Elliott Schedules Trip to Wisconsin for “Train Like a Birkie Champion” Camp

When the head of F.A.S.T. Performance Training in Hayward, Wis., Bill Pierce heard Tad Elliott pulled off a cross-Atlantic trip to win the American Birkebeiner last February, he knew he had to have him back in town.

Matt Liebsch, one of the Midwest’s nordic heroes and 2009 Birkie champion, thought the same.

In July, F.A.S.T. held its first “Train Like a Birkie Champion” citizens training camp of the year after Liebsch, an XC United skier, reached out to Pierce about coordinating clinics. Pierce was all for it, and Liebsch suggested adding Elliott, a U.S. Ski Team  (USST) member and former Central Cross Country (CXC) skier, to coach at future camps. Pierce immediately sought him out for the second one Oct. 26-28.

“I talked to Tad about two months ago and I said, ‘I’ve got one open weekend,’ ” Pierce said on the phone Wednesday. “He said, ‘That’s the same one I’ve got.’ ”

Empathizing with Elliott’s busy USST schedule, one in which Pierce figures “hardly gives [its athletes] time to sit down,” he was impressed with Elliott’s enthusiasm.

“The cool thing about this kid is, against the advice of his coaches and his dad, he flew home [from the World Cup] … and did the race and flew back to Europe,” Pierce said of Elliott, who won the Birkie’s 50-kilometer skate with the second-fastest time in race history.

Elliot will pull off a similar yet smaller-scale feat when he leaves the upcoming USST camp Canmore, Alberta, one day early to coach at the “Train Like a Birkie Champion” weekend clinic Oct. 26-28 in northern Wisconsin. According to Pierce, Elliott will fly out of Canada early Friday, Oct. 26, and will arrive in Minneapolis by noon. There, Liebsch will drive him to Seeley, just north of Hayward, to lead a dryland skills-and-technique session that evening. After three days of instructing, he’ll fly home Sunday night to Park City, Utah.

“I love going back to the Midwest and seeing the huge enthusiasm they have there for nordic skiing,” Elliott wrote in an email. “I will get to do the Birkie clinic with one of my close friends Matt Liebsch [and hopefully see] his wife Mary-Beth and their two young kids Grant and Samantha. I got to stay with them for two weeks last year and they took incredible care of me. Looking forward to seeing Bill Pierce. Sounds like this clinic is really well organized looking forward to going to it.”

“He’s doing this because he likes the Birkie,” Pierce said. “The kid’s got so much positive energy.”

Pierce likes to tell his juniors about Elliott and his USST teammate Noah Hoffman and their results at the 2006 Junior Olympics. Seven years ago, they finished around 28^th and 30^th place, he said. Now look where they are.

“It’s kind of cool to see where these kids come from and a progression,” Pierce said. “They made a choice to pursue a passion, and that’s what the focus is for.”

 

More on the “Train Like a Birkie Champion” Camp Series:

October 26-28, 2012; Hayward, WI – “Train Like a Birkie Champion”

“Live & Ski Like a Champion”