The REG Camp in the beautiful Wood River Valley was attended by 40 of the top junior racers from all over the west as well as 15 top coaches from around the region. Day one kicked off with skate video technique work and a great bounding workout with blood lactate monitoring. A couple of the girls weren't so happy to see the blood, but they got back up and got the job done none-the-less. Everyone emerged from the workout with a sore finger and a better understanding of their bodies, effort levels and fitness.
After a few days of rollerski and strength workouts, we got down to the first of the weeks two time-trial workouts. Rollerski Classic Sprint Relay. The action was pretty hot on the 1 km loop, and coaches Ben Husaby and Eli Brown jumped in to heat up the action even further. When the dust had settled and the protests had been heard, the relay event went to the the team of Matt Gelso (Far West) and Wyatt Fereday (Intermountain) for the guys and to 100m World Record holder Sadie Bjornsen (Pacific Northwest) and her teammate Bernie Nelson (Far West) for the girls.
After an afternoon off, followed by another day of running and rollerskiing, we were ready for the big event. The Harpers Hill Time Trial in Sun Valley has seen about 250 starts over the last 6 years. Olympians, National Champions, NCAA Stars and many other top skiers have tested their metal against the hill.
The REG Athletes threw down the gauntlet on Harpers. On the girls side, Ashley Quiggle (Rocky Mountain) won the day with a time of 15:38, taking both the junior girls victory and the overall victory and setting the 2nd fastest time ever by a woman on Harpers, behind only Morgan Arritola. Erika Flowers (Intermountain – 4th fastest all-time) and senior athlete Kate Whitcomb (SVSEF) rounded out the top 3.
On the men's side, Rocky Mountain Nordic had big day, with a sweep of the top 3 spots by Noah Hoffman, Tad Elliott and Sylvan Ellefson. On his way to victory, Noah set a new hill record of 12:02, taking the title from fellow RMN Athlete Glenn Randall. Tad and Sylvan's marks were the 3rd and 4th fastest of all time. Complete results are below.
WOMEN Names FINAL TIME Ashley Quiggle 15:38 Erika Flowers 15:51 Kate Whitcomb 16:23 Kate Underwood 16:26 Alexa Turzian 16:28 Sarah MacCarthy 16:32 Rosie Brennan 16:37 Brittany Perkins 16:39 Brianna Perkins 16:42 Jamie Woelk 17:07 Haleigh Armstrong 17:14 Ruth Anderson 17:42 Sophie Leonard 17:43 Mellie Park 18:07 Kirsten Johnson 18:25 Casey Kutz 19:15 Tess Dahlgren 19:40 Gretchen Sellegren 20:21 Lauren Jacobs 20:34 Devyn Parnes 20:59 Marissa Dreyer 21:33 Chelsea Vanderpool 23:17 MEN Names FINAL TIME Noah Hoffman 12:02 Tad Elliott 12:33 Sylvan Ellefson 12:39 Mikey Sinnott 12:57 Colin Rogers 13:12 Wyatt Fereday 13:20 Taylor Sundali 13:23 Josh Smith 13:29 Scott Krankkala 13:33 Tom Sunderland 14:04 George Cartwright 14:05 Eric Anderson 14:22 Charlie Smith 14:24 Dakota Blackhorse 14:24 Ian Mallams 14:31 Reid Pletcher 14:37 Dave Vanderpool 14:43 Tom Smith 14:45 Ben Grasseschi 14:49 Jesse Crandall 15:06 Garrett Reid 15:10 Aaron Peterman 15:16 Willie Neal 15:22 Chris Holmquist 15:50 Sam Farnham 16:12
After the TT, everyone said their goodbyes and headed home to continue to do the hard work that got them to the REG in the first place.
A big thanks to the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, Rick Kapala and Abi Holt for all of their hard work!
