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The Boulder Mountain Tour is a fast 32 k predominantly down.   Conditions were fast and really fast things that make skis go fast were key,  i.e. flex of the skis, wax, grind, and of course, the person driving.  The finish had me surrounded by the U.S. Olympic nordic combined guys.. 23 seconds back from the $3000 first [...]

Caitlin Compton surges ahead to win both the sprints and the freestyle City of the Lakes races this past week end.  What was her secret?  By using one long pole and one short pole she was able to fend off any one who would come close.  Caitlin reports “The technique startled some, but overall gave me [...]

The Marathon this past weekend represented the culmination of a lot of hard work by the Craftsbury Nordic Center staff. Whether it was planning, organizing volunteers, grooming or shoveling snow onto the course, everyone pitched in to make the 30th Craftsbury Marathon a spectacular event! The Craftsbury Marathon  was actually my first 50k race in 10 [...]

It’s a big ski weekend in Minneapolis.  The City of Lakes Loppet is expecting over 10,000 skiers which might exceed Birkie numbers.  And if that is not enough check out Caitlin and her dog Lahti.    Caitlin and Lahti Click on this  for the channel 5 Eyewitness News story and video on Caitlin.  Brian is [...]

We will be posting updates on this week end races at Michigan Tech. in the Upper Peninsula.   The schedules, coarse maps and results (click on http://www.superiortiming.com/)  will be available from this site.  http://supertour.mtu.edu/

Jan. 22 & 23,  Theodore Wirth Park,  Mayors Challenge Super Tour   Nurturing a bad cold I elected not to race on Saturday. I did ski Sunday, but not fast. I am hoping the effort drove out any remaining cold cells. Congrats to Caitlin who was first place in both races. The good cold Minnesota [...]

Here is a picture from faster skier.  With more snow and a podium finish, I felt it was a good end to my skiing on the east coast.   The 15k skate race was my best Continental Cup (Super Tour) of the year.   The course was quite flat, with only several steep short climbs, and a seemingly endless [...]

Yesterday we had the only 4x5k Team event of the year besides the world championships in Oslo. We didn't do as well as we were hoping but with Johnny just comping back from knee surgery, and Todd was sick for a couple weeks straight, I don't think it was all that bad. In the end we finished where we started and that was 7th. Toda [...]

A big week in Rumford Maine.  Four races and lots going on…everything that is but snow.  This is a short of what it was like. Results http://www.chisholmskiclub.org/2011_us_nationals/results.htm

New year update!

January 11, 2011

So we just got done with the first competitions of the new year in Schonach, Germany. Its a small little town but with a new hill now and a very hard course. The conditions were very bad for the races and I had some very bad luck in the races as well as my brother. For the first time I had a jump that put me in very close position to points. Unfortunately I had bad luck right out of the sta [...]

It’s always great to be back in the Methow for the holidays.  This was Caitlin’s second Christmas in the Methow so she was treated like a local.  We had a heavy week of training but also time for friends, family, cookies, and wedding planning.

Merry X-MAS

December 26, 2010

So as you know today was Christmas. This is my favorite holiday, not because of the presents, but because of the time that I really get to spend with the family. With my life of skiing, I am gone a lot and its not often anymore that I get to come home and see my Parents. So when Christmas comes around training doesn't really take a back seat, but family comes first! Today was a great day. I [...]

Ramsau 2

December 19, 2010

Today was the second day in Ramsau, Austria. Today made me realize things, and how hard work can really pay off and you can get the results easy when you put your mind to it! My brother Bryan got his career best, 8th place, in the Race today. He has worked his ass off all summer and fall to get in to good shape, to fight for points in every competition. He lost up to 20 pounds which puts hi [...]

Today was the first competition  in Ramsau, Austria. I was going in with some high hopes and the confidence of my podium in Park City. From the start I knew it was going to be a tough comp on the jumping side, when I saw that we were 4 gates lower than Official training yesterday. Im not really sure what happened on the jump but something didn't go at all right and therefore had a very [...]

As the sun was setting this evening and my kids were returning home from school, I was waxing five rather dull looking skis. Yes, I ignored the golden rule of ski care and left the skis unwaxed since last spring! My husband returned home from work as I was finishing the last pair. An hour later all the kids (ages 2-11) were dressed for one digit temperatures and had a snack that would hopefully tide them over for a couple hours. After loading up all the gear, we drove to our local high-school ski course and unloaded. The kids fought over who would wear the three headlamps we had in our possession. Five minutes into the ski my nine year old fell to the ground complaining of cold hands, feet, and skis that were too soft. I was still feeling optimistic, four of the five were still not complaining. The nine year old and my husband headed back to the car. I was now in charge of keeping the other four from getting lost in the complete darkness that was lit only by a fingernail moon. My two year old kept a steady pace, even as his five year old brother tried repeatedly to run him over head on. Keeping the younger two together, I watched as the darkness seemed to swallow my seven and eleven year olds as they skated away along the trail. After nearly an hour had passed the young crew was ready to share the car with their sister. My husband and two boys skied one last loop before calling it a night. divbr //divdivTo save time we drove directly to a Burger King for dinner. We raised a few eyebrows with our attire, and shared a good conversation about family with a restaurant patron. Years ago, when I was in my twenties, I never would have imagined that a night like this would be fairly typical. Life is a ton of work, but unexpectedly good./divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-8455500230009844222?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com' alt='' //div

Lillehammer

November 22, 2010

This Past week, I was in Lillehammer, Norway with Bryan Fletcher, Billy Demong, Brett Camerota and our coaches. We just got done getting in our final preperation for the first world cup event of the year. We had several jumping sessions on the large hill in Lillehammer as we will have a competition there at the beginning of December. Also we were able to get more session on X-C skis since t [...]

A year’s worth of trail work and clearing projects around the Craftsbury Outdoor Center have added up to one giant log pile, towering over Elinor’s field.  Will Strong, a colorful Craftsbury native and current Wolcot resident  brought in his portable saw-mill to turn our log pile into some lumba’ and a big pile of sawdust [...]

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