Even for a cross country skier, Brent McMurtry spent an obscene amount time this season travelling. His short list of skiing locations in the 2009-2010 season includes New Zealand with the Canadian National Team, World Cup weekends in Estonia, Russia, and Alberta, the Olympic Winter Games, Canadian Nationals in the Yukon and to wrap it all up, US Super Tour finals in Fort Kent, Maine. When the dust settled on his whirlwind season, 24 year-old...
Continental Cup Skier of the Year The Continental Cup Skier of the Year presented one of the biggest challenges of the 2010 FasterSkier Awards. Strong contenders from both the US and Canada entered the mix, with few head-to-head races to clarify the situation. Also complicating matters is the fact that the 2010 Canadian NorAm schedule featured many fewer races than the US SuperTour in 2010. Continental Cup Skier of the Year (women): Dasha Gaiazova (CAN). ...
Andy Newell (USST) and Torin Koos (USST) are the two best male sprinters in the United States. But not until this frigid March day, in one of the furthest-flung corners of the country, did they finally go head-to-head in the classic sprint at the 2010 SuperTour Finals in Madawaska. It was worth the wait. After a qualifying round, a quarter, and a semifinal heat, the battle came down to a double-pole drag race in the...
On his way to the line for what he thought would be a second-place finish in Friday’s men’s 10k classic mass start, Andy Newell (USST) came across a surprising sight: Canadian skier Ivan Babikov skiing backwards in a parallel lane. Babikov had missed the sign where the finish split off from the lap lane, and was backtracking. In the process, Newell cruised by to take the victory, with Lars Flora (APU) and Torin Koos (USST)...
The SuperTour Finals fits into a relatively new genre of competition – that of “mini-tour.” The term derives from the Tour De Ski, the multi-stage World Cup event featuring eight races in ten days. And while World Cup points are awarded for each individual race (half points actually), the big prize is the overall title. The success of the Tour on the global stage has led to the concept of the mini-tour, a similar format...
The Myriam Bedard biathlon center in Valcartier, Québec, is hosting three races of the Haywood Noram series, which started this weekend. The races are also serving as qualification for Canada’s U23/Junior World Championships teams, so the field is stacked with top Canadian skiers. In addition there are a number of US skiers present, primarily New Englanders who chose not to make the trip to Anchorage. The series started with a continuous pursuit. The men went...