally, each February, it’s also the starting area for the classic-only Kananaskis Ski Marathon (a.k.a. the Great Cookie Race, as every competitor gets homemade cookies).

The 11.6km Pocaterra Trail is lovely, winding and popular, slowly climbing through coniferous forest and meadows. There are many side-trails (again most of these trails are one-way), so you can get a lot of terrain and view variety within a few kilometres.

The Ribbon Creek network is a little farther north along Highway 40, near Kananaskis Village and Nakiska. It’s primarily novice to intermediate skiing, with a few tougher sections.

All in all, K-Country is hard to beat for wonderous skiing and terrain with an amazing mix of options that will keep you coming back for more in this Nordic heaven.

Mo’ Info
K-Country is a complex territory – huge, beautiful, with a series of
different groomed trail networks as well as snowshoe trails and ungroomed touring trails such as the Chester/Sawmill system.

You can contact www.tpr.alberta.ca/parks, then select “Kananaskis,” which has sub-links for the latest trail conditions (grooming, closures,
avalanche reports, etc.), reports on Canmore Nordic Centre, etc.

Mount Engadine Lodge (www.mountengadine.com) is open from mid-December through mid-April. The main lodge and two chalets can accommodate up to 17 guests. Rates start at $170 a night for a room (two-night minimum) and include all meals, afternoon tea (goodies plus a dozen types of tea), hot tub and innkeepers’ good humour. Pets are welcome.

Gravey’s Grapevine – Bjoergen Magic and La Clusaz Preview

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December 17, 2010 – If you’re Marit Bjoergen, you’re on top of the world… and the women’s world cup points standings, too. Let me hasten to remind you that she has won nine world cup races in a row (the final two in Falun last year and seven this year) and has no plans of slowing down. She has crushed the field like a styrofoam cup so far.

Bjoergen is clearly the class of the women’s field. She notched her 41st world cup win in the 10km classic race in Davos. Marit is now only one win short of former teammate Bente Skari in the all-time victory record books for women – and apparently wants to beat legendary compatriot, Bjorn Dählie’s, men’s record of 46 wins as well. She also told Norwegian media this week she’ll take a pass on the grueling Tour de Ski to keep her focus on the Nordic Worlds in Oslo.

It’s the second straight podium for Kikkan Randall this past weekend, after finishing third in the freestyle sprint at Davos. The Alaska miss is currently ranked third in sprint cup points. She plans to stay in lovely Davos to train for the upcoming Tour de Ski and will enjoy the Yuletide there with her husband Jeff Ellis.

Randall will not be on the start line tomorrow for the USA in the women’s 15km freestyle according to coach Matt Whitcomb. “She was feeling ragged following the races last weekend. We have decided to play things conservatively. It’s a long winter.” Whitcomb also reports 18 inches of new snow on the ground in La Clusaz today.

Expect Liz Stephen and Morgan Arritola in the women’s race for the US. For the men’s 30km look for [Kris] Freeman (who had a cold recently), and Noah Hoffman as the male starters for the Americans.

Two top Swedish women return to action this weekend in France after skipping Davos due to illness. You might watch to see how Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag do following their break. Still on the injured list is Johan Olsson, who’s been having breathing problems and is back home in Sweden recovering.

People’s heads turned as a result of the surprise winner of the men’s 15km classic in Switzerland – big props to Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakhstan all of 23 years old winning his first time world cup.

It was another great race last Sunday for Sweden’s Emil Joensson winning a tight one over Russia’s Alexei Petukhov. Joensson continues to hold the leader’s bib for sprint world cup points.

I must say that the big surprise in the men’s sprint was the performance of “Look at that Time”S.Federico Pellegrino from Italy. His qualifying time was the best of the day. We will see more of him.

Canada Beat
In an email from head coach Justin Wadsworth, the Canadian squad plans to ski Devon Kershaw, Ivan Babikov, Lenny Valjas and Brent McMurty in the 30km in La Clusaz. His plan is that everyone will do the 30km except perhaps Lenny, who may only ski the relay. They stayed in Davos as well, where conditions are perfect.

Alex Harvey checks in to say he will fly into Geneva on Thursday from Montreal. He will travel to the French race with head wax technician Yves Bilodeau. Harvey has been home writing important exams since Kuusamo and has logged some great training in Quebec and some fine intensity sessions. Both Chandra Crawford and Daria Gaiazova have returned home following the Davos races.

Talking to Jack
I caught up with follow Trax columnist Jack Sassville – we go way back to the days of Tony Wise’s Gitchi Gami Games in the 1970s. Looking to this weekend he had some promising words for the Canadian team.

According to Jack Saz – “I think Devon has proven that he is in the top tier of skiers. He now can finish consistently in the top 10 to 15. The next step for him is to get a podium in a distance race. Alex Harvey has shown that he belongs, too. This guy is the most talented male skier to come along in Canada, sinceShis dad.” How about Len Valjas? “Len did nothing as a junior, but moving to a training centre was the best thing that ever happened to him. He has a great head for racing and I think that his height – 6 ft, 5 inches tall – is actually an advantage to him in sprinting. He can create a lot of power through his long levers and he is hard to get around.”

