Thirty-six men in the Spray Drag running race didn’t end up chasing Devon Kershaw up Spray Lakes Road in Canmore, Alberta, on Saturday, but they had one heck of a battle from the start. According to American Sylvan Ellefson (Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Team HomeGrown), the pace was fast for a bunch of nordic skiers early on. “Any road runner could have pulled away, but it was a quick pace,” he wrote in an email....
Third Nordic Fall Fest and Ski Swap Brick Wheels, Traverse City, Mich. Sunday, Oct. 21 , 9 AM-6 PM Need a little snow fix? Longingly looking at your waxing bench already? You are in luck this weekend, FC8L Cera F.Liquid. The SkiGo Representative, Roger Knight says for heat Click here for opportunities and times. Sign-up sheet: http://fasterskier.com/2011/10/how-to-wax-for-spit-blood-and-teeth “There’s something special about taking perfectly good snow, that’s gonna melt down a drain, and put it to good...
Annie Hart has been hanging out with the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team for a couple months now, but don’t get it wrong, she’s still a Dartmouth skier. A 20-year-old junior, Hart spent most of the summer studying and training at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. That way, come late August, she could take the fall off. In an email from Park City, Utah, where she’s been training with the U.S. Ski Team (USST)...
Birkie and Korte Close to Closing ( This is the Final Update: Please birkie@birkie.com or call 715-634-5025.
When the head of F.A.S.T. Performance Training in Hayward, Wis., Bill Pierce heard Tad Elliott pulled off a cross-Atlantic trip to win the American Birkebeiner last February, he knew he had to have him back in town. Matt Liebsch, one of the Midwest’s nordic heroes and 2009 Birkie champion, thought the same. In July, F.A.S.T. held its first “Train Like a Birkie Champion” “Live & Ski Like a Champion” Purpose: This camp designed for the...
The U.S. Nordic Ski Team’s final dryland camp of the season starts in earnest on Monday, but many of its athletes are already getting after it in Park City, Utah. Liz Stephen, Noah Hoffman and Tad Elliott generally live in the high-altitude training mecca when they’re not traveling, and Jessie Diggins arrived almost a week ago. According to U.S. Ski Team (USST) head coach Chris Grover, the Alaska Pacific University (APU) athletes rolled into town...
It downpoured across much of the Northeast on Wednesday. Those at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in northern Vermont hardly noticed. Owner Judy Geer called it “drizzle.” That morning, about 20 Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) athletes and coaches participated in the second annual Roll-Run-Row race, which pitted the some of the nation’s best nordic skiers against top-tier rowers. All belonged to the same program, but the idea was to have some competitive fun while pushing...
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — As they hammered out loops at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg biathlon center, several athletes on sit-ski mountain boards put their heads down. Everything they were doing — five or so laps lasting a few minutes each on pavement and grassy trails — required upper-body strength. At the end of each interval, they reentered the stadium for shooting practice, where the adaptive skiers rolled onto their stomachs and aimed at their targets....
WILMINGTON, N.Y. — The view from partially up Whiteface Mountain on Wednesday morning was about as picturesque as they get. From the trail, one could see that the leaves had started to turn shades of red and yellow — just in time for the U.S. Ski Team’s fall training camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. Way down below, a few small dots proceeded up the dirt access road: first to warm up, then to get after...
Last week in Anchorage, a freak windstorm rolled through that would have devastated most mainland Americans. Gusts estimated at 130 miles per hour spewed trees across Alaska’s largest city, leaving at least a thousand residents without power through Saturday – almost four days after the storm hit Tuesday night. In a phone interview, U.S. Ski Team member Kikkan Randall said the electricity and all the lights at her home came on at 2:15 a.m. Saturday....
This is the fourth and final preview in a quick-and-dirty series about Canadian national-training centres. We asked coaches to send their 2012/2013 rosters and tell us what’s new for the coming season. Teams were presented in no particular order. Team: Callaghan Valley Training Centre (roster and five junior males, this team doesn’t have a single woman, and Manhard explained why. “With one coach for a centre, it was very difficult balancing the boys training and social...
When Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess shows up at a race, he’s hard to miss. If his backward baseball cap doesn’t give him away, his bubbly personality, bearded face or black, red and white-striped spandex will. One of the staples of Bend Endurance Academy’s nordic program, the 26-year-old Blackhorse-von Jess grew up in Bend, Ore., and skied for Dartmouth College before returning to his native state – and town. Back in Bend, Blackhorse-von Jess trains mostly with...
Note: This story accompanies came to life under SMS Nordic Program Director Sverre Caldwell. Sophie’s father, Sverre dreamed up the team years ago, but seriously revisited the idea in a conversation with Kaeding last summer. Earlier this year, the two laid the framework to make it happen. Several months later in June, four SMS skiers and Sinnott strapped on their rollerski gear for a three- to four-hour skate in upstate New York. It was the...
Since its six-skier strong elite club based in the resort town of Stratton, Vt. Stratton Mountain School (SMS) graduates Andy Newell and Skyler Davis were originally part of the program. This year, the two U.S. Ski Team (USST) members are joined by three Dartmouth graduates — Eric Packer, Sophie Caldwell and Erika Flowers — and USST member Jessie Diggins, formerly of Central Cross Country (CXC). Head coach Gus Kaeding also came from CXC, where he was an...
STRAFFORD, Vt. – As Jeremiah Linehan turned his huge Ford truck up the driveway of the Strafford Nordic Center, I looked around, but there was no sign for skiing – just one pointing the way to Rockbottom Farm. Linehan reported that he’d taken the ski center’s sign down for the summer, “just so we don’t have to deal with it.” As his two sons and a 9 year old from down the road chatted in...
Welcome the land of fried chicken. That’s what Alberta World Cup Academy and Canadian development team skier Kevin Sandau saw on his drive down to Whitefish, Mont., when he tweeted a photo of a license plate: Montana. Treasure State. FRDCHKN. The entire World Cup Academy (AWCA), with two weeks in Sweden, where she trained with the U.S. and Swedish national women’s teams in Sälen and Torsby. She’s taking a little breather in Canada first. In...
NYSEF CLIMB TO THE CASTLE ROLLERSKI RACE Saturday, September 15, 2012 WILMINGTON, N.Y. — The New York Ski Educational Foundation and the Olympic Regional Development Authority announce the 6th annual NYSEF Whiteface Climb to the Castle Rollerski Race on Saturday, September 15 at 8:00 am. The course starts at the Whiteface Toll Booth, climbing for 5 miles with an average 8% grade up the Whiteface Memorial Highway to the castle on the summit of Whiteface...
This is the third preview in a quick-and-dirty series about Canadian national-training centres. We asked coaches to send their 2012/2013 rosters and tell us what’s new for the coming season. We will be publishing additional reports over the next few weeks. Teams are presented in no particular order. Team: Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) Coaches: Chris Jeffries (head coach/women’s coach), Mike Cavaliere (racing director/men’s coach), George Grey (women’s assistant coach), Stefan Kuhn (universal coach/men’s assistant), Jeremy Hecker (summer intern), Rob Soffer (strength...
This is the second preview in a quick-and-dirty series about Canadian national-training centres. We asked coaches to send their 2012/2013 rosters and tell us what’s new for the coming season. We will be publishing additional reports over the next few weeks. Teams are presented in no particular order. Team: Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey (CNEPH), a.k.a. Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre Coaches: Louis Bouchard (head coach), Godefroy Bilodeau (assistant coach), Vincent Renart (assistant coach), Lee Churchill (assistant coach/wax tech),...
This is the first preview in a quick-and-dirty series about Canadian elite teams. We asked coaches to send their 2012/2013 rosters and tell us what’s new for the coming season. We will be publishing additional reports over the next few weeks. Teams are presented in no particular order. Team: National Development Centre Thunder Bay Coaches: Mark Doble (head coach); Victor Wiltmann (assistant) Senior roster: Andy Shields, Dudley Coulter, Bob Thompson, Jimmy Gunka, Jordan Cascagnette; Erin Tribe, Andrea...