Author: kate

It’s hard to believe its already been 3 weeks since touching down from our Scandinavia trip and representing the U.S.A. in Estonia in the National Junior (under 18) championships.   Athletes have since returned home to their respective clubs and bounced back to racing this week at US Junior National Championships at Soldier Hollow.  I missed the team the moment we parted ways in Tallinn and I was thrilled to get to see everyone racing (fast!) again in Utah.  It was exciting to see everyone out representing their home regions and battling it out for Alaska Cup points.  I saw teammates turned to fierce competitors in a matter of days. 

This year’s trip was a valuable learning experience.  I wanted to give a shout out to the kids and to Scott and Adam for being so flexible, understanding, animated and inspiring.  Three crazy days of racing culminated in the team relay event; a perfect conclusion to an amazing week.

Its hard to calculate success on this trip.  For most athletes, this is their first ski racing trip overseas and for many their first high level international competition.  Exposure to this kind of event is the first step to creating comfort and confidence on the international level in the future.  Its easy to be intimidated by the bus loads of kids hopping off of team Norway or team Sweden’s bus in matching national team jackets, suits and backpacks.  But, what you realize as soon as you strap on your skis and hit the trails with them is that we’re not all that different.  They love to ski.  They train really hard.  And, they race fast.  The biggest difference I see is level of support and cultural respect for the sport.  One afternoon while we were training at the venue an endless stream of Estonian schoolchildren were bussed in to the Mammaste Sport Center.  By the time we were packing up to leave their were several hundreds of kids taking part in some kind of outdoor winter sport.  Some were racing on cross-country skis, some were sledding, or snowboarding, but all were enjoying their time outside.  Later in the week we leap frogged around the Estonian countryside chasing some famous names as they navigated the 63 kilometer Tartu Marathon course.  We saw military personnell at every road crossing and hundreds of townspeople lined up to offer food, drink or encouragement to any of the thousands of racers.  Skiing is a part of the culture here and you can feel it all over.

The trip:
We started with a week long training Camp at the Tehvandi Sport Center in Otepaa Estonia.  We were greeted by cold clear skies and sunny days at this world cup venue and enjoyed exploring the challenging trails.  We checked out the ski jump, went night skiing, snow tubing and explored the “winter capital” of Estonia.  At the end of the week we ran a classic time trial and hopped in our VW vans to drive 40km East to Polva.  This year’s competition took place at Mammaste Sport Center, a short 3km drive from our hotel in Polva.  We arrived 5 days before the first competition to dial in the wax and begin testing.  The race courses were awesome.  The trails had a bit of everything, from rolling hills to steep difficult climbs, and tight fast corners.  From a waxing perspective things were tricky.  We were greeted by warm and wet weather.  About half of the track was man-made and half was natural.  A few km’s had a bit of each.

Thursday the 23rd of February brought the eve of our first race: A night sprint!  Qualification began at 1600 and final heats concluded under the lights at 1930.  All 6 women qualified for the heats and 4 of the 6 men.  Adam Martin raced his way from a 30th place qualifying time all the way to the B final, and our women hung tough through the rounds to put 3 in the top 12 (Nichole Bathe 8, Heidi Halvorsen 10 and Anika Miller 11).  At the end of the day we put 4 men and 4 women in the top 20.  The following morning we woke to contest the classic individual start.  We tested rigorously and ended up settling on straight klister.  Conditions remained tricky and slow throughout the day and upper body strength proved an important factor in success.  Julia Kern (’97) posted our fastest finish in a respectable 14th over 5km.  Bathe and Halvorsen were close behind in 17th and 19th respectively.  In the men’s 10km, Adam Martin paced the team in 23rd and teammates Jack Hegman and Eli Hoenig followed close behind in 24th and 25th.  Two days down, one to go.  On the final day of competition the women raced a 3 x 3km relay and the men a 3 x 5km.  Leg one was classic, and legs two and three were freestyle.  We rallied together and everyone pushed themselves to the limit one final time for team USA.  Our women crossed the line in 6th and 8th place and the men battled hard with Finland 1 for 8th and 11th.