The Weekend in La Clusaz
La Clusaz announcer, Christophe Sevessand (he did Biathlon at Vancouver 2010) will have a busy weekend at La Clusaz also producing the live show on-site. He recently reported thatS.”It’s cold this morning with -15C, but it’s nice in the stadium area with the sunshine. We had great snow but lost it to heavy rains last weekend. We expect snowfall on Friday (it did), and at the moment the snow guns are working well….”

We understand that French star, Vincent Vittoz will remain sidelined this weekend at home. It’s a pity. He has gone thru MRI exams and the injury to his left thigh – which happened in Gallivare – is stilled not fully healed. Vittoz said he would resume some light skiing and running this week.

On Saturday xc skiers will contest a mass start 15/30km freestyle race in La Clusaz and on Sunday it’s back to more exciting relays – 4x5km for the women and a 4x10km for the men. The Clusaz venue is the proposed site for France’s bid for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Jumping News
High winds in Harrachov forced the cancellation of both days of ski jumping last weekend. Austria’s Thomas Morgenstern remains the leader of the jumping world cup overall standings, as the flyers travel to Engelberg, Switzerland this weekend for a tournament. FIS says it will move the Harrachov event to Engleberg.

Women’s jumping of late has been dominated by the Austrian skier, Daniela Iraschko. The USA women have also been on a hot streak with the fine skiing of Jessica Jerome, Lindsey Van and Sarah Hendrickson. Jerome is second overall behind Iraschko, Van is in third, and Hendrickson is fourth. The COC tour takes two separate paths this weekend with the men heading to a new facility in Turkey, while the women will jump in Norway.

We also hear sad news from Austrian ski jumping that star performer Gregor Schlierenzauer fell in a training jump at Seefeld – high above Innsbruck – on the 75 HS jump. According to FIS he has pain in his right knee, and an MRI was done. They also say that the first reports indicate a possible partial rupture of the right collateral ligament. This might well take him out of the famed 4 Hills Tournee, which kicks off in two week’s time.

Nordic Combined – Lodwick Returns to Europe
US Nordic Combined Head Coach, Dave Jarrett, checked in about this coming weekend. They’re sending Todd Lodwick, Eric Camerota, Nick Hendrickson and the Fletcher brothers (Taylor and Bryan) to Ramsau, AUT for the next world cup. Billy Demong will stay stateside while he and his wife await the birth of their first child. DJ reports that depending on how things unfold Demong may stay home and train until Oslo. Lodwick will stay in Europe to compete in Seefeld (AUT) and Chaux Neuve (FRA).

See you on the trails… there’s great snow across the country now.

SkiTrax FIS Fantasy WCup 2010/11 Contest Standings after Davos

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December 17, 2010   (Toronto, ON) – We’re excited to announce the leaders of the international SkiTrax FIS Fantasy World Cup 2010/11 Contest after round #4 of the Viessmann XC FIS 2010/11 World Cup this past weekend in Davos, Switzerland. The World Cup now moves to La Clusaz, France for round #5 this coming weekend Dec. 18-19.

Team 2010RedSocks2011 continues to lead at 578 points to maintain an 11-point margin over second place. The exciting tie for second also remains between the same 4 (four) teams: STAR TEAM, Perugina Ski Team, SKIN-T, and rgsnow – all with 567 points. Poiss team has taken over third place with 563 points. Following La Clusaz, the Viessmann FIS World Cup will take a break for the holidays and the very popular Tour de Ski which runs from Dec. 31-Jan. 9/11 – don’t miss our FIS Fantasy TdS Contest up next.

For the complete standings after Davos click HERE.

SkiTrax Fantasy FIS World Cup 2010/11 Contest Prizes

*1st Prize – Fischer 10/11 Carbonlite Hole Skis, Xcelerator Bindings, Carbonlite Poles (value $1,100)
* 2nd Prize
Trapp Family Lodge – 2 nights lodging in a Deluxe Room w/breakfast (value $600)
* 3rd Prize
One Way Diamond Storm World Cup Poles w/tubes (value $430)
* 4th Prize
SkiGo Clothing package (value $340)
* 5th PrizeSwenor Classic roller skis (value $310)
* 6th Prize
Fresh Air Experience or High Peaks Cyclery Gift Certificate (value $150)
* 7th Prize
Rottefella Xcelerator Skate/Classic Bindings (value $130)
* 8th Prize
Concept2 Goodie Duffle Bag (value $100)
* 9th Prize
Bliz Pursuit Sunglasses and Visor (value $90)
* 10th Prize
Auclair Micro Mountain Olympic Gloves + Earbags (value $65)
* WCup BreaksBuff Headware (value $22) to top 3 contest leaders before the Tour de Ski and Oslo Nordic Worlds

Good luck to all contestants and thanks to all of our great sponsors: Fischer, Trapp Family Lodge, One Way, SkiGo, Swenor, Fresh Air Experience, High Peaks Cyclery, Rottefella, Concept2, Auclair, Bliz Active and Buff Headware. SkiTrax is North America’s premier Nordic skiing publication and the official magazine of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and Cross Country Canada (CCC).








