I hadn’t even seen the poster around before I went to Chad’s house a month ago.
The poster I am talking about is for the 2007 Mora Vasaloppet. It makes sense to frame it, and hang it on your wall when you are front-and-center. What makes even more sense is that the race organizers recognized that Subaru Factory Team member Chad Giese deserved this type of celebration due to the fact that he hasn’t let anyone else win the 56km freestyle race in 5 years.
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/oldsitearchive/upload/070207-083827-giesemoravictory5copy.jpg width=344.13133402275 height=450 border=1><br />
<font size=1 face=verdana>Victorious in 2006</font></center></p>
<p>It’s hard to say that Chad possesses a home-course advantage, because it has been several years since he has lived in Mora. However, there is something about coming home that has kept Chad winning year after year after year
. Chad has made his new home in St. Paul with his wife Ann, and manages to balance a full-time job at Medtronic and an impressive ski career. This type of balancing act is one that very few people are able to execute.</p>
<p>When you ask Chad to look back on the Mora Vasaloppet he’ll tell you that it does in fact hold a special place in his heart. “When I was young I remember watching as they asked the top twenty to line up at the awards ceremony,†Chad recalls. From here Chad takes a reflexive tone, “I just remember seeing those guys and being in awe.†Oh how the tables turn — now it is the thousands of people Chad has reached, young and old, who look at him and see what it is to be a true champion.</p>
<p>Chad is the only athlete who can say he has raced in three different Vasaloppet on three different continents, and stood on the podium at two of these — once in the China Vasaloppet, and five times atop the winners stand in Mora, MN. The third Vasaloppet Chad raced was the original Vasaloppet in Mora, Sweden. </p>
<p>With temperatures projected to be in the teens this Saturday, Mora, MN looks to be a much more agreeable race temperature than those that fell on the Twin Cities for the City of Lakes Loppet last weekend. Chad, despite the cold weather, lined up in the sub-zero temperatures on Sunday, and made a push to win that came up less than half a ski length short. Cold temperatures are what foiled Chad’s first attempt at the Mora Vasaloppet. </p>
<p>“How old are you when you’re in the fourth grade?†he asked. </p>
<p>“I don’t know, ten, maybe†I replied.</p>
<p>“I had a pair of three-pin bindings on my skis then, and I was trying to race the 35km. My dad started skiing faster than me, and I was out there alone. After the half-way point I couldn’t feel my fingers, I had to give up†here too you can read a sense of real regret that he had to give in to something so minor (read: major) as frozen fingers. Chad rallied back two years later, and won his age group when he was the ripe age of twelve. His final thoughts, “I knew I was onto something then.â€</p>
<p>For such a seasoned racer it would be foolish to say that Chad has had race strategy revelations from finishing or not finishing races like these, but his composure and professionalism became evident at an early age. The type of person Chad has become as a result of watching, attempting, stopping, finishing, and winning are all testaments to his resolve, class, and professional attitude. These qualities, and the undeniable fact that Chad is world class, have positioned him to be a heavy favorite to win his sixth Mora Vasaloppet title. And, anyone who has the chance to see Chad race at the Mora or any other ski race in the coming season should walk away knowing that they saw a level of quiet determination that comes only with years of patience and practice — a career complete with real-life successes and failures. </p>
<p>So, as Chad ventures back to Mora, MN, where his family still operates a cattle farm, and he first learned to shuffle around on skis, he will be ready to show his hometown crowd that he deserves a spot on their race posters. Without argument, Chad has also earned the status of being a hometown hero in Mora, MN.</p>
<p>Source: Subaru Factory Team</p>
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