UPDATED with pictures below….
The classic sprint has been canceled in Anchorage for the second time today. The official decision was made by the jury ten minutes before the scheduled time of 1pm after the weather hadn’t shown any sign of changing during the morning.
“We headed back to the hotel to rest up and get out of the circus,” said Brian Gregg of CXC. “There was a lot of energy built up from the cancellation yesterday, so today we’ll just head out for an easy ski and get ready for tomorrow.”
The decision on the fate of the individual sprint race will be announced at a coaches meeting at the venue at 6pm. Tomorrow’s 15K skate race will be held on the same course as the 10K classic race scheduled for Wednesday. The start time will be delayed but it’s still unknown.
The U.S. Ski Team’s Kikkan Randall was disappointed, but positive about the cancellations. “I had to prepare and warm up twice yesterday, which is pretty tiring. Today I just kept it easy and stayed inside.” The country’s star sprinter had with her a boot-warmer made for alpine boots – the only one in sight. Maybe the rest of us Nordies could learn something from her…
Stay tuned for more news and updates from Anchorage. If you aren’t racing or are still in the area, the skiing is absolutely fantastic, and there’s still two hours of daylight left.
