After five races over the course of nine days and never once relinquishing his lead, Matt Liebsch (Team StrongHeart/Team Birkie) took home the overall victory in the Tour de Twin Cities on Sunday after crossing the line first in the 20 k freestyle pursuit at Green Acres. Pat O’Brien (CGRP), with the help of Saturday’s bonus sprint, claimed second in the inaugural Tour. Karl Nygren (CXC) took third after a series of consistent performances. “I’ve...
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 [...]
After a successful but unspectacular start to the Under-26 Open European Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia, the American team kicked things up a notch in their second outing. In Sunday’s pursuit, not a single one of the six U.S. starters lost a place from their sprint ranking, and one – Leif Nordgren – rocketed up 24 places over 12.5 kilometers and four shooting stages. “It was nice to finally have a good race,” said Nordgren, the...
Today concluded the Tour de Twin Cities a series of 5 Super Tour races right out our back door. Three races were contested at Wirth which really is right out our back door. On a good snow year it is faster to ski to the venue than it is to...
Tonight I was granted the good fortune of watching the world tour of the Banff Film Festival here in Lake Placid. 6 films. Some serious… some not so serious. (although I do think Ringo would make an excellent addition to C.A.R.C.A…) Emotional heart strings aside, all the films were packed full of awe worthy adventure [...]
Racers from Black Jack Ski Team all had impressive performances at the Western Canadian Championships in Canmore Ab, racing against the hottest racers from across the country. Julien Locke powered through the demanding sprint course for an impressive r...
The second weekend of EISA racing was hosted by the University of New Hampshire (UNH) at the Jackson Touring Center. Friday held classic sprints and Saturday held 15 and 20 k mass start skate races. Dartmouth won the weekend’s team scores over UVM by grabbing all four individual titles and an impressive nine out of the twelve podium spots, though UVM snagged the remaining three. Heavy precipitation on Thursday night dumped snow onto a very...
For the past two weeks the MOD Squad has been living and racing in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Methow native Brian Gregg and his wife Caitlin, both pro skiers, graciously opened their home to me for the entire period and provided generous hospitality...
We had a great morning of racing at Grafton today. Clear skies and temperatures hovering around freezing made up for the persistent wind. The trail was fun and well groomed for some fast action.Thanks to Grafton Ponds for making the snow and allowing r...
Thanks for all the support SKIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!If you would like to purchase a hat you may do so at: www.skidasport.com or by dropping in to Onion River Sports in Montpelier!
Jennie Bender wasn’t sure what the noise was, but she remembered it from watching the men’s race before the women’s 5 k classic mass start at Green Acres Park in Lake Elmo, Minn., on Saturday. As far as she knew, the horn meant go. And so, in the fourth of five stages at the Tour de Twin Cities SuperTour event, Bender reacted. The multi-stage leader from Central Cross Country (CXC) skied to a commanding lead,...
At the beginning of every mass start classic race, there are several points when the number of available lanes diminishes, and racers must scramble to find a new spot in the tracks. Starting lines 10-plus lanes wide must funnel down to two in a matter of a few hundred meters. Sometimes, a field of 100 athletes can make it through each transition with minimal collision. The men’s SuperTour 10 k classic in Lake Elmo, Minn....
The U.S. biathlon team could be forgiven for having high expectations going into this year’s Under-26/Open European Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia. Last year, Leif Nordgren entered just one race at the event, and didn’t even finish. But a few weeks later, he notched three top-thirty finishes at senior World Championships. In that same U26 series in Ridnaun, Italy, Russell Currier repeatedly finished in the 20s and 30s. But just two weeks ago, he bettered those...
What a difference a day makes! Today the college kids and Skyler raced mass start distance races under sunny skies at Jackson. The Jackson crew did a great job and skiing was excellent for the womens 15 km and the mens 20 km.Pictured above, the girls s...
This weekend's gap in the World Cup schedule is just big enough to admit the Marcialonga, the 70km marathon in northern Italy. Second only to the Vasaloppet in prestige, the Marcialonga has - like that even longer race - this year attracted quite a crowd of racers, headed by none other than Petter Northug himself. That Northug is taking the weekend "off" to ski 70,000 meters of track in Italy
Just a few photos up from today. Late here now in Ramsau, and I must get some shut eye!Matt and Erik: Our awesome duo of coaches and wax techs for our training week in Ramsau and the Austrian National Championships that we crashed today. Thanks guys!Gu...
Casey Smith, earlier in the season at Canmore.Casey Smith is a young local guy who has been pursuing biathlon since he was in Jr High. All along the way he's been working with Ultratune to get good skis and service. &...
Thursday night, the Slovakian town of Osrblie kicked off the 2012 Open European Championships of biathlon with an elaborate ceremony featuring athletes from 32 different countries. On Friday, racers flooded past on the trails and hundreds of shots were fired on the range, by the best field the venue has hosted since its last World Cup in 2005. What are the Open European Championships? The event, which lasts a week, actually serves several purposes. It’s...
It’s cold in Alaska right now! I am currently finishing up my relaxed morning... not because I am lazy and slept until 10 for no reason, but caused by the fact that I am waiting until afternoon to ski. Waiting for those few degrees of solar repriev...
We have a saying, "Once and SMS skier, always an SMS skier" so today was like old home day at the UNH Carnival. Skyler was entered on the USST quota and 10-15 alums were racing for their respective college teams.We woke up to 4" of fresh snow that was ...