Race Tails: Up and Down in Davos

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December 16, 2010 (Davos, Switzerland) – My first few days here in Switzerland were pretty sweet. The sun came out, there were perfect tracks and settling in at the Hotel Kulm felt a little like home. It was nice to relax for a couple days, absorbing the excitement from my podium in Dusseldorf and getting ready for another big weekend of World Cup racing with a 10km classic and a skate sprint. Quote of the Day “It was pretty cool to be back on the podium for the 2nd time in a week, and a nice redemption after the rough classic race!” What’s Coming Up 12.25.10 MERRY CHRISTMAS! 12.31-1.9 Tour de Ski – GER/ITA For more news and photos check out the new: www.kikkanrandall.com The Cliff Notes: It’s been a week full of the highs and the lows here in Davos! In similar fashion to last year’s races in Davos, we raced distance on Saturday and a skate sprint Sunday. While I had hoped and expected to put in a strong performance in Saturday’s 10km classic race, I was again disappointed with a lackluster result of 47th place. I struggled in the snowy conditions and ended backing off in the final kilometers to reserve some energy for the sprint. Thankfully, day two provided some redemption. I started off the day with 8th position in qualifying. I used fast finishes in both my quarterfinal and semi-final to advance to the final. In the final, after sitting in fourth for most of the race, I was in position to challenge for second place on the homestretch when Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk suddenly changed her trajectory and blocked my momentum. I ended up finishing 4th. A few minutes later however, Kowalczyk’s move was ruled as obstruction and she was relegated to sixth, moving me into third position. So I got to stand on the podium for the second week in a row! I had planned to race in France this coming weekend but due to some sickness this week I have decided to stay in Davos to get healthy, enjoy Christmas, and prepare for the Tour. I’ll be back in action on New Year’s Eve for the start of the Tour de Ski. Until then, Merry Christmas everyone! The Full Story: It’s been quite a week! Here is the update from Davos… 10km Classic Going into the classic race, I had confidence and optimistic expectations. Even with heavy snow falling the morning of the race, I felt I would be able to conquer the course and race to a solid result. I even got a little pre-race advice from Bjorn Daehlie. My plan was to attack the flats, ski with a light and quick tempo, and approach the climbs with a little reserve to be able to come on strong on the 2nd lap. By the middle of the first lap however, I was struggling with the glazed track and the effort was already feeling hard and heavy. Midway through the 2nd lap I was fighting myself physically and mentally. I knew I had already lost too much time for a good result, and with the sprint the next day, I opted to ease off a little and save that extra “dig” for the sprint. It’s never an easy decision to let up and it haunted me for the rest of the day. In the end I was 47th place and a whopping four minutes off the lead. Doh! While I didn’t have the distance performance I had wanted of myself, I knew from experience to just put the disappointment behind me and focus on the next opportunity, Sunday’s skate sprint. To help keep myself in a positive mood, I watched a couple episodes of Glee. 1.4km Skate Sprint The sprint day was going to be a long one. Qualifying didn’t begin until 12pm and the heats wouldn’t go off until 3pm, so the morning was a long, anxious wait. I definitely had some butterflies in my stomach this time. The sprint course here in Davos has changed every year and this time we would be racing two laps around a 700m loop. As I warmed up on the course, doing a couple laps at level 3, I felt heavy and labored. This was going to be a tough one! Since each racer had to complete two laps, that meant the starters were sent out in blocks of 5 racers at 10-second intervals, with 2 minute holds in between. I was able to watch several racers complete their qualifiers before I started and noticed that many went out aggressive on the first lap and then seemed to fade on the 2nd lap. So when I got on course, I thought about being quick and relaxed and worked on building speed through the two laps. Coming through the lap lane, I was feeling strong and picked up the tempo. I hammered up the big climb and had good energy over the top. I came out of the final turn and really built speed over the last 100m. When I crossed, I was in sixth position. After all had finished, I was 8th fastest. A good sign! Walking out of the finish area, I marveled at how good I had felt compared to my feelings from the warm-up. The day was off to a better start than I thought! I got a quick laugh when the coaches told me they had been a little concerned watching my first lap only to be relieved with I turned it on for the 2nd lap. There was a long 2.5hr wait until the heats started. Fredericka, our PT, gave me another good rub-down and I waited out the rest of the time bundled in my parka, listening to my iPod, and going over strategy in my head. Eighth position in qualifying put me in quarterfinal heat #5 for the second week in a row. I watched a few of the other heats go and noticed that some of the early leaders faded at the end. There was a pretty stiff headwind blowing through the stadium, so I decided I would try to draft. In my quarterfinal I got off to a good start and right away Kowalczyk bolted to the front. Perfect! I tucked in right behind her and skied the wide line up the steep climb to hold my position. I followed her around the 2nd lap as well and when we came off the final turn I shot wide and turned on the jets. I was able to overtake Kowalczyk before the finish line and win my heat. To my surprise, the semi-finals played out exactly the same as the quarters, I was able to draft Kowalczyk, and come off the final turn with a lot of speed to take the lead. I was feeling stronger every round and was psyched to move on to the final! There was just 15 minutes in-between the semi and the final, and it was quickly turning to dusk. The final was stacked with an accomplished field: Bjoergen-multiple Olympic medalist, Follis-World Champion, Me-World Championship silver medalist, Majdic-Olympic medalist, Kowalczyk-multiple Olympic medalist, and Jacobsen-World Champion. Unlike the final in Dusseldorf, this time I got off to a good start and came out of the double-pole lanes even with the others. With a couple of strong skates I was in good position. But I didn’t want to take the lead, so I backed off and Follis and Majdic squeezed me into fourth. Going up the steep climb I took the outside lane and came over the top side-by-side with Bjoergen. She had faster skis though and pulled in front of me on the downhill, and so I remained in fourth as we came through the stadium. I was able to match the pace of the others just fine but was tentative to go around. Majdic was leading across the flat, but then Kowalczyk made a big move, coming from fifth to go around Majdic on the right. At the same time Bjoergen and Follis made a move to the left. I followed Follis and as we came into the tight turn I was able to just sneak ahead of Majdic. I again went to the outside lane on the uphill, following Follis, while Bjoergen and Kowalczyk broke right. At this point I was hoping to make a move with my V1 climbing speed, but then, “oh no!” I was trapped by Follis!! Still stuck in fourth over the top, I was barely able to sneak back in front of Majdic going into the tuck. In a tight pack we all sailed through the s-turn and I crouched for the final turn. Bursting onto the homestretch, Bjoergen had gotten away but Kowalczyk, Follis and I were in a battle. Follis went left, Kowalczyk appeared to be going toward the middle and so I went for the open lane on the far right. I built speed quickly and was gaining on the others when all of the sudden Kowalczyk changed her trajectory and came right into my path. I tried to fight her off but she forced me towards the fence. I tried to double-pole for a second but realized I would never get past and had to slow up and switch directions to the left. I made a few quick strides in an attempt to get past, but having lost all my momentum, I came across the line in fourth. My first reaction was disbelief and instant remorse for having just missed the podium. I had seen my open lane and had the speed to challenge for 2nd before being suddenly blocked. Unbelievable! Darn!! Oh well, that’s the unpredictability of sprinting! “Next time I’ll just have to put myself in a better position coming into the finish,” I told myself. I shook hands with everyone, offering my congratulations and walked over to where the coaches were standing with a can-you-believe-that-just-happened look on my face. So close, ahhh! It wasn’t until Grover asked me what had happened with Kowalczyk that I realized that something potentially unjust had possibly occurred. A few minutes later, a FIS official came up to me announcing that Kowalczyk had been disqualified for obstruction and I was being upgraded to 3rd position. OMG! Another unbelievable turn of events!!

