Austrian National Champs

On Saturday we raced the 5/10km classic at the Austrian National Championships. The race was held at Rettenbachalm, a little ski area in Bad Isch, Austria which was 15km up a single lane snowy road that bordered a steep drop-off into a raging brook. It was really fun to experience a different kind of National Championships and one that was much more low-key than the races earlier this month in Rumford. The field size was still relatively large but only because every Nordic skier in Austria, from J5s to Masters put on a bib. We showed up morning of the race and previewed the course which wasn’t closed during the races, raced and then won some local chocolate which we enjoyed with a hearty lunch of goulash soup.