One of my favorite parts of the entire trip happens the moment the competition ends.  After the final award is handed out all of the kids gather together to trade hats, jackets, suits and stories.  A few lucky guys will get the top Norwegian’s number and most trade Facebook or other contacts.  The coaches were removed packing and travel waxing skis, but it was easy to see how much fun everyone was having wagering (sometimes in broken English) for the coolest gear they could find.  Best trade goes to Max Scrimgeour for his Team Finland (Nordic Combined) Parka and best gift goes to Adam Martin for the pine bough bouquet (and digits) he received from A certain fast and beautiful blonde Norwegian.

And finally, THANK YOU NNF.  Without the National Nordic Fountain, and all of its generous supporters, this trip would not be possible.  We Thank You for your generous support.

Its go time!  We just got back from a day at the venue testing and waxing skis for tomorrow.  Team Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia all arrived today and its beginning to feel like race time!  The weather is warm and wet (a mix of rain and snow all day), but we are pushing through and hoping for a bit of a cool down tonight.  We’re really pumped up after seeing the kids at World Juniors/U23’s rip it up today and excited to get our race on tomorrow.  We will try to update as much as possible in the next couple of days, but bear with us because its going to be a whirlwind trip.  Thanks for checking in on us, can’t believe how fast its all flying by!  Send some well wishes our way!  -Kate 


Here’s yesterday’s report from Anika and Julia!




After a long night of bowling we got to sleep in late and eat an amazing breakfast at our hotel since it is our day off. The morning was spent being very studious and getting caught up before the racing starts. Before heading off to Tartu we ate lunch and watched the MTV top 10 James Blunt videos. The team bet that “You are Beautiful” would be the number one song. Turns out it was number two and there was no number one video! The afternoon was spent touring the city, and visiting its’ incredible science museum. We had a blast using the different machines and looking at the optical illusions. The biggest attraction of the day was a bike suspended high off the ground on a tight rope. It was a thrill to ride across, and everyone loved the ride! Before heading to a fancy dinner, we had free time to tour the city and get some shopping in (at least for the girls, who knows what he guys were up to). When it started to get a little stormy outside we headed to a nice dinner accompanied by some lovely music by a local band at the end of the meal.  Simi and Tom had Moose as their main meal, which they enjoyed very much, and Max tried beaver soup!  Once everyone was full, we headed to the cars to attempt to drive back without getting lost, which fulfilled successfully. Well, coach Adam claims Simi might have splashed a woman on the side of the road which he claimed to be “an accident,” but he did do an excellent job navigating so we forgave them: )

Pretty tired crew here!  Its been an eventful couple of days.  Today: classic time trial.  With clear skies and cold tempertures greeting us we fired up the engines for a couple of laps around the 2.5km race loop.  After the time trial we packed up, showered and checked out the Tehvandi stadium one last time before hopping on the road to Polva.  The Tartu Marathon begins tomorrow in the stadium and it is a pretty wild scene up there right now.  Adam, Scott and I even got (snuck) into the team captains meeting.  The press rooms and media set up were pretty sweet to say the least.  We arrived in Polva after a short drive east and checked into our new hotel Pesa, in ‘downtown’ Polva.  Otepaa, lived up to its name of Estonia’s “winter captial” and Polva feels a bit more like the real thing.  We’re all excited to get out and explore the town.  After settling in, the coaches and girls ventured over to the competition venue which is located about 3km from our hotel for a recovery ski.  The trails were fast and fun and everyone was very welcoming…and the cafe in the lodge made a mean hot cocoa too (thanks Scott and Adam).  Also, we found more Estonians snow tubing and snowboarding off jumps with flat landings.  Tomorrow we’ll head to the marathon start in Otepaa.  Then, we will caravan around the 63 kilometer race course cheering, feeding (Adam’s racing!!!!!) and checking out the scene.  We’re very disappointed that Petter decided to pull out at the last minute, but psyched to see a ton of other fast racers.  For now, its off to bed!  Enjoy the pictures and we’ll post more tomorrow.  Go USA!

