Although the new training year is well underway, I’d like to take little time to look back on the month of April. For a professional ski racer, it is our vacation month, the one time of year when we can stop thinking about training or racing for more than a couple days at a [...]
It’s 80 degrees and you have five elite ski races to pull off for hundreds of athletes within a week. Go. This was the outlook Northern Vermont’s Craftsbury Outdoor Center faced in the week leading up to the start of spring series at the end of March. Such a forecast might have cowed even the most experienced race organizers, but with its new snowmaking system in place, a bit of foresight, luck, and a...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Presenting footage from the final race of the year, which conveniently was also the most spectator-friendly. Thirty-three laps was one heck of a way to finish off the season. Thanks for watching! (results).
CRAFTSBURY, Vt. — The women endured 20 laps and the men rounded the 1.5-kilometer loop 33 times in their respective 30- and 50-kilometer freestyle mass starts at U.S. Distance Nationals last weekend. Wondering how it played out with up to 90 racers on course at once? Take a look at our Women’s 30 k Women’s 30 k | Women’s |
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — After 20 victory laps, the women are finished with their season. The fast pace set by Kikkan Randall, Jessie Diggins and Liz Stephen made for an exciting race; each pushed the pace and tried to break at some point, and the last two laps were an all out sprint. Randall prevailed, but as they crossed the finish line everyone was happy to simply be done. Interviews with top athetes follow the race...
CRAFTSBURY, Vt. – Shaking out the legs, clicking into their skis and moving their bodies just before the Friday’s 30-kilometer mass start at U.S. Distance Nationals, about 50 women looked straight ahead, all likely thinking the same thing. This is it. One more and we’re done. Some prepared for 20 times around a 1.5 k loop thinking each was a victory lap. Afterward, they’d be finished for the season. Four to five months of racing...
JAY, Vermont — The fourth and last stage of the 2012 SuperTour Finals was a 1.8 k suffer-fest up 1,079 vertical feet of a blue run at Jay Peak. Watch it unfold from the two spots on the course we had the cameras rolling.
CRAFTSBURY, Vt. — Photo galleries from the men’s and women’s 1.6 k classic sprints are up on FasterSkier’s start list. For the heats, check out the Women’s qualifier photos | Men’s qualifier photos |
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — There were a few surprises on Tuesday during the classic sprints: distance specialists Kris Freeman and Liz Stephen made it to the A-final, while sprint standouts Simi Hamilton and Sadie Bjornsen got knocked out. But such is sprint racing, and our videographer was standing in the start and finish area to catch some of the action on film. Interviews with the top finishers follow, including some great reactions from athletes who were...
CRAFTSBURY, Vt. – In shades of red, blue, green and white, six highly competitive women stood at the start line at the SuperTour Finals on Tuesday waiting for their signal to get after the 1.6-kilometer classic loop one more time. On one end of the A-final lineup stood World Cup sprint champion Kikkan Randall, who flew in from Europe on Sunday. On the other, her World Cup teammate and distance specialist, Liz Stephen soaked up...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Through the rain and slush, the mass start classic races on Sunday featured head-to-head racing between some of the best skiers in the country. Check out our footage from the races and interviews with the top finishers afterwards.
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Even though she now has a World Cup podium to her name, a win at SuperTour Finals had eluded Sadie Bjornsen (APU/USST) until Sunday morning, when she claimed the 10 k mass start classic on the second day of racing at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. Rain isn’t usually at the top of the list of desirable ski conditions, but as the snow soaked through prior to start, Bjornsen couldn’t wait to start...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Even in the morning rain, the men’s 15 k mass start classic played out essentially as expected on Sunday at the SuperTour Finals. A lead group of five separated themselves from the rest of the field fairly early, comprised of all the usual suspects in a domestic classic distance race. After keeping a consistent position at the heart of the lead group for the entire race, Kris Freeman (Team HomeGrown/USST) made his move...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Looking calm and relaxed as he finished the two-lap 3.2 k freestyle prologue on Saturday morning, Simi Hamilton (SVSEF/USST) skied to a comfortable win in the opening event of the SuperTour Finals at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. He beat Sylvan Ellefson (Team HomeGrown) by 6.6 seconds, and in a tie for third, Noah Hoffman (Team HomeGrown/USST) and Erik Bjornsen (APU/USST) both claimed bronze (+11.5). Kris Freeman (USST), skiing for Team HomeGrown this...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — She was busy posting top-20s on the World Cup just last week in Falun, Sweden, but Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST) clearly has plenty of gas left in the tank. For the SuperTour Finals 3.2 k freestyle prologue, she won by 7.2 seconds against a competitive women’s field. Holly Brooks (APU) took second and Sadie Bjornsen (APU/USST) finished third (+8.6), with another 7.5 seconds between third and Becca Rorabaugh (APU) in fourth (+16.1)....
An update for those planning on participating in the US SuperTour Finals and Long Distance National Championships, March 24-31, 2012 at Craftsbury Outdoor Center: North American Skiers, Like most of New England and the country, Craftsbury has seen unseasonably warm temperatures over the last week. Similar weather is forecast for this week, as well as into the extended forecast. We’ve had great skiing to date at Craftsbury, including outlying trails without man-made snow — but...
As the air turned slightly cooler in Muonio, Finland, Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) won her third race of the weekend on Sunday in the 5 k classic. In only two short laps, she bested the women’s field by 20 seconds, clocking in at 11:40.7. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) notched her second runner-up performance of the weekend. Sami Jauhojärvi (FIN) won his first race of the series in front of a home crowd after placing second on Full...
With over two feet of snow falling last week on an already superb spring base, the trails at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center are in perfect shape for the upcoming Spring Tour on March 18-20. The weekend kicks off with a classic prologue on Friday afternoon, followed by a continuous pursuit on Saturday and handicap start freestyle races on Sunday. Saturday night will feature short 100m out and back sprints and a BBQ with live music. ...
In her unlikely path from APU coach to elite ski racer, Holly Brooks’s career has taken her to some amazing places, namely the 2010 Olympics. But for all her success over the past two years, there was one spot she still hadn’t set foot until this weekend: the top step of the podium at the U.S. National Championships. In Sunday’s classic sprint in Rumford, Brooks checked another achievement off her list with an emphatic display...
When the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) entered the nordic race scene a year ago, FasterSkier posed the question, Center’s mission statement, which includes supporting and promoting lifelong sports such as rowing and nordic skiing, using and teaching sustainable practices, and protecting and managing the surrounding land. And though all ten of the current members were selected for the team in part because they share a desire to further this mission statement and to help...