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...
Conditions were as forecasted – warm, wet, (although during race times there was no precipitation) dirty, and soft. The wax recommendation held up all day and as we recommended, more structure was needed as the day went on. Attention to detail proved to be very important today as well. Small things made a difference especially in a short race with extreme conditions (wet and dirty) and with a finishing section consisting of a downhill with...
APU’s Holly Brooks has been waiting all year to test herself against the eastern women—at least one of whom, Ida Sargent, raced on the World Cup this fall. If Sunday’s classic sprint qualifier results at nationals are the first measure, Brooks is on her way to acing that test. At Rumford’s Black Mountain, she skied to a three-second victory in the preliminary round over her teammate Sadie Bjornsen. Dartmouth’s Sophie Caldwell was third, with Morgan...
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...
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...
Despite traveling the farthest distance, few teams outnumber Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Club at the US Nationals in Rumford, Maine. And still, some worthy skiers are left at home.
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...
Jessie Diggins (CXC Elite) might be the youngest on the CXC Elite squad, but the 19-year-old has stepped up to the challenges of the senior circuit. And she still has more to offer.
It seems like every second year, U.S. Nationals comes out on the losing end of its battle with Mother Nature. In 2007, the first of two years that the event was hosted in Houghton, Michigan, there was barely enough snow to ski on. And in 2009, the first of two years in Anchorage, Alaska, most of the races were cancelled due to a debilitating cold spell that left temperatures far below the FIS legal limit...
Despite surprising herself with top-10 and podium results in the early season, Caitlin Compton is headed into US Senior Nationals knowing that her racing will only get better.
“I’m very excited, the last races went really well,” said Brian Gregg, who is coming off a series of solid performances at the Nor-Am events leading up to Christmas and seems to burst with energy.
The last-year junior from the Methow Valley is using US Nationals as an opportunity to secure his ticket to the Junior World Championships in Estonia. Only the top five juniors in the country are named to the team.
With U.S. Nationals looming, there’s quite a collection of domestic skiers who think they could ski to a podium finish in the biggest races of the year. Besides the eternal glory of winning a national championship, there’s more on the line: for seniors, the races will be their best shot of earning low National Ranking List (NRL) points, which will qualify them for World Championships, and for younger skiers a strong result could mean a...
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...
The second-year U23 skier recently switched programs, returned from injuries and is back with a new perspective. Sadie Bjornsen’s goal for nationals next week is nothing short of the podium.
RUMFORD, ME – World Cup regulars will align to kick off 2011 with the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Rumford, Jan. 2-8. The U.S. Ski Team headliners will include returning U.S. Champion Simi Hamilton (Aspen, CO) as well as Liz Stephen (East Montpellier, VT) and Morgan Arritola (Fairfield, ID), who are coming off their best World Cup finishes, and Noah Hoffman (Aspen, CO).The event includes two sprint and two distance races. Officials expect good sow...
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...
The following is a report from Roger Arsenault, the chairman of organizing committee for the US National Championships. Mother Nature has been stingy with natural snow, but our snow making weather has been great. Snow has been stockpiled in the new stadium and in areas out in the open. Snowmakers are now moving out on the trail. All guns are pointing to Nordic. We have been getting a couple of inches a day of natural and...
Since the spring, the International Ski Federation’s website has been counting down the days until the World Cup opener. Organizers of the 2011 World Ski Championships in Oslo are quick to inform fans that there are just over three months until the start of that event. But in Alaska, there’s another clock that’s been ticking more quietly: the one counting down the days until the end of James Southam’s career. Southam, who trains in Anchorage...
Steinbock Racing is down to one skier: Chris Cook. Entering its second season the team has seen some major changes. For starters, two-thirds of the team is pursuing other careers.