Rocky Mountain Nordic announces the second season of the Colorado Cup in conjunction with RMN’s new administrative role in the cumulatively scored series of nordic ski races throughout Colorado. Rocky Mountain Nordic, a division of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), is the Rocky Mountain region’s official governing body for cross-country, or nordic, ski racing. The Colorado Cup’s first season took place in the 2005-06 winter and resulted in a successful combination of citizen and elite ski racing, Colorado’s best races, and the establishment of a body of nordic competition in the region.
The 2006-07 schedule includes the Apina Madshus Snow Mountain Stampede and the Crested Butte Alley Loop—the two biggest and most prestigious ski marathons in the state—as well as the Owl Creek Chase, a 25km freestyle race included in the USSA Super Tour series of national level races. A full schedule of events and details can be found at www.rmnordic.org.
The Colorado Cup’s goals are to integrate nordic races and recreational events in an organized body of events that both serve the racing and recreational skier while also serving to develop and support world-class athletes to compete on the international level. Together with the new Rocky Mountain Nordic Tour events which will allow recreational skiers to enjoy non-competitive events on unique courses throughout the state (see www.rmnordic.org ), the Colorado Cup aims to benefit skiers, racers, ski areas, and the sport as a whole. Eventually, Colorado Cup races hope to include juniors, collegiate, masters, and elite racers.
Racers in the Colorado Cup earn points based on their finishing place. The points are tallied cumulatively throughout the season based on official USSA five-year age-groups and overall categories by gender. At the end of the season, overall male and female winners are declared the Colorado State Champions and age-group winners are named to the RMN Select Team. Overall and age-group leaders are identified in each race by special bibs that denote their status.
Summing up the upcoming season, spokesperson Matt Muir says, “We’re all excited and the hope is that we can continue to improve nordic events for everyone involved and for the good of the sport as well.â€
See you all out on the snow!
