Continental Cup

James Southam won the individual sprint SuperTour race in Bozeman today, finishing ahead of Eric Strabel, Kevin Hochtl, and Colin Mahood in the final. Full results here Today's race had a small field entered, but plenty of top skiers. Race volunteers worked very hard around the clock to get the course covered with snow, including making some snow and pulling snow from nearby areas. Conditions were cold for the race. The course was in a...

An update on the Sun Valley SuperTour races, from Rick Kapala: Lake Creek, our race venue just received 10 inches on top an already packed 4 “ so we look good to go for our upcoming events Race info can be found at

From Luke Bodensteiner, USSA Nordic Director: Lars Flora and Caitlyn Compton will wear the yellow jersey (overall leaders) in Bozeman, Even Sletten and Laura Valaas will wear the blue (sprint leaders). The overall leaders after the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Houghton will be able to start in the World Cup competitions Jan. 20-Feb. 4. 2007 SuperTour Overall Standings Men Overall Rank Name Nation Nov. 24 Nov. 25 Total Earnings 1 Lars Flora USA 25...

The University of Utah's Even Sletten and Team CXC's Laura Valaas were the season's first SuperTour winners, each taking a victory in Friday's individual free technique sprint in West Yellowstone, Montana. Sletten earned a narrow victory over Lars Flora (Subaru Factory Team). Colin Mahood (XC Oregon/Rossignol) was third and 'retired' Carl Swenson (Subaru Factory Team) was fourth. Anders Haugen, who was first in the qualifying round, finished 8th. In the women's event, Valaas finished third...

Kristina Strandberg earned a convincing 29 second victory in today's 10K classic SuperTour race in West Yellowstone, Montana. Strandberg, a member of the Subaru Factory Team, was followed by Caitlin Compton (CXC)in second, Maria Grevsgaard (Colorado) third, Jana Rehemaa (Subaru) fourth, and Martina Stursova (Rossignol) fifth. Yesterday's sprint champion, Laura Valaas, was sixth. CXC teammates Compton and Valaas were the top two Americans for the second day in a row. Lars Flora, photo courtesy Subaru...

More fun in the sun here at the Yellowstone Ski Festival on Wednesday. Bright sun and temps in the 40's had folks skiing in t-shirts. Rick Halling manning the Atomic booth

Having capped the early-fall training block with a positive testing camp in Park City, the Continental Cup staff has decided to deviate from its original Scandinavian plan to a Super Tour campaign in the US that begins with West Yellowstone. The original plan was to train and race in Scandinavia for 5 weeks, exposing the team to early snow, competitive racing, and the adversity that attaches itself to foreign travel. When the racing schedule took...

2007 USSA CROSS COUNTRY SUPERTOUR BEGINS NOV. 24-25 Total purse of $130,000 over 26 races PARK CITY, Utah (Oct. 9) – The 2007 USSA Cross Country SuperTour will have 26 races with a total purse of $130,000, beginning Nov. 24-25 in West Yellowstone, Mont., and including both the U.S. short-distance and long-distance championships, the U.S. Ski Team said. U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner said the races, which include three team (i.e., two-athlete) sprints, would help...

CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS RETURN TO MIDWEST THROUGH 2008 Houghton, Mich wins back to back bids after successful Junior Olympics PARK CITY, Utah (May 17) – The 2007 U.S. Cross Country Championships will return to the Midwest for the first time in more than a decade for the next two seasons, bringing title races for the first time to Houghton, Mich., next Jan. 3-7 and again in 2008, U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner said. Houghton and...

Only the organizers of cross country's SuperTour Finals in Presque Isle, Maine, last month could prevent a Central Division clean sweep of the top three spots in the inaugural Award for SuperTour Race Organizers (ASTRO) competition. In the competition to name the best SuperTour organizer of the season, Telemark, Wis., took top honors, winning the distinction of Best Organizer of the 2006 SuperTour. Second place went to Presque Isle, Maine, with third and fourth, respectively,...

