Kate Whitcomb is a 2004 graduate of Middlebury College and in her second year in the Fischer—Swix sponsored FSX team. Whitcomb has had a successful season recently winning the shortened elite Birkie. Originally from Western Massachusetts, she lives and trains in Sun Valley with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation when not on the racing circuit. NOTE: This interview took place before the Birkie.
 and seem to have an affinity for it. Tell us what draws you to skiing this way.</p>
<p><B>I wake up each morning, knowing that I am one of the luckiest kids in the world and the team site gives me an outlet for this. Being a professional athlete could easily be a selfish way of life. By interacting with children and fans, I move towards being a resource and role model, rather than just a competitor. I am in a very exciting time of my life right now and I enjoy sharing it, trying to involve others through my enthusiasm and experiences.</B></p>
<p>Women in Nordic skiing have enjoyed an upsurge of talent in this country. (Kikkan’s recent podium finish, Alexa Turzian’s national championship, etc.) What is driving this?</p>
<p><B>It is a very exciting time for cross-country skiing in the US for women, men, and juniors, for everyone! As we have seen in the past, it takes more than years and years to be a top endurance athlete; it takes decades. Hilde Pedersen was 42 when she took home the 10k bronze medal in Torino last year. Beckie Scott was 28 when she won gold in Salt Lake. Success takes time and support and the US is starting to accommodate this.</p>
<p>The US Ski Team (USST) refers to athlete development as The Pipeline. Starting young through Bill Koch, JO’s, World Juniors, U23s and on to the World Cup and Olympics, athletes would work their way. The problem with this pipeline, for so long, was that unless you made the USST, there was no support after the schooling years. When forced to join the workforce, an athlete has little or no hope to compete with fulltime competitors.</p>
<p>Recently we have seen programs forming to support these athletes, just below the National Team level. These organizations are plugging the leak that our pipeline had in the past. The Sun Valley Ski Education foundation, Maine Winter Sports Center, XC Oregon, and APU among others; these are the programs that were missing throughout our country and they will be the vehicle for our future success.</p>
<p>Kikkan Randall has made ski racing a profession. Being a part of aforementioned APU, she started training as a young teenager. Putting in the hours and gaining financial stability through fundraising and personal sponsorship, she has matured into an internationally competitive, fulltime cross-country skier. Our National team is starting to podium (Newell, Randall & Koos, all with World Cup bronze). It is an exciting time for the US and we are only going to grow in depth and climb the podium to gold. </B></p>
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