While being accompanied by a doping control chaperone, I quickly changed clothes and prepared for the flower ceremony. It was pretty cool to be back on the podium for the 2nd time in a week, and a nice redemption after the rough classic race! The rest of the evening went by pretty fast. I had to report to doping control shortly after the flower ceremony for blood testing. Then we got the word that the Polish team would be appealing the disqualification and there was a chance I would be dropped back to fourth. That decision however wouldn’t come for a week, so I decided to just enjoy the podium for now since I felt I deserved it. Part of the team was leaving for the airport, so we got to enjoy a quick champagne toast and then said goodbye. I didn’t get out of my ski clothes until 10pm after catching up with everyone on the phone. It was a whirlwind day! My intention had been to race the 15km mass start skate this upcoming weekend in France to close out Period I. However, I’ve been fighting some sickness over the last few days post sprint, and yesterday I decided to stay in Davos to get healthy and rest up for the Tour de Ski. My husband will be here in a few days and with a successful few weeks of racing under my belt, I can now take a little break and enjoy the Christmas holiday. Thanks to everyone for the notes and encouragement, and for all the support that helped me kick off this season with a bang! I wish everyone a very merry Christmas, and I’ll be back to you in the New Year with some more action! Cheers, PS I just received word that Poland’s appeal was denied and therefore my third place stands. Whew!

Interviews with Drew Goldsack and Andy Shields

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December 16, 2010 – Canadian National Ski Team (NST) member Drew Goldsack is a veteran of the cross-country ski-racing world. Goldsack, who trains with the Alberta World Cup Academy, has been racing World Cups since 2003. He has one Olympics and two World Championships under his belt, with a top showing of 6th in the team sprint at the 2007 Championships in Sapporo, Japan.

Compared to Goldsack, National Development Center (NDC) athlete Andy Shields is a relative newcomer, though he’s quickly racking up his own impressive resume, having represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany last season.