Tere everyone!  (Yes, we do know Estonian).  This morning started off with a very photogenic picture of our amazing team.  Next we set out on a distance skate ski checking out our course for tomorrow’s classic time trial and the potato? farms.  Lookin’ speedy in our matching uniforms.  Surprisingly the group became extremely studious and got some solid hours of homework in this afternoon.  We watched some awesome skiing from our US ski team today at the world cup sprints in Poland.  Killin’ it!  Tonight we went on some ‘tubular’ tube rides.  We (Nichole and Sloan) were forced to face the man who was not so happy the night before due to our “idiotic” idea that the rope tow was free and Nordic skiers were aloud to use it.  Apparently Estonians are very good with their English profanities and show their anger.  But all went well when the team of 12 showed up to have a good time on some tube rides.  We had a blast shooting down some frighteningly vertical slopes with out soon-tube sore butts.  Not to mention the beautiful Estonian women that Eli Hoenig has such a way with.  🙂  It was an eventful day to say the least!

-Nichole Bathe (Madison, Wisconsin) and Sloan Storey (Sun Valley, Idaho)

Today we did an easy distance classic ski with some speed bursts thrown in to rev up the engines.  The sun was out and the tracks were cold and fast.  We had an amazing ski exploring the Tartu Marathon course and some less hilly trails around some nearby potato? fields.  Everyone spent the afternoon exploring town, catching up on emails and doing homework.  Before dinner we hit up the gym here at the Tehvandi to do some stretching, mobility and core.  Most the kids just got home from a night ski on the lighted track.  Tomorrow morning we’ll head out for a skate and then take the afternoon off to recover and explore some of the attractions here in Otepaa.  The coaches are trying to figure out how to get Adam an optimal feed in his RACE on Sunday (The Tartu Marathon).  63 classic km’s.  Boom!  check back soon for more.  Thanks for tuning in!  

We made it!  We are settled into Tehvandi Sports Center in Otepaa, our home for the next couple of days.  With the exception of one cancelled flight, our travels were long, but smooth, and everyone arrived into Tallinn last night.  We picked up the rental cars and drove to Otepaa just in time to crawl into bed and get some well deserved sleep.  We woke to a delicious breakfast, went for a jog, set up the wax cabin and unpacked skis.  After lunch we walked out our doors to the Tehvandi stadium and the infamous World Cup trails.  This place is no short of amazing.  The hills are long and steep and the corners are tight. (We tested out that hill that was “double pole”-able in the WC classic sprint…its pretty serious).  Everyone got a chance to rip around on the trails and earn themselves some big smiles.  For now, we’re settling into the routine and letting our bodies adjust to this new environment.  Its cool, but not too cold (-2 or -3 C) and the sun is even peeking from behind the clouds.  We will train smart in the next couple of days, and then head to Mammaste to prepare for competition.  On Sunday we will return to Otepaa to watch the start of Estonia’s most famous ski marathon (and part of the international Worldloppet), The Tartu Marathon, which begins here and then head to Elva to watch the finish.  Tonight, I think we’ll check out the sauna.  Stay tuned for frequent updates from the ATHLETES.  Thanks for following!  Sorry for the lack of quality in the photos!

Today was the last stage of our three-day race series in Örnsköldsvik; the relay. Needless to say, we were all psyched to get our game faces on and show those Europeans our best. It was a great day. The USA women all had great races with Marion, Cambria and Annie coming in 6^th and Hannah, Sharmila and Stella soon after in 7^th. But the story of the day was our USA-1 men’s team. The race kicked off with Logan scrambling, he got off to a rough start but hung in there and slowly got to the front… As he came into the stadium he was in first place, right in front of a massive Norwegian. He tagged off to Paddy who again mixed it up with the very best J1s in the world and hung right in there with the Finnish and Norwegian number one teams, tagging off to Forrest. Forrest kept USA in third until he broke a pole in the last kilometer, but hung in there and brought in the USA men in fourth place. It was probably the most exciting race I’ve ever seen and a really amazing way for us all to end the series! -Cam

The athletes all really took it to the next level today. Some of the best skiing I have seen in recent or distant memory. Us coaches were still waxing for most