The Watershed School in Fairbanks, Alaska, turned its sledding hill —an underused pile of dirt — into a Nordic terrain park. Picture a bunch of enthusiastic kids zipping around on cross country skis during recess. That's exactly what the principal/groomer envisions.
Some of our favorite shots from the 1-kilometer freestyle sprints at the 2013 Cross Country Junior National Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. Special thanks to Bert Boyer and his extensive photo coverage, all of which can be viewed at higher resolution and are available for purchase at bertboyer.zenfolio.com. All proceeds go to NNF.
Some of our favorite shots from the 2013 Cross Country Junior National Championships. Special thanks to Bert Boyer and his extensive photo coverage, all of which can be viewed at higher resolution and are available for purchase at bertboyer.zenfolio.com. All proceeds go to NNF.
Once again, the Norwegian skiers dominated the J1 10 k classic mass starts at Junior Nationals on Saturday, but the Americans didn’t let their guests take all the podium spots. Keegan Swirbul, of Rocky Mountain, took third overall in the boys race, which was good for the top American spot, and he finished just one second behind Norwegian and second-place finisher Sjur Slettom.
New England took three of the top six spots in the Junior 2 boys and girls 5-kilometer classic races at the 2013 Cross Country Junior Nationals on Saturday. Julia Kern and Katharine Ogden finished one and two, while Koby Gordon took the J2 boys title.
The J2 boys national championship sprint was only seconds old, and already Koby Gordon feared disaster had struck. “My pole grip came undone so I had to grab my pole and put it back on,” Gordon said. “Yeah it was (stressful). I was like ‘This could put me in last’ but I was able to keep pushing really hard with my legs.”
Annika Miller had no intention of letting three Norwegians beat her in Thursday's J1 girls freestyle sprint at 2013 Junior Nationals. "I really wanted to (win). I was like ‘You know, the U.S. needs to be on top today,’ ” she said. Alaska's Lydia Blanchet and Felicia Gesior of Great Lakes took the J2 and OJ titles, respectively.
Not even a navigational gaffe could derail the New England J2 girls in Tuesday’s 3x3k classic relay at Junior Nationals. Katharine Ogden, New England's lead skier, lost the substantial lead she’d gained on Rocky Mountain’s Hailey Swirbul after she accidentally skied into the finish lane instead of the lap lane — despite large signs that directed skiers — as she approached the end of the first leg.
The Norwegians got flowers and glory for sweeping the podium of the Junior 1 division on Monday. They won’t get medals, however, nor will they get points in the team standings at the U.S. Cross Country Junior Nationals, since those are reserved for American skiers.
After months of training and anticipation, the nordic sports opened their seasons around the world this weekend with races around the world. Established veterans had several dominating performances, but there were new faces on the podiums as well, signaling that when World Cup racing starts next weekend, things could be pretty interesting. In Bruksvallarna, Sweden, the Swedish, Canadian, and Slovenian national teams butted heads in a three-day race series. One of the biggest surprises was...
With barely an inch on the ground, it would have been hard to scrape up enough to make a snowball. And yet there it was, 30k of remarkably groomed trails. The crazy thing about the Birch Hill Cross Country Ski Area in Fairbanks, Alaska is how little snow accumulation it takes for the skiing to be great. The trail surfaces are very smooth, and mostly covered with organic peat, so skis really only need a...
When it’s -15 F outside, most lower-48 skiers resign themselves to an afternoon in the weight room or even on the couch. But temperatures like those don’t faze Reese Hanneman and David Norris, two members of the Fairbanks Alaska Ski Team who contend with bone-chilling cold for much of the winter. With readings hovering around the -25 mark, FasterSkier met Norris and Hanneman last week for an interview inside the lodge at their home venue,...
Two hundred nineteen skiers participated, 115 skied their age, more than 5400 kilometers were skied in the 5th annual Wells Fargo Ski Your Age in Kilometers, presented by Banner Health. The event was a fund-raiser for the Fairbanks Cross Country (FXC) ski program, the year-round junior training program of the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks. Skiers brought Christmas leftovers to share with other “Ski-Your-Age” participants during breaks between skiing sessions. Fifty-eight of the participants were...