Featuring NCAA qualifiers, Super Junior Olympic qualifiers for both the Great Lakes and the Midwest regions, high school, youth, masters and citizen racing, the Midwest Grand Prix in Houghton, Mich., boasts fields of more than 400 racers.
Friday features classic sprint races for both men and women. The sprint will consist of qualifiers only, not heats. Saturday the action continues with 5K classic interval start for women, while the men do 10K. The SuperTour concludes on Sunday with 10K/15K skate mass start races. Additionally there are classic and skate races of various distances for high school, youth, masters, citizen and adaptive skiers on both Saturday and Sunday, making sure volunteers and race organizers won’t have time to get bored.
All the races will take place on the Michigan Tech Nordic Training Center, the host of the 2007 and 2008 US Senior Nationals, which features your standard tough FIS homologated courses, says race director Joe Haggenmiller, the head coach for nordic sports at Michigan Tech.
Haggenmiller points out Chris Cook (Steinbock Racing) and Michael Sinnott (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) as some of the strong contenders in the starting lineup. Last weekend’s podium sweepers Caitlin Compton (CXC) and teammate Garrott Kuzzy are also back for more. Stay tuned.
Event details and schedules here.
Inge Scheve
Inge is FasterSkier's international reporter, born and bred in Norway. A cross-country ski racer and mountain runner, she also dabbles on two wheels in the offseason. If it's steep and long, she loves it. Follow her on Twitter: @IngeScheve.
