Kikkan Randall leading the 2017 Alaska Run for Women with a smile on June 10. (Photo: Scott Broadwell)A little U.S.-based news to get your Tuesday going: — Watch out, World Cup, Kikkan Randall is feeling good. The longtime U.S. Ski Team (USST) and Alaska Pacific University (APU) skier took first place in the 25th annual Alaska Run for Women road race, held over Anchorage streets and bike trails this past Saturday. Randall led the field of several thousand...
Qaniq Challenge 2017 by the numbers: Two days, 35 kilometers, three feet of fresh snow. 33 racers. $10,000 purse. Why the country's second-richest cross-country ski race is in Valdez, Alaska, in mid-January.
Jack Novak has never been to Asia before. Lauren Fritz has skied on five continents. Both Alaska Pacific University skiers are crossing the Pacific Ocean this week to race in the tenth annual China Tour de Ski, which begins in Changbaishan on January 1. Expect camels, long bus rides, communal poop shacks – oh, and a $36,000 purse.
Note: FasterSkier is accepting submissions for regional race reports. If you would like to see a particular race circuit covered and have the writer with the will to do it, please have them email last eight domestic 15 k races, dating back to West Yellowstone in November 2015, he has eight podium finishes, including five wins. But he is quick with an answer when asked about the last 15 k skate he did not win:...
A first-time racer and a former champion returning after a long absence skied to convincing victories in the Anchorage Tour 30 k freestyle on Sunday, the shortened version of the 50 k Tour of Anchorage which took place on a 3 k loop at Kincaid Park.
The story of why one citizens skier trekked six hours (each way) for a race in a southern port city of Alaska. "Sometimes it’s important to travel for five days so that you can spend less than two hours racing, but do so on a course that goes from a mountain overlook to the shores of the Pacific Ocean," the author explains.
Americans Holly Brooks, Torin Koos and Lauren Fritz, along with Canadian Graham Nishikawa, share their travel stories and racing adventures from the 2016 China Tour de Ski earlier this month. “I see why the Chinese don’t come to the World Cups very often, they seriously do it up in their own country,” Brooks said.
For the second-straight year, the city of Valdez, Alaska, is hosting back-to-back races (17.5 k classic on Saturday and 17.5 k skate on Sunday) with a combined payout of $10,000 dollars. As of Thursday, 29 skiers were registered. “We are guaranteed to run the race,” the race director explains. “The odds couldn’t be any better for those folks.”
FasterSkier contributor Seth Adams was on-scene with his camera at the 2015 Mount Marathon in Seward, Alaska to capture the racing and the antics.
In April, FasterSkier contributor Seth Adams joined the volunteer ranks of NANANordic and headed north to Noorvik -- a remote city in the Alaska's Northwest Arctic. The following is his editorial recapping the experience.
The Valdez Qaniq Challenge in Alaska may be in its inaugural year, but race organizers have big plans for its unveiling in January, including $10,000 in total prize money.
On July 4, Eric Strabel did the unthinkable, besting the field and beating a Mount Marathon course record that stood for 32 years. The APU university and elite-team coach has been working at conquering the 3,022-foot hill climb for the better part of the last year, and nipped a former U.S. Mountain Running Team member by seconds in doing so. Comments from other top-four finishers Brent Knight, Ann Spencer and Lauren Fritz.
On a snowy day in Aspen, Colo., Mike Sinnott won the opening sprint prologue of the SuperTour weekend, Patrick Johnson claimed his first career win in the 10 k classic and Rosie Brennan went two-for-two in both women's races,
Sylvan Ellefson and Lauren Fritz each outkicked a charging field to take home the overall Boulder Mountain Tour titles in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Saturday. Ellefson repeated his 2011 victory and Fritz won in her first Tour appearance.
After a cold-induced delay in competition the Tour de Twin Cities continued on Friday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a classic sprint at Wirth Park. In conditions more amenable to racing, Mike Sinnott and Jennie Bender took home the titles in stage three.
Still waiting to hear from your favorite North American skier that failed to qualify for the Quebec World Cup heats on Saturday? We've got their responses.
The American nation’s group athletes in Quebec City this week are about to take the biggest stage of their athletic careers. None of them are content with just having made it, however; these athletes want to compete.
With five women in the top six, Alaska Pacific University pretty much cleaned up in the classic sprint in Bozeman, Mont. Sadie Bjornsen won a close finish with teammate Lauren Fritz; Corey Stock (Dartmouth) took third.
With her second win out of three races in the Tour de Twin Cities on Wednesday, Jennie Bender (CXC) now leads the five-stage event. The 1.4 k freestyle sprint prologue was held under the lights at Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minn., and was the final race of the Mayor’s Challenge phase of the Tour. Lauren Fritz (APU) was the runner-up and Bender’s teammate Caitlin Gregg (CXC) was third. “I really wanted to get today,” said...