Nathaniel Herz – Page 23

Continental Cup Racing US Nationals US Ski Team

Stephen Stomps Her Way to 20 K Victory

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 6, 2011

The Alaska Pacific University women’s team was finally dethroned on Thursday—but it took a world-class athlete to do it. After Holly Brooks and Sadie Bjornsen took the first two races of this week’s U.S. National Championships in Rumford, the U.S. Ski Team’s Liz Stephen finally broke up the monopoly with a persuasive win in the women’s 20 k. Brooks preserved her squad’s pride by placing second, 58 seconds down, while Morgan Arritola (USST) was third....

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

With a Lunge, Elliott Ekes Out Skate Distance Title

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 6, 20111

Interval start races don’t usually end with desperate lunges for the finish line. But that’s exactly how Thursday’s 30 k national championship concluded in Rumford—with CXC’s Tad Elliott sprawled on his back, the winner over APU’s Lars Flora. The scene may have looked ridiculous, but Elliott needed every inch. After an hour and ten minutes of racing, his winning margin over Flora was a mere tenth of a second. “I knew it was really tight,”...

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

Jury Opts for Interval-, Not Mass-Start Races on Thursday

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 5, 20113

Men racing in Thursday’s 30 k freestyle in Rumford had better hope that temperatures don’t necessitate lobster mitts. Because they’re going to need all 10 fingers to keep track of their progress. On Wednesday evening, the race jury for the U.S. National Championships chose to switch Thursday’s race format, from mass start to interval start. Men will race 11 times around the 2.7 k loop in Rumford, for a total of 29.7 kilometers, while women...

Continental Cup Racing US Nationals

After Sprint Setback, Flora Fires Back in 15 K

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 5, 20113

Going into the 15 k classic race in Rumford, APU’s Lars Flora had a total of four national championships to his name. But to say that he had endured a dry spell would be an understatement: it had been 1098 days since his last title, which came in Houghton, MI in 2008. After two tough seasons, and a demoralizing defeat in Sunday’s sprint, the 32-year-old Flora finally broke through on Thursday to collect his fifth...

Racing US Nationals

Bjornsen Blasts to Surprise Win in Rumford Classic

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 5, 2011

In the women’s 10 k classic in Rumford on Wednesday, it was an athlete in the familiar blue, white and black of Alaska Pacific University to climb to the top step of the podium. It just wasn’t the one you’d expect. After Holly Brooks’s win in Sunday’s classic sprint, she was a clear favorite coming into the first distance race of the 2011 U.S. National Championships. But instead of Brooks coming out on top, it...

Continental Cup Racing US Nationals

Racing Returns to Rumford Wednesday; Classic Distance on Tap

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 5, 20111

Classic distance races are on tap for the U.S. National Championships in Rumford, ME on Wednesday, after two days of rest to allow for optimal course preparation. Volunteers, coaches, and even U.S. Ski Team member Liz Stephen worked with heavy equipment and shovels throughout Tuesday, leaving a 2.5-kilometer loop available for racing at Rumford’s Black Mountain. Under clear skies and with temperatures cooler—in the 20’s—the action gets started with the women’s 10 k at 10...

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

Chief of Comp: “A Very Productive Day” in Rumford

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 3, 2011

Organizers and volunteers were working tirelessly on Monday to replenish the snow on Rumford’s depleted trails, as competitors at the 2011 U.S. National Championships fanned out north and west in search of skiing. Snowmaking at Black Mountain began at midnight on Monday morning, and by early that evening, Chief of Competition Carlie Casey said that Rumford’s Chisholm Ski Club was poised to pull off successful classic distance races on Wednesday. “We had a very productive...

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

In Dominating Fashion, Brooks Blazes to Classic Victory

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 2, 20112

In her unlikely path from APU coach to elite ski racer, Holly Brooks’s career has taken her to some amazing places, namely the 2010 Olympics. But for all her success over the past two years, there was one spot she still hadn’t set foot until this weekend: the top step of the podium at the U.S. National Championships. In Sunday’s classic sprint in Rumford, Brooks checked another achievement off her list with an emphatic display...

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

Koos Grabs Classic Sprint Title, as Flora Fizzles

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 2, 20114

After seeing Lars Flora (APU) dominate his first two heats in Sunday’s national championships classic sprint in Rumford, ME, Torin Koos (Methow ODT) was prepared for a showdown in the finals. Both wily veterans at ages 30 and 32, respectively, Koos and Flora were stacked up against a much younger crew, which was liable to run out of steam late in the day: two juniors in Erik Bjornsen (Methow ODP) and Skyler Davis (Stratton); Dartmouth...

Continental Cup Racing US Nationals

Soggy Sprint Set for Sunday in Rumford, With Video

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 2, 2011

There will be racing in Rumford on Sunday, but it won’t be pretty. “It’s gonna be messy as hell,” said John Farra, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association nordic director. The 2011 U.S. National Championships are set to get underway in one hour, after a long afternoon and evening of work by volunteers and organizers. The 1.4-kilometer classic course at Black Mountain is covered with snow, or a semblance of it – it’s clean in...