Despite their difference in years, both athletes shared moments atop the podium at Sovereign Lakes last weekend, Goldsack winning the open men’s classic sprint and Shields taking the junior men’s 15km free event. SkiTrax had a chance to sit down with both racers after the 15km to talk about their races and goals for the future.

Goldsack, who’s won all his NorAm and SuperTour starts until now, was a little disappointed with his 5th place finish in the distance race on Sunday. “The winning streak is over, but it was bound to happen. The 15km skate is definitely not one of my strengths… so I didn’t really expect to win today,” said Goldsack.

Over 30 centimeters of snow fell Saturday night (Dec. 11), leaving the Sovereign Lake crew scrambling to eke out a raceable course, which they accomplished admirably under pressure.

“It was a hard race today, the conditions were pretty difficult; lots of soft, kind of punchy snow. It got pretty chopped up on the climbs… definitely not the best conditions for me,” continued Goldsack. He said he typically does better on hard, fast courses and the soft conditions on Sunday definitely gave the advantage to smaller, lighter racers.

Racers like the light and agile Shields who had a much easier time in the deep snow.

“I was pretty excited to ski in that kind of snow. It really plays into my hands,” he said. “The grooming was amazing too, considering how much snow fell.” Shields’ win was his first ever on the NorAm circuit.

“I’ve been second a few times, so it was nice to finally stand on the top spot.”

Waking up to over a foot of fresh powder was a shock to the racers, but both said their training center teams handled the situation extremely well.

“The team handled it really well,” said Shields. “It went smoothly for us. Eric [Bailey, NDC coach] had a good handle on it… got some really good wax on our skis, and we were all really happy with how well they were working.”

“I had three pairs [of race skis] ready to go and a couple of them were specific to soft conditions,” said Goldsack. He, too, had plenty of kind words for his wax support team even though they’ve only been working together a short while.

“It’s been a pretty painless transition [from the NST] and things are working well,” he said. “Because it’s a bigger team I end up waxing some of my own skis, which I’m definitely not used to, but it’s good for me for sure.”

Both athletes are training with national training centers. Shields is with the National Development Center in Thunder Bay, while Goldsack trains jointly with the National Ski Team and the Alberta World Cup Academy. While it might be a partnership born of NST budget constraints and a necessity, it’s one that the veteran thinks has a lot of potential.

“So far, it’s been really good,” he says. He credits both NST coach Justin Wadsworth for collaborating well with Mike Cavaliere and the AWCA coaching staff. Each coach and team has his own style and ideas, making for powerful synergy. It also allows for some unique role modeling, given the wide age spread of skiers on the AWCA team.

“It’s nice to have the young energy and excitement. The pressure to perform is less than the NST’s intense environment,” said Goldsack. He said he enjoys being able to share his wealth of racing experience with the younger athletes.

“Some of them think you have to be in bed at 8 p.m. every night and train 900 hours a year,” said Goldsack. “I thing its been good for them to see that my training’s not much different than theirs.”

Despite, or perhaps thanks to the wisdom of his years, Goldsack is smart enough to keep an eye on the up-and-comers, many of whom have their targets set on the same World Cup and World Championship races that he does. The U23 field is exceptionally strong right now, he says, with many of the world’s top U23 skiers capable of holding their own on the World Cup stage.

“Domestically and internationally the U23 field has some very solid skiers. I mean, there were two [U23’s] in the sprint final in Davos.” That says a lot about the strength of younger skiers, he said. Ontario’s 22-year-old Lenny Valjas finished 17th in the Davos sprint last weekend, enough to land him a spot at the Nordic World Championships in Oslo, Norway later this winter.

Seeing younger athletes racing that fast is a huge motivator for Shields. After his win on Sunday, he’s looking ahead to the three-race NorAm mini-tour this coming weekend in Rossland BC. The first race in Rossland is a skate sprint, which is a qualifier for World Championships as well and shields said he’s excited.

“It’ll be nice to start the tour off with my best event,” he said. “I’m looking for a good solid performance there, and to ski well overall.” After that, said Shields, it’s home to Cambridge, Ontario, for Christmas to rest up for World Junior Championship trials which will be held on his new home course at Lappe Nordic, in Thunder Bay.

Goldsack is also setting his sights on the Rossland sprint on Dec. 17 and the World Champ’s spot that’s on the line.

“Best case scenario I’d like to be on the podium in Oslo. I’ve been on the verge in the pastŠso if I can get back to that form I don’t think it’s an unreasonable goal,” said Goldsack. “At this point in my career, if I’m not shooting for the podium then I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Sovereign Lake NorAm Teck Women’s 10k Skate Video

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December 16, 2010 (Sovereign Lake, BC) – Check out these great video highlights from last weekend’s NorAm Teck women’s 10k skate race at Sovereign Lake, which was won by Holly Brooks (APU). Caitlin Compton (CXC) and Brooke Gosling finished second and third, respectively.

Great Winter Events Await You with the Catamount Trail Association

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December 16, 2010 (Burlington, VT) – The Catamount Trail Association has a great line-up of winter events for you to participate in this season, including a Ladies Nordic Ski Expo, the Catamount Trail Outdoor Winter Photography Workshop, and the Get Out and Backcountry Ski Festival. Read on for more details and how to register.