Enjoy this fantastic collection of photos from the last race at TAMC Spring Series, the mass-start 30km/50km classic. These races served as the US National Long-Distance Championship and were won by Wendy Wagner and Kris Freeman in slow, mushy conditions at the Maine Winter Sports Center's world-class race venue in Fort Kent. For the full results and more on the races, click here: http://70.103.189.87/~fastersk/media/index.php [***IMPORTANT NOTE: you must have QUICKTIME software to view the videos....

With temperatures warming steadily throughout the week, the final event at Spring Series–the National Long-Distance Championship–was moved just over an hour north from its originally-scheduled location at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle to the Maine Winter Sports Center's other world-class venue in Fort Kent. The venue also hosted World Cup biathlon races in 2004. The trails there were amply-covered with snow but equally soft and mushy, making the grueling 30km and 50km mass-start...

From NENSA and FasterSkier: Canadian Daria Gaiazova continued a dominant Spring Series week, winning the 10K Classic, the Team Sprint, and today's 5K Freestyle while finishing 2nd in Thursday's individual sprint. Alaskan APUNSC teammates Tazlina Mannix and Olympian Kikkan Randall both made it to the podium. At the finish line, Mannix held second place for a brief moment before Randall topped her time to move her down to third. Mannix outgunned a number of other...

Slow, slushy conditions at TAMC Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle for Thursday night's individual skate sprints played into the hands of some of the strongest all-around distance skiers. Qualification started around 4pm, with recently-arrived Anders Haugen (Rossignol) posting the fastest men's time of 2:01.8 ahead of Canadian speedster Phil Widmer and Steve Scott of the Maine Winter Sports Center, who had been focused on this event for months. Right behind these sprinters however were...

The SuperTour Series and FIS North American Marathon Cup both wrap up this weekend at the Spring Series in northern Maine. Here is a look at the various classifications, as provided to us by USSA Nordic Director, Luke Bodensteiner. Men's Overall: With his 4th place finish on Sunday, Dave Chamberlain clinches the overall. As overall SuperTour champion, he can race in all of the World Cup races next season up until Jan. 1. Women's Overall:...

Photos from the first three days of racing at Spring Series in Presque Isle and Caribou, Maine. All photos by Nicholas Brown, courtesy of the TAMC Spring Series Organizing Committee & Maine Winter Sports Center. Kikkan Randall and Karen Camenisch tag off in the team sprint. Start of the women's classic team sprint. Dasha Gaiazova Dave Chamberlain in the Demo Sprints Wendy Wagner

The second officially scored race at Spring Series and possibly the most exciting, fun-filled event for spectators and racers alike–the classic team sprint relay–came down to a fierce final 50m battle which resulted in a photo-finish between Zach Violett (FSx) and Canadian wonder-junior Alex Harvey. Violett had teamed up with fellow FSx racer Dave Stewart (XC Oregon) while the J1-year-old Harvey was anchoring for possibly the fastest male sprinter in Canada, Phil Widmer. The Canadians...

Canadian racer Dasha Gaiazova, who won the opening 10km mass-start classic race on Sunday (see articles: http://www.fasterskier.com/racing3262.html) continued to lead the way at Spring Series Tuesday night in Caribou, Maine. Gaiazova teamed up with Christine Bisson to win the women's classic team sprint by a wide margin. Women's Podium: Left to Right are Erin Hood, Wendy Wagner, Christine Bisson, Dasha Gaiazova, Anna Mcloon and Kate Whitcomb Randall, Camenisch, Mcloon (in red) and Whitcomb in the...

More photos from the first official day of Spring Series racing at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle, Maine. Kris Freeman won the men's 15km mass-start classic race, but perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Canadian junior skier Alex Harvey dropping David Chamberlain (Atomic) and out-sprinting Zach Violett (FSx) for second place. Full results are now up at http://www.fasterskier.com/racing3258.html David Chamberlain and Brayton Osgood in second and third Marshall Greene (XC Oregon/Alpina)...

Here are some more photos from the first official day of Spring Series racing at the TAMC Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle, Maine. Canadian Dasha Gaiazova won the women's 10km mass-start classic race by over 30 seconds, while Kikkan Randall (APU) and Kate Whitcomb (FSx/Maine Winter Sports Center) sprinted in for second and third place respectively. Full results are now up at http://www.fasterskier.com/racing3259.html The train at the start of the climb, about 2km mark...