SuperTour, Eastern Cup Race Reports, and La Clusaz Photos

SuperTour Race Reports

For the SuperTour Races in West Yellowstone this year we had great packed powder conditions. The snow seemed to have a bit more moisture in it than in other years, and with slightly milder overnight temperatures we stuck to the Red waxes by in large. For both race days we played it safe mixing HF Blue and HF Red 1:1 for a base layer. For powder we ran Toko JetStream Red 2.0, which ran 1st or 2nd in testing all weekend. On sprint day we ran a cold block in the morning and once the snow had a cold glaze to it, we added a cold liquid with block which helped at high speed. Gelso had great skis and was able to race from the front of the pack all day. For the distance classic race we were racing in heavy snow storm and temp’s around 20 degrees, so we kept it simple with JetStream Red 2.0 block over the JetStream Red 2.0 powder and focused our energy on kick.

The next weekend we made our way up to Silver Star for the SuperTours in Canada. It was super cold all week training, but again great conditions, and luckily it got up into the upper single digits come race days. The Toko brand ran super well in Canada as it always does in the cold. The snow was cold enough where mixing Toko X-Cold Powder in with LF Blue for a base layer helped harden the skis. From there it was Toko HF Blue, Jet Blue 2.0 Powder, and Jet Blue 2.0 Block. Some of our guys were doubling poling the CL Sprint all day so glide was important. As the tracks got skied in throughout the day we again found success mixing Toko Blue Helix with the JetStream Blue block. By the Sprint finals and second race on the distance day we switched to Red Helixmixed with the JetStream Blue block.

– Chris Mallory, Head Coach Sun Valley Elite Team

Eastern Cup Race Report

A really productive and fun first weekend of racing at Craftsbury. A little bit of everything when it came to snow and weather!

Day 1: Classic Interval Start

Cold temps overnight on a manmade base, but a lot of fresh new snow the day of the race. For kick wax we were on a very thin Toko Green Base binder ironed in. We ended up on kick wax from another brand.

Our paraffin layer was HF blue for earlier races, with a 2:1 mix of HF Bue:HF Redfor later races. We tested a fair amount of topcoats and Jetstream Blue Bloc 2.0was arguably the most reliable and consistent performer all day so that went onto all skis rotocorked. Later starters had a slightly warmer block from another brand mixed in with the Jetstream. For structure we ended up with just the linear Toko Blue Structurite pattern on the tail of all skis for the Open Women’s and Open Men’s Races.

Day 2: Freestyle Pursuit

Will Solow (Mansfield Nordic Club) racing in the Eastern Cup race at Craftsbury. (Photo: Gary Solow) — Will Solow (Mansfield Nordic Club) racing in an Eastern Cup race at Craftsbury. (Photo: Gary Solow)

It rained overnight with temps above freezing, but the course held up very well and remained stable and mostly firm albeit saturated.

We saw a lot of this last year and I was really happy to have plenty of the right Toko products on-hand. From early-season temps to Junior Nationals last year, the Toko warm fluoros just seemed to be incredibly reliable and fast.

All skis had a base of HF Red. A quick test in the morning showed that HF Yellow was not significantly better or worse, and so we stuck with the HF Red and focused on testing topcoats, application methods, and structure.

We felt there was a pretty significant difference between powder and blocks and focused on using blocks to best effect. Our final call was Jetstream Yellowrotocorked, then brushed, with another quick hand-corked layer over that. After a final brushing, skis received Helx Red liquid on the first part of ski, with Helx Yellow on the rear.

Early structure winner was a Swix tool that provided a left-angled and non-aggressive pattern, although at a somewhat large 1.5mm. As the course got more skied-in and churned up the tails of the skis received the combo of right- and left-angled patterns to form the crosshatch or “fishnet” pattern.

Our skate skis seemed to be performing really well and with large packs of skiers it was easy to evaluate speed and glide. Reports from the racers were very good!

– Adam Terko, Mansfield Nordic Club Head Coach

Here are a few action shots of US Toko Athletes at the most recent World Cup races in La Clusaz, France. (All photos: Nordic Focus)