Home2006

2006 August

The Coastal Nordic Ski Club (CNSC), a nonprofit organization located in southern Maine, is seeking a Head Coach for the Maine Coast Nordic Ski Team. MCN currently has over 30 athletes representing several southern Maine towns and school systems which have been training on a regular basis throughout this summer under the previous MCN coach, Paul Stone, who recently was named the Head Coach of the University of Vermont Ski Team. The Maine Coast Nordic...

HAWYARD, Wis., August 2006 – The Board of Directors for the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation (ABSF) recently approved the creation of a new cross-country ski trail for classic skiers. Construction of the 9-kilometer trail will begin within the next 10 days. Volunteers David G. Nelson and Jack Moin have already marked the course with geographic positioning system (GPS) technology. The new trail begins at the Cable Union Airport, parallels the existing Birkie Trail, and merges...

Bjorn Ferry and Sofia Domeij won a freestyle rollerski race in Ostersund, Sweden last week. US skiers Sara Conrad was 10th and Tim Burke 7th. Sofia Domeij won three seconds ahead of Carin Olofsson and Selina Gasparin of Switzerland was third. Britta Nordgren was fourth. Sarah Konrad, member of the 2006 US Olympic cross country and biathlon teams, was tenth. Biathlon skier Bjorn Ferry won the men’s race eleven seconds ahead of another biathlon skier,...

The New Tour de Ski is competitions that are valued high among Swedish national team skiers. The One million Swedish kronor (US $140,000) first price for the overall win is especially tempting. Anders Sodergren is ranking the Tour in a class with Worlds and has decided upon his strategy for how to win. – I want to be among the top in all the long races and just show up without ambitions for the sprint...

Clare-Louise Brumley posted Australia’s best ever female cross-country ski performance at an Olympic Games in Torino. She finished 42nd out of 67 less than 10% behind winner Kristina Smigun of Estonia in the 15km Pursuit. Unfortunately she also suffers from exercise induced asthma. She was selected to ski the 30km freestyle at the Olympics but bronchitis exacerbated her asthma and she was unable to compete. Here is an interview I did with her:

I am not sure whether to be impressed or disgusted. I am watching Brian Gregg double poling on the rollerboard and one of his back muscles is distracting me from my calf raises. “Look at that muscle,” I say to my fellow CXC teammate Garrott Kuzzy as my pointing finger tries to keep up with the offending muscle while Brian whooshes up and down the rollerboard. “Watch when he does dips,” responds Garrott carelessly before...

Norwegian junior national team coaches Age Skinnstad and Fredrik Aukland were impressed by the fastest skiers in a recent rollerski time-trial at an open junior national team camp, but suggest that many need to train more V1 on rollerskis. “I’m impressed by the top skiers in today’s time-trial. Øystein Pettersen and Kurland Olsen tied for first in the boy’s race. Johaug skied very fast in the girl’s race and won by more than 40 seconds,”...

Fifteen year old Sondre Norstad Moen is starting to become a well know name among both ski and track enthusiast in Norway. His main sport is XC skiing, but is also starting to set new age group records in running. Norstad Moen sprinting in to victory. Moen’s ambitions are high for the upcoming winter and the goal is medals in the age 15-category, but he is not taking anything for granted. He is convinced that...

The Yellowstone Ski Festival is less than three months away and in West Yellowstone, Montana preparations for the event are well underway. Trail maintenance, including mowing, is scheduled to take place during the next two weeks (USFS fire restrictions permitting) and the lineup of exhibitors and participants is starting to take shape. The Yellowstone Ski Festival runs from November 21 — 25, 2006 and includes the Fall Camp Clinics, the Try It and Buy It...

Marit Bjœrgen and Stig Roar Kveen won the 24 kilometer long rollerski race from Stœren to Budal for the third year in a row. Both set course records. Krister Trondsen was leading up to the 4-k mark, while Rune Muller took the lead after that. Kveen had lost a wheel right before the 4-k point, but quickly got a new ski. He then passed Frode Estil and Trondsen before he chased down Muller and passed...

Beckie Scott (CAN), 2002 Olympic Champion in the pursuit and 2006 Olympic Silver Medalist in the sprint relay, finished second in the overall Viessmann FIS World Cup Cross-Country 2005/06 standings. After ten World Cup seasons and her third Olympics, Beckie retired at the end of last season. However, in her case retirement has not meant leaving the sports world — quite the opposite! FIS Newsflash recently had a chance to interview Beckie. FIS Newsflash: How...

Building the aerobic base. Distance and lactate threshold training. On-snow skiing. Time at altitude. Skiing powerful, but relaxed. Staying healthy. These are the phrases U.S. Ski Team athletes and coaches have bandied about in New Zealand. Now with the three-week camp coming to a close, the team is encouraged by the progress. “Back in May, pretty much across the board, our skiers were still in need of consolidating their aerobic base,” said USST national team...

Custom selection process offers premier fit and highest quality of skis selected from the inventory peaks at Fischer, Atomic and Madshus. Engineered Tuning partners Boulder Nordic Sport (BNS) and Caldwell Sport Specialties (CSS) announced their next ski selection batch will begin September 1. Engineered Tuning custom selects Fischer, Atomic and Madshus skis individually for clients and provides professional ski service with Tazzari stone-grinding equipment. The Engineered Tuning hand-selection process begins with a conversation with Zach...

On the surface, it might seem like sport is a purely competitive affair. Athletes compete against one another, so all athletes must be extremely competitive people. To be honest, though, I must admit that I am not a very competitive person. Sure, I would rather win than lose; and in a race, if someone is just ahead of me, I will find energy from somewhere to try to make up the distance. But for me,...

SAXTONS RIVER, Vt. (Aug. 22) – Warren Chivers, two-time Olympian, U.S. National Hall of Fame member and longtime ski coach at Vermont Academy (VA), has died. He was 91. Chivers, who grew up in Hanover, N.H., and graduated from Dartmouth College, died Friday. He was a 1936 Olympic cross country racer, who returned to Dartmouth, graduated in 1938 and was named to the 1940 Olympic Team, which never got to compete because those Games were...

It was a rainy Friday night in Anchorage, but that didn't stop some hardy cross country skiers from showing up for a rollerski sprint race. Eleven racers participated in the event, which took place around an 800-meter paved loop in the Cuddy Family Park in midtown Anchorage. The small park, situated next to the main Anchorage public library, is used by many as a place to take a quick walk during a lunch break, but...

Tobias Angerer of Germany and Norwegian Marit Björgen are the favorites to win this winters World Cup according to some oddsmakers. Beckie Scott is despite her retirement listed as the second favorite. The season is three month away, but it’s already possible to bet on who will win this upcoming season’s World Cup. Last years winner of the men’s trophy, Tobias Angerer is again the favorite to win the title as the World’s ski king...

There are only a handful of summer skiing facilities in the world, and we Alaskans are extremely lucky to have one right in our backyard–the Thomas Training Center on Eagle Glacier. Just thirty minutes south of Anchorage by car and a short ten-minute helicopter flight, the Thomas Training Center (TTC) is a great place to log dozens of kilometers and keep touch with the snow during summer months. This past week, the APU Nordic Ski...