On Monday November 3rd, the US Ski Team moved their on-snow training camp from sea level in Fairbanks, Alaska to 6800’ (2000m) altitude in Park City, Utah. The conditions at White Pine Touring center in Park City are currently very good with about 8 kilometer of well groomed trails on two separate loops of respectively 5 and 3 kilometer. The US Ski Team coaches had done a great job earlier in the week shoveling snow...
Five days before the National race opening in Norway, sprint queen Marit Bjœrgen showed that she is ready for longer races as well. In a 7.5 km free technique test race she beat the rest of the National elite and development women handidly. In second place was veteran Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen, 14 seconds back. Results 1. Marit Bjœrgen 18.16 2. Hilde G. Pedersen 18.30 3. Kine Beate BjœrnÃ¥s 18.39 4. Ella Gjœmle 18.46 5. Tina...
In the men’s class, Andrus Veerpalu won ahead of teammate Jaak Mae. In the women’s race, Kristina Smigun, also Estonia, continues where she left off last year, winning the 5 km race with a clear 15 second margin.
It was -10 Celsius and good but not fast conditions for the Canadian National team's 10-km classic time-trial for women and 15 km for men on Saturday November 8. Beckie Scott had the fastest women's time with Sara Renner less than 40 seconds back. George Grey won a tight men's race. Beckie commented that it was a hard solid effort – one of those “you can feel in the afternoon that very same day”. Results...
All of us here at FasterSkier were saddened this weekend when we read in the Salt Lake Tribune that the Wasatch Overland backcountry ski race will no longer be held. The Overland was a backcountry race from Brighton to Park City, Utah, which took participants up and over the crest of the Wasatch Mountains. Racers could use any method of self-propulsion (ski, snowshoe, ski-bike, sled, etc) and any route to make the crossing. Over the...
The Swedes started the season with a sprint race on natural snow in Mora on Sunday October 19. Emily Ohrstig won the women’s event in tight competition with many of the best Swedish sprinters. World sprint Champion Thobias Fredrikson was a “no-show” in the men’s competition giving other skiers a chance to become “favorites to win”. Mikael Ostberg, with a previous World Cup sprint victory from Linz in 2002 used the opportunity to log his...
Every year I conclude skiing season with a trip to Cascade Crest Tour at Mt Bachelor in Bend, OR for the first weekend of April. Throughout Washington State the good skiing has usually been over for at least three weeks. On weekends one might find an occasional ski area that is still grooming, but temperatures are in the upper 40s during the day and the snow turns to slush pretty quickly and often doesn't even...
There are many races that skiers take very seriously. They set goals months in advance, train all year, and peak at just the right time for maximum performance. The ultimate goal might be to win their age-group, or beat last year's time, or beat their training partner. People might say they do the race because it is a lot of fun, but ultimately it is only really fun if they do well. It is all...
Fast skis, incredible grooming and unbelievable snow conditions led to an extremely fast inaugural Leadville 100 mile ski race. Race sponsors, Hammer Gel, Ibex Wool, Smartwool, Petzl, Tracks Café, Osprey, Land Art, Neptune Mountaineering, Colorado Mountain College, Whole Foods, Timberline Motel, The Mountain Gazette, and Ideal Health, must all be ecstatic for jumping on board for the first Leadville 100 mile Ski Race. It was a complete success. Race Director Bill Perkins, founder of the...
Spring Series continued in Michigan with the sprints on Tuesday and the Mass Start Freestyle races on Thursday.
Spring Series got underway this weeekend in Houghton Michigan. Originally scheduled for Marquette, the races were moved last week due to less-than-ideal snow conditions in Marquette. This weekend was a freestyle, individual start on Saturday, followed by a classic pursuit on Sunday. Most of the US Ski Team is not attending these races, due to a long couple of months racing in Europe. But the fields are still very competitive, with many US development team...
Presque Isle, ME (March 25): After battling illness through the World Championships, LLBean/Maine Winter Sports Center's David Chamberlain came back to win the final race of the season and the $1000 prize, the Men's 30km classic race at the Nordic Heritage Spring Series. Chamberlain skied all but the final kilometer with Team Atomic's Patrick Weaver, and Rossignol/USST's Justin Freeman. In the final meters Chamberlain pulled ahead to win by 3 seconds ahead of Weaver, with Freeman just 2...
3/24 Spring Series Update Over the past few days, the Marquette and Ironwood areas have had further melting which would make putting together quality race courses in either area relatively difficult. However, the Houghton area has held up very well and the recently renovated MTU trails are in excellent shape this spring. There is significant base and they are running their bombardier groomer on a regular basis. Given these circumstances, the Marquette General Health Systems...
Saturday's Classic Races Atomic's Pat Weaver and Caledonia Nordic's Jaqui Benson Win $1000 and the Nordic Heritage Spring Series' 10 and 5km classic Presque Isle, ME (March 22): Team Atomic's Pat Weaver charged one of the strongest fields of men since U.S. Nationals to win the second event of the Nordic Heritage Spring Series, the men's 10km classic race. His time of 28:51 earned him $1000, and put him 18 seconds ahead of Middlebury College's Colin...
Presque Isle, ME (March 20): The Canadians got down to business and Devon Kershaw and Rhonda Sandau outsprinted the field for the $1,000 winners' prize in the first event of the Nordic Heritage Spring Series, on the courses of the Maine Winter Sports Center, in Presque Isle, ME.  The men's final sprint consisted of Kershaw, U.S. Ski Team's Andrew Newell, Subaru Factory Team/LLBean's Dave Chamberlain, and Middlebury College's Colin Rodgers. Kershaw won but the...
The Nordic Heritage Spring Series at the Maine Winter Sports Center: The best in the world come to Maine for the best of spring ski racing Presque Isle, ME (March 20-25): The snow is far from melting up in Aroostook County, but the country’s best cross-country skiers soon will be seeing green. Over $16,000 of prize money is up for grabs at the Nordic Heritage Spring Series at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Presque Isle. The...
The World Biathlon Championships got underway this past weekend at Khanty-Mansiysk. Saturday was the sprint event (5 standing shots, 5 prone; 10K for men, 7.5K for women) followed by a Pursuit (10 standing shots, 10 prone; 12.5K Men, 10K Women) on Sunday. So far, the best American performance has been Jeremy Teela's 10th place in the sprint. Teela dropped back to 17th in the Pursuit, but was still the best American finisher by far. USA's...
The Payette Lakes Marathon has been held for many years at the Little Ski Hill in McCall, ID. The race attracted about 150 people, and features 1 or 2 laps of a 15 km loop.  The course has great variety and challenging terrain; flat open meadows which can be sunny one lap and wind-swept the next, into the trees for gradual meduim-length climbs and shorter sharp climbs, followed by respective short and steep (yet not too technical) downhills to long relaxing downhills...
Flying Moose Classic – Bethel, ME Mens | Open | J2 Womens Little Birkie – Salmon Hills, NY Results North End Classic -Telemark Resort, Cable, WI Results Salomon Series – Frisco Gold Rush, Colorado Nathan Shultz and Chantal Knapp Thompson wrap up overall Salomon Series Titles (even though Schultz was busy racing two midwest marathons this weekend) Results: 10K | Results Wasatch Citizen's Series – Soldier Hollow, Midway, Utah Barry Makarewicz and Kelly Milligan won...
Note: In our weekend race wrap up, we try to bring you results from as many races as possible around the country. In most cases, we will provide links to the results. If a race report has been sent to us, we will publish that as well. If you don't see the race you are interested in, contact the race organizers and have them send their race reports and press releases to Summit Systems. This...