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

Athletes, Coaches, and Organizers Battle Weather in Rumford

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 1, 20111

Cross-country ski racing is never a cakewalk, with competitions that demand hours upon hours of preparation and hard work from participants. But the low-snow conditions in Rumford, Maine are presenting an extra-big headache for everyone involved in the 2011 U.S. National Championships. As the clock ticked down to the start of the event’s opening race on Sunday, organizers were hard at work preserving and augmenting the remnants of the snow on the course—and they were...

Continental Cup General News Racing US Nationals

Videos, Photos of Rumford Organizers and Race Course

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 1, 2011

Volunteers and race officials are scrambling to preserve what remains of the snow base in Rumford, Maine, with 16 hours to go before the first race of the 2011 U.S. National Championships. Sunday’s classic sprint should still go off as scheduled. But despite the best efforts of organizers, temperatures in 40’s on Saturday decimated the trails at Black Mountain of Maine. Late in the day, the 1.4-kilometer sprint course was a mix of clean, wet...

General News Racing Tour de Ski World Cup

Patient Kershaw Nets Podium in Oberhof Classic

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 1, 20111

For Canada’s Devon Kershaw, the biggest moment in Saturday’s classic pursuit in Oberhof, Germany, came not on the homestretch, but with four kilometers left in the 15-kilometer race—the second stage of the 2011 Tour de Ski. After working his way up through the field, Kershaw found himself at the front of the race, with Switzerland’s Dario Cologna and a few other skiers on the attack. But rather than charging ahead, the 28-year-old Kershaw did something...

Health Racing Training

Randall, Newell Offer Sprint Fueling Strategies

Nathaniel HerzDecember 31, 2010

On race morning, with all its accompanying nerves, it’s hard enough for cross-country skiers to choke down a single meal. But for sprinters, that’s a scenario that sometimes must be repeated three more times before the day is over. With races sometimes stretching over several hours, from a qualifying round through three heats, sprinters know that a steady intake of food and drink is crucial to maintaining high energy levels—though that’s easier said than done,...

General News Racing US Ski Team World Cup

Shift in Adaptive Ski Team Management Leaves Athletes Optimistic

Nathaniel HerzDecember 30, 20102

A recent change in management should have minimal impact on the U.S. Adaptive Ski Team (USAST) in the upcoming season, with competition schedules remaining the same through the winter. Late last week, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) announced that it would take control of Paralympic alpine and cross-country skiing from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). One administrator lost her position as part of the change, but despite some initial uncertainty, coaches and athletes...

General News

Five Feet of Snow Buries Crested Butte

Nathaniel HerzDecember 28, 20102

If you live in the east and were impressed by the snowfall from the Monday’s Nor’easter, the numbers from a storm that hit Colorado last week will give you a new perspective on things. Over the course of four days, the town of Crested Butte saw a mind-boggling snowfall, with accumulations in feet that most places would be lucky to see in inches. The totals? More than five and a half feet at the nordic...

General News

Strandberg Heads to Tour de Ski China

Nathaniel HerzDecember 27, 2010

At 35, Kristina Strandberg (XC Oregon) has enjoyed something of a resurgence in her career this year, with strong results in the West Yellowstone SuperTour races and in events in her native Sweden. Still, it might come as a surprise to see Strandberg on the start line of the Tour de Ski on Tuesday. No, not that Tour de Ski—Strandberg won’t be in Germany alongside Justyna Kowalczyk and Kikkan Randall. Instead, she’ll be in the...

General US Nationals US Ski Team

U.S. Nationals: Women’s Preview

Nathaniel HerzDecember 27, 20102

With 15 titles over the past decade, Kikkan Randall has turned the U.S. National Championships into something of a one-woman show. In the 2010 edition, which was held in her hometown of Anchorage, she swept all four events—collecting nearly $5,000 en route to wins in two distance races and a pair of sprints. This year, the country’s fastest women will assemble at Black Mountain in Rumford, ME. But when the first event of the championships...

General Interviews News Racing US Nationals US Ski Team World Cup

Stephen Says She’s on Track for Oslo

Nathaniel HerzDecember 24, 2010

Following mixed results in the early season, the U.S. Ski Team’s Liz Stephen raced to the top World Cup result of her career in last weekend’s 15 k freestyle in La Clusaz, France—a race she finished a half-second ahead of her friend and teammate Morgan Arritola. Stephen is now at home in Vermont, training in advance of the 2011 U.S. National Championships in Rumford, ME, which begin on January 2. FasterSkier caught her to chat...

Canadian National Ski Team Continental Cup General News Racing

With Win in Rossland, Kuhn Scores One for the Sprinters

Nathaniel HerzDecember 19, 20101

One of the intentions of the tour format introduced to elite-level cross-country ski racing in the past few years is to allow sprinters and distance specialists to compete on a level playing field. That balance hasn’t been achieved yet at the World Cup level: None of the winners of the four editions of the Tour de Ski, men’s or women’s, have been pure sprinters. But in this weekend’s three-stage mini-tour held in Rossland, BC, organizers...

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