The last photo from this sprint time-trial at Soldier Hollow on Wednesday was staged five minutes after the skiers crossed the finish line to illustrate that this was an “all out†effort. The rest of the photos are real action!
Six male skiers, one British female skier and three non-paying spectators showed up for our “get ready for nationals†skate sprint-time-trial on the sprint course at Soldier Hollow on Wednesday December 21, 2005.
The athletes:
Steve Scott, Glen Randall, Anders Haugen, Espen Haugen, Ben Page and Sara Cox-Conklin.
Temperature: 32 F and foggy
Grooming: A little icy and “wobblyâ€
Ski Speed: fast
The race format: 15 seconds interval-start prolog, two quarterfinal heats (3 and 2 athletes in each heat) and everyone got to race in the semi-finale and the finale.
The women’s race was run separately (1 skier).
The break between the prolog and each heat was 10-12 minutes.
The result:
The two true sprinters Steve Scott and Anders Haugen dominated both the prolog and the heats while the two junior skiers Glen Randall and Ben Page got a good workout and a chance to learn from faster sprinters.
Scott was the strongest in the semifinal while Haugen controlled the finale. A good workout, the sprint at Nationals is still two weeks away.