Ladies Nordic Ski Expo – January 8th at the Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, VT
If you are a woman and want to learn or improve your classic, skate, or backcountry technique, you wont find a better way to spend a winter day. This all-day clinic features some of the best women instructors in the East, helping you to fine tune your technique or teach you the basics of the sport. The day consists of three ski sessions, lunch, a backcountry slide show presentation by author David Goodman, and a wine and cheese social to top off a perfect day. This event is almost full with just 8 spots left to fill. Visit www.CatamountTrail.org or call 802-864-5794 to register or for more information.

Catamount Trail Outdoor Winter Photography Workshop – Jan 14-16th at the Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, VT
Whether you are a passionate amateur photographer or an aspiring professional, well-known photographers Emily Johnson and Brian Mohr will give you all the tips and techniques needed to get the most out of your winter photos. Brian and Emily will lead participants on skis or snowshoes to the virgin snow of the backcountry to shoot everything from landscape to action photography under their experienced guidance. This two-day workshop will cover the following subjects:

– Winter Light – Being comfortable and creative with winter’s challenging and ever-changing light;
– Creative Compositions – Exploring focus, perspective, and composition with a variety of winter scenes;
– Exposure – Understanding and balancing shutter speed, aperture and ISO;
– Camera Handling – Tricks to making winter photography easy in the face of winter’s elements;
– Advanced Techniques – Action; Night/low-light; Macro-photography; Tri-pod use;
– Digital Workflow – Advice on how to store, organize, protect, process and display your photographs.

The workshop will include lodging, meals, and trail pass. Visit www.CatamountTrail.org or call 802-864-5794 to register or for more information.

Get Out and Backcountry Ski Festival – Jan 23rd at Bolton Valley Resort,VT
Designed for beginner to intermediate backcountry skiers, this popular full day event will promise to be another sell-out. Learn from expert backcountry instructors as they take you through a wide range of skills designed to improve everything from your telemark turns to maneuvering in unbroken powder. Try out demo skis, listen to talks on equipment and safety, and enjoy the end of the day social gathering with refreshments. The clinic includes instruction, trail pass, demo tryouts, and drinksl. Visit www.CatamountTrail.org or call 802-864-5794 to register or for more information.

SISU Ski Fest News – 42K Marathon Now Qualifier for Birkie, Course Changes, Taste n Tour, New Race, and More

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December 16, 2010 – SISU Ski Fest organizing committee is pleased to announce its 42K marathon is now a qualifier for Hayward, Wisconsin’s legendary American Birkebeiner®. The significance of this recognition will draw more racers to the early season race to be held in Ironwood, MI this January 15, 2011. Racers can compete to get their qualifying time for wave placement in the Birkebeiner®, which will be cutting off registrations this year at 8,400 skiers. The SISU Ski Fest’s Heiki Lunta Half Marathon is also a Kortelopet Qualifier.

Also some course changes have been a focus for ABR Ski Trails owner Eric Anderson. “The start of the 42K is revised to be wider for a more friendly start. Basically the first 5K is up to 50 ft wide and no major climbs or descents. The first major climb is at about 5.5K, according to Eric.” Anderson also stated that they have eliminated 2 of the climbs and 2 of the descents from one of the more difficult loops. Other course improvements include the 21K has a very wide start and no major climbs until 3K. Both races have more spectator viewing areas for the first 1/2 K. The race start times are more spread out so the participants should not have difficulty passing other racers.

The Taste n Tour, sponsored by ABR, is a unique 10K tour is meant for people that want to get out on the SISU trail, participate in the festivities, but aren’t concerned about being timed. Completion by 5:00 p.m. and eating is the major goal for these participants. Taste n Tour is pleased to offer four delectable food stations including a dessert station. SISU committee members expect these registration numbers to climb over last year’s 100 participants. Thirteen restaurants are now sponsoring this event. They include Breakwater, The Pines, Brewster’s, Elk N Hound, Manny’s, Maplewood Steakhouse, Golden Dragon, Old Suffolk Ale House, Steep Creek Café, The Pastry Kitchen, Rigoni’s Bakery and moijakka for the marathon and half marathon participants is being supplied by Ben’s Place.

The race course will be shortened by one block, ending by the Ben Franklin store on Aurora Street. This will allow Suffolk Street to remain open and traffic to flow through the downtown. Strategic planning has been completed with signage and road closings to accommodate business owners. The alley ways downtown will remain open and parking will be available to consumers.

The NEW event this year is the Lapset Loppet (children’s race) sponsored by River Valley Bank. It will be held on Friday January 14 at ABR Ski Trails. Free 2K and 5K events will be start at 1:00 in the afternoon. The 2K is not timed for speed but is a fun event for the younger children, whereas the 5K is a timed event for the more competitive racers. Hot chocolate and cookies will be served and all participants will receive a finisher’s medallion.

