All 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of Complete results from Friday’s classic individual starts
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Alex Kochon
Alex Kochon (alexkochon@gmail.com) is a former FasterSkier editor and roving reporter who never really lost touch with the nordic scene. A freelance writer, editor, and outdoor-loving mom of two, she lives in northeastern New York and enjoys adventuring in the Adirondacks. She shares her passion for sports and recreation as the co-founder of "Ride On! Mountain Bike Trail Guide" and a sales and content contributor at Curated.com. When she's not skiing or chasing her kids around, Alex assists authors as a production and marketing coordinator for iPub Global Connection.
All 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of J2 boys/girls 5 k mass starts OJ boys/girls 15/10 k mass starts
All 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of OJ boys 15 k freestyle mass start results Ahmed Advances on Descent Elizabeth Simak came this close to locking up a Junior Nationals title. At least her teammate got it instead. The OJ girls 10 k freestyle mass start might as well been a sprint given the way it turned out for the frontrunners. After Simak (Midwest/F.A.S.T. Performance Training)...
All 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of J1 girls 10 k freestyle mass start results Caldwell Breaks Away Paddy Caldwell knew exactly who was trailing him and by how much in the J1 boys 10 k freestyle mass start on Wednesday. Hearing splits from his New England coaches throughout the race, Caldwell was aware of his 5- to 10-second gap as he neared the end of...
All 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of Junior Nationals photo galleries, broken down by gender and age (J2, J1/OJ). Unsure where to begin looking? Refer to the following start lists, categorized by team affiliation from the sprint qualifier.
All 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of J2 boys sprint brackets Overall results Kern Claims Championship Upon Return Just over a week ago, Julia Kern was racing in Estonia at the J1 Scando Cup and led the American women in the 5 k classic, placing 14th. If that wasn’t impressive enough, consider she’s a J2. The Cambridge Sports Union skier from Massachusetts returned to the states...
All 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals coverage is brought to you through the generous support of OJ girls heats results Overall results (scroll for J1 girls) Lustgarten Leads New England In a 1.3 k sprint, there isn’t much time for decisions. So when Eric Lustgarten, a sophomore at St. Lawrence University, forged ahead on the second and final significant climb at Soldier Hollow, he knew there was no turning back. Previously hanging behind his New...
MIDWAY, Utah — FasterSkier was on-site the day before the 2012 Cross Country Junior Nationals nordic races start and snapped a few photos from the trails, which include a 1.3 k sprint loop (for Monday’s classic sprints) and a 5 k course (for freestyle mass starts and individual classic races on Wednesday and Friday, respectively).
Emil Jönsson needed this. He had been sick for too long, without a top 10 result since December and mostly out of contention for a World Cup podium since the end of last season. Two weekends ago at the freestyle sprint in Szlarska Poreba, Poland, the Swede was 62nd. That was behind him. This was Lahti, Finland, where he won the classic sprint last year. With some of the trickiest descents on the World Cup,...
Whatever condition they were in a week ago, most of the members of the U.S. Ski Team would rather forget it. The ride to Davos, Switzerland, had been rough enough with Kikkan Randall and Andy Newell suffering the worst of a stomach bug that affected the team for most of February. Newell wrote in a Feb. 23 blog post that he and Randall vomited right before leaving Poland for a nine-hour road trip. With two...
First or second in all but one World Cup competition this year, Sarah Hendrickson of Park City, Utah, capped off her historic season by clinching the overall women’s ski jumping title on Saturday in Zao, Japan. In the first season of the women’s World Cup, 17-year-old Hendrickson was the champion. She won Saturday’s first competition with two jumps of 99.5 meters to beat Japan’s Sara Takanashi, who jumped 98.5 and 99.5 meters. Hendrickson went on to...
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. Dr. Ian Duncan’s first phone call to Vegard Ulvang two years ago met a little dead air. It wasn’t that Ulvang, the executive director of the International Ski Federation’s cross-country committee, didn’t want to talk. He couldn’t at the time. The former Norwegian cross-country skiing superstar had the Olympics to tend to. Last summer, Duncan, a world-renowned National Multiple Sclerosis Society researcher...
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. To this day, Luke Bodensteiner, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) vice president of athletics, said people don’t believe him when he talks about what happened at the 1988 American Birkebeiner. Seventeen at the time and coming off a Kortelopet victory in ’87, Bodensteiner had registered for the 29 k in an attempt to defend his title. Everything seemed to be going...
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. The reflective crossing-guard vest and orange hat peeking out beneath his helmet made him unmistakable. Steve Clark was that guy pedaling between Cable and Hayward, Wis., last week, looking like a vagabond out there weathering the elements on his bicycle. Those that stopped to take his picture could have heard his story. A closer glance revealed he was toting a pair of...
Note: This story has been updated to include thoughts from David Chamberlain, who was later proclaimed the 2012 American Birkebeiner classic champion. *** All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. Before and during the American Birkebeiner 54 k classic race on Saturday, the thought of being disqualified never crossed Joe Dubay’s mind. The 21-year-old said he didn’t think twice when his College of Saint Scholastica teammate Chris Parr gave...
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. HAYWARD, Wis. – Rounding one of last corners in the American Birkebeiner 50-kilometer skate race, Holly Brooks felt a pang of familiarity. Stronger than déjà vu, the 29-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska, knew she had been in a similar position in the same race before. From Brooks’ standpoint, finishing second in the 2009 Birkie by one-tenth of a second to Rebecca Dussault of...
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. HAYWARD, Wis. – For the first half of Saturday’s 50-kilometer skate race at the 39th American Birkebeiner, Tad Elliott mostly looked down. The 23-year-old U.S. Ski Team member was hanging in there, but it wasn’t easy. Reaching for a water bottle around 24 k, he mustered the strength to ask his Salomon support staff where the frontrunners were. Last year’s runner-up, Benoit...
Elite Racers Ready for Birkie
Alex KochonFebruary 25, 2012
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. CABLE, Wis. – Matt Liebsch’s wife had been in a car accident. Lars Flora couldn’t feel his fingers nearly two weeks after a ski mountaineering race in Vail, Colo. Holly Brooks had just returned home to Alaska to recharge. Caitlin Gregg was waiting for an OK from her doctor. Tad Elliott wasn’t sure what to do with a weekend off from the...
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. CABLE, Wis. – Whether or not it’s your first time following or participating in the American Birkebeiner, a point-to-point race from Cable to Hayward in northern Wisconsin, here are few pieces of information to bring you up to speed on what’s happening at the 39th annual event. 1. The biggest one of all. The Birkie as the largest cross-country ski marathon...
Rolling Out Hayward’s Main Street (Video)
Alex KochonFebruary 24, 2012
All American Birkebeiner coverage is brought to you through the generous support of SkiErg. HAYWARD, Wis. — Ever wonder how they get all that snow, about half a kilometer’s worth and 6 inches to a foot deep, all across Main Street and out toward Hayward Lake for the finish of the American Birkebeiner? FasterSkier’s Alex Matthews tagged along for a four-hour grooming session in downtown Hayward with two of the Birkie’s main men, Chief of Course...