In our commitment to covering the wax ski wax industry, FasterSkier found it relevant to dive deeper into a press release we received on September 4. It came from Sweden based POPFREE Ski Goes Global Project. The project is a collaboration between teams at Peak Innovation and the RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. RISE is a non-profit affiliated with a regional university. RISE bills itself as possessing the research chops and leadership to accelerate innovation. On...
For those growing up in the East and worshiping high peaks, one stretch of ridge line is the most storied: the Presidential Range in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. On September 6th, former Williams College skier Jordan Fields established a new fastest known time (FKT) of the Presidential Traverse in 3:42:38 hours. Here’s the stunner: the previous FKT established in 2018 was 4:04:30 by Lee Berube. On the FKT website documenting all things FKT, the Presidential...
In August, the Women Ski Coaches Association (WSCA) set forth to balance the scales of gender equity in coaching. With Maria Stuber, head coach at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) and former member of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, at the helm, the WSCA strives to be “the voice and future of women in coaching.” According to surveys conducted by the Tucker Center for Research on Women and Girls in Sport, since Title IV...
HATCHER PASS, above Palmer, Alaska — The phrase “early season skiing” tends to evoke several things for your average skier: Dark. Cold. Rock skis. November. And so on. Think a training opportunity to be endured as much as enjoyed. Happily enough, none of these things was in evidence Sunday morning at Hatcher Pass, elev. 3,500′, in Independence Mine State Historical Park in the Talkeetna Mountains above Palmer, Alaska. The sun was out. The views were...
First up, the cheese is going nowhere. The cheese we speak of is the cheese of record when it comes to cross-country skiing: Le Gruyère. It turns out the Finns are fond of Le Gruyère too.
The Master Skier and The Master Skier Annual Ski Journal was for 31 years an anticipated read. However, it’s grassroots origin story begets the polished journal it became when Bob Gregg at 77 years old and Nancy Gregg, 73, announced in August their publication was no more. Having lived in Michigan for many years, Bob Gregg was racing at the 1986 North American Vasaloppet in Traverse City. The storied Tom Kelly, the U.S. Ski Association press...
With the global reach of social media, photos are popping with new snow somewhere in the now chilling Northern Hemisphere. Almost midway through September, it’s not too early to think of World Cup skiing and the places those elite athletes will go. We’ve produced an interactive map organized by World Cup Period that details race location and race type. Here’s a link to the map if you’d rather explore it as a stand-alone webpage. As the...
This is part two of a series featuring urban based cross-country clubs and how they make it work in the concrete jungle. You can read part one here. On the homepage of the Cambridge Sports Union (CSU) is an apt quote from tennis champion Arthur Ashe: “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” The quote from Ashe came about as he described how to deal with challenges. And it’s the...
Info from US Ski & Snowboard Ski Leaders and Coaches, There are TWO (2) links in the National Coaches Symposium below. Click “HERE” for registration and click “Schedule” to see the full information packet on the National Coaches’ Symposium: GENERAL OUTLINE: U.S. Ski & Snowboard Biennial National Coaches’ Symposium September 27-29, 2019 is being held at St Louis Park, MN Recreation Center (Minneapolis, MN). The focus this year is best practices for Junior and Youth development...
On Friday, September 6th, longtime cross-country ski advocate Tom Kendall of Auburn, Maine passed away. According to the Sun Journal, Kendall died from complications after he fell from a roof he was repairing.
Needless to say, cross-country athletes have big motors. Let’s start with The Rut 50-kilometer mountain run in Big Sky, Montana. With 10,000 feet of climbing and descending, it’s a burly affair. On September 1st, Erika Flowers, cross-country skier of note and Bozeman local, won the women’s 50 k overall in a time of 6:51:52.41 hours. This was Flowers’ first 50 k running race. South of rugged Montana, in the thin air of Colorado, Liz Stephen won The...
In March 2018, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) awarded the 2023 Universiade, or World University Games, to Lake Placid. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pledge of financial support helped seal the deal. That event will bring approximately 2500 athletes and support staff to compete in cross-country and alpine skiing, ski jumping, hockey, speed skating, figure skating, and other events. Lake Placid last hosted the Universiade in 1972. In its current fiscal year, New York...
Pull the curtain back, and the wizardry is revealed. Not always perfect, with growing pains like any other popular athletic event, NENSA is trailbreaking when it comes to first class rollerski racing. In revealing the organizational fundamentals of NENSA’s rollerski series, we learned that leading the way is simple: it requires a can do attitude. This is no The Wizard of Oz chicanery – where the old man fumbles with a sci-fi device in creating...
The New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF), the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA), the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) and High Peaks Cyclery (HPC) invite athletes, friends, family and fans to a Rollerski race weekend in Lake Placid, NY. This is the second event of the High Peaks Cyclery will be hosting the C2C pre-registration / bib pickup from 6:00PM-8:00PM on Saturday night at their store in Lake Placid. Come get your bib early...
On Friday in Norway athletes gathered for a double-header day of rollerski races at the Toppidrettsveka festival. First up was a 25-kilometer skate race for both the men and women that concluded with a 1.5 k classic sprint in Aure. Below are the sprint race results. The U.S. Ski Team’s (USST) Sadie Bjornsen placed seventh overall, while Sophie Caldwell (USST) was 13th. Katie Feldman of the SVSEF Gold Team placed 27th overall. Women’s sprint...
Seventeen-year-old Nakkertok skier Kate Mason exemplifies a “get it done” attitude. The athlete is part of Nakkertok’s ENRG training program. Like many junior skiers, Mason found herself wanting when it came to accessing information regarding post-secondary ski opportunities in Canada. In particular, Mason was interested in combining academics with her training and racing. In the recent past, Canada presented an unclear path for athletes who wanted to compete and continue their education. The pathway for...
The “First Tracks” series highlights the pregnancy, postpartum, and parenting experiences of noteworthy athletes in cross-country skiing in various stages of their professional careers. The sharing of these experiences can benefit athletes in any stage of their career, whether they are an elite or recreational skier, by demonstrating that it is very possible to return to skiing, competition, and an active lifestyle with a growing family. The series will include the physical challenges of being...
By the time you read this piece, some skiers from the U.S. Ski Team (USST) will be settling in Trondheim, Norway for a two and a half week training camp. In total, five are making the journey from the U.S. The sixth skier, Kevin Bolger, no stranger to training in the region, has been in Trondheim for nearly a month. Bolger’s experience in Trondheim goes deep. He has trained there in the off season for...
![First Tracks as a New Parent: Caitlin Gregg [Part 1]](https://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-03-at-2.53.11-PM.png)
The “First Tracks” series highlights the pregnancy, postpartum, and parenting experiences of noteworthy athletes in cross-country skiing in various stages of their professional careers. The sharing of these experiences can benefit athletes in any stage of their career, whether they are an elite or recreational skier, by demonstrating that it is very possible to return to skiing, competition, and an active lifestyle with a growing family. The series will include the physical challenges of being...
Press release Welcome to the Women Ski Coaches Association WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE’RE DOING According to a recent U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership newsletter, men outnumber women by 2:1 in cross country ski coaching positions in the United States. At the head coach and program leadership levels, that ratio skews even further away from equal representation. Five out of 25 head cross country coaches in NCAA skiing are women. At the post-collegiate...