Orvana Minerals Corp has come on board to sponsor the Heikki Lunta Half Marathon, and SISU is still searching for a sponsor for the full marathon. Visit our website listed below for details on becoming a sponsor.

Visit www.sisuskifest.com for more information or to register to become a volunteer. The first volunteer meeting will be held December 7 at 6:00pm at the Ironwood Memorial Building. If you are interested in having a booth at our event expo Friday and Saturday January 14-15, please contact Dona Coggins, expo coordinator at 906-663-4233.

TD Bank Citizen Series Kicks Off – Season Opener Dominated by Patterson, O’Brien and NWVE

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December 14, 2010 (Bolton, VT) – Over 100 hearty souls enjoyed epic conditions to kick off the season – high winds, continuous snow fall on top of the solid groomed base made for an abrupt kick start to racing. It was a great mix of the old along with many new faces. Last year’s club champions NWVT are racing under a new name this season – NWVE or Northwest Vermont Endurance – but the results were much the same. They took control of the club series with a dominating team victory on their home course at Bolton Valley.

Individually, it was the Caitlin Patterson of UVM and Patrick O’brien of Craftsbury Green Racing Project who earned commanding victories over strong fields that included Craftsbury GRP members, the UVM Ski Team and many others.

Note that this race, and all TD Bank Citizen Series events, will be scored to the NENSA points list. This will not impact JO Team scoring, but will allow more athletes to earn points for seeding at Eastern Cup and placement on the end-of-season NENSA Development Teams.

Full results HERE.

NENSA Points Standings HERE.

Check out more photos of the Bolton Season Opener and first race in the TD Bank Citizen Series HERE.

Beckie Scott Story Part IV of IV

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“Teo is the No. 1 priority. This is the first thing I think about when waking up or when any opportunity comes up. Being a mom comes first. When I stopped skiing, I didn’t really need to pursue anything more. I didn’t have the same kind of aspirational career goals many other people probably do,” says Beckie Scott. “I knew I wanted a child. I was really looking forward to this. Teo was really wanted, and Justin and I were prepared to make the lifestyle change for him. Teo fit right in.”

Something I’ve always admired are your pursuits outside skiing. You’ve been one to use your position as a recognizable athlete for the betterment of society. One of the first organizations you aligned yourself with was UNICEF. How did this come about?
Beckie Scott: I’d always cared about what was going on around the world. I think this is an influence from my parents. They are very aware and conscious of our place in the world — environmentally, socially.

It was the fall of 2001. The U.S. had just invaded Afghanistan. On the television, I saw this huge humanitarian crisis unfold. This really bothered me. I was really quite upset. As a team, we had just received our gear for the year. We were at a training camp, cooking for ourselves. We had bags and bags of food around. We felt we had so much. And here we are, seeing these images of people who had nothing. This contrast bothered me to the point of deciding to donate my prize money that year to UNICEF and trying to get as many others in the North American racing community to do the same. UNICEF is an agency helping the most vulnerable of all — the kids and the women, but mostly the kids who are the innocent victims in this kind of thing.

UNICEF got wind of what we were doing. The Salt Lake City Olympics were later that year. After I won the medal and got some notoriety, UNICEF asked me if I’d come on board as a special representative, a kind of ambassador for Canada. I said, ‘Yes’ [smiles] immediately. This was something close to my heart. Apart from skiing, this was the other realm I thought most about, that I wanted to be a part of. When they asked me to be an ambassador to their causes, they said, ‘If you ever want to see UNICEF in the field, if you ever want to visit projects, just say the word and we’ll build it into one of our projects.’ This was quite a fortunate door to have open. That year, I went to Burkina Faso in West Africa as part of their girl’s education campaign. After that, I joined the Right to Play movement.

Was it successful? Did people rally behind this cause?
BS: I think so. Many racers donated their SuperTour winnings, though it isn’t that much money, as you know [laughs]. In the end, we raised money for a genuine cause. But it was the simple gesture of awareness, as much as anything, that resonated so much with UNICEF and the ski community.

After Salt Lake, you went on a UNICEF field visit to Burkina Faso in Africa. Did participating like this help you as a ski racer?
BS: I think it helps keep the balance right. Going to Africa really helped me understand another world, another level of that people live at. To realize this, to see this, really put things in perspective — we don’t have much to complain about here. At times when I might be feeling negative or sorry for myself, I’d think back on these African experiences and I couldn’t stay in that mood very long.

The field visits also gave me another sense of purpose, which I was really looking for. When I took that break from sport, part of that was a feeling that I needed to look around for something other than skiing to keep me occupied, to keep me interested. I needed another avenue outside of skiing to focus my attention on.

Did this set up some of the work you’re doing now?
BS: Yes, totally. You know, this is one of the main reasons I came back. I spent days thinking about my reasons for coming back, what I wanted to do. One of the biggest reasons for continuing, apart from knowing I had more in me, was the knowledge that with increased success and notoriety, you get a platform. From that, I can spread the word, I can educate and I can draw attention to different causes and promote them.

I donated the money I won from my silver in Torino to a cause. This gave me another sense of purpose as well, in training and in the harder moments — to do something for kids.

You gave your Torino race bonuses to Right to Play that year, but didn’t tell anybody.
BS: I had a contract with Haywood Securities, a kind of victory schedule. The amount of money I won from my silver medal I donated. This idea of helping out a cause I believed in deeply was motivating, for sure. At the same time, when I stepped up to the start line, I was focused on executing the perfect race and getting this performance out of me. But this other motivation was certainly in the back of my mind.

You’re still connected to sport through the IOC [International Olympic Committee) athlete council and your work with Right to Play, which had limited involvement at the Vancouver 2010 Games. Can you tell us about that?
BS: Yes, that’s true. Right to Play was not officially in the Olympic Village, and didn’t have a partnership with the Vancouver Organizing Committee [VANOC]. This was over a sponsorship conflict and VANOC’s ultimate decision to bar Right to Play from participating in the Olympics as an official partner. It was disappointing how this unfolded.

How can an athlete who wants to be part of the Right to Play movement keep this alive?
BS: This is a very good question. The first is just spread the word — word of mouth. Talk about Right to Play when the opportunity presents itself in the media. Talk about a cause you support. Just showing your support — in any way this manifests itself — is most important.

Our athletes are our most important vehicle for advocacy, support and fundraising. Right to Play wasn’t inside the Village. But we were there and definitely had something for our athletes to show their support.

At the 2006 Torino Olympics, your peers elected you to an eight-year term on the IOC Advisory Council as the voice of the Olympians. How has this responsibility/opportunity been for you?
BS: It’s interesting. It’s eye-opening, for sure. I didn’t know exactly what to expect when elected. It seemed like a big deal at the time, and being an IOC member certainly has its perks [laughs]. But it also has a lot of responsibility. There’s a lot of travel and meetings and different kinds of official duties. So far, I enjoy it. It’s been very educational learning what goes on in the other side of sport.

When I think of IOC or FIS [International Ski Federation], I can’t help but think of an older-gentlemen’s club from Oslo or Monaco or St. Moritz. For all the empowering and democratizing power of athletics, there is a serious lack of gender equality in working in sports. I can’t name one woman serviceworker on the World Cup. I’d venture this trend is present in all levels of sport, but at the international level, there’s an absolute lack of women.

It’s really obvious how male-heavy coaching and support, even administration, is in sport; and in skiing in particular. It’s hard to say, but I think women bring a balance into a situation. There is gender balance on the start sheet, so I feel there should be some representation in the working aspect of the sport. At the same time, it’s a really hard lifestyle, really tough and demanding. Many women choose to have families, and after they retire from ski racing don’t want to do the travel that’s required. It’s a dilemma for sure. But I agree. There needs to be more women.

Since you’ve been a member, your biggest IOC decision has to be the Guatemala City vote where Sochi, Russia won the bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics. You were part of the evaluation committee. What went into this decision?
BS: I was part of an evaluation commission made up of hand-picked people from all different areas of expertise: lawyers, financial experts, transportation experts. Sixteen people were part of the commission. I was the only athlete and one of only three IOC members. The rest were individual professionals, respected as experts in their fields of study.

We traveled to all three cities: Sochi, Russia; Salzburg, Austria; and PeongChang, South Korea. Afterward, we went back to Lausanne, Switzerland for a focused week of preparing the report that we submitted to all the 112 IOC members in Guatemala City.

This report was a fairly lengthy and comprehensive overview about the three cities — to determine, in our opinion, which city was most capable of hosting the 2010 Olympics.

The IOC adopted this 16-person evaluation commission to cut down on corruption with previous Olympic bids, which came to light before the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake, right?
BS: Yes. This is done to avoid all the bribery. So they say.

Can you tell me about this? I heard the IOC-commissioned report had Sochi, Russia as the bottom of the three bids.
BS: Sochi was not the strongest bid [long pause], according to the evaluation commission. I think if you read the evaluation commission report you would see that Sochi was not the strongest bid . . . [pause]

. . . in some respects.

I heard Vladimir Putin, the Russian President at the time, came down to Guatemala City to express his support for Sochi’s bid.
BS: He did.

Did this play any part in the swaying of the IOC members?
BS: [Laughs and laughs.] You know, who knows? I can only speculate. I was not approached in any way. Anything I heard is just secondhand speculation and hearsay. Every president and prime minister of the final-candidate cities came to Guatemala City. It just so happens that Putin is the most well-known. It’s really hard to know the external factors that went into influencing the voting, apart from the commission report.

Were you a little disappointed with the outcome?
BS: It surprised me a little.

One final question: where were you when Oddvar Bra broke his pole?
BS: Ooh, that’s a hard one. When was that? The 1982 World Championships in Oslo, right? I was eight years old. I don’t know. No. No, wait a minute. I was at a Vermillion Jackrabbit Jamboree.

Thank you for your time and insight, Beckie.
BS: Thank you.

Return to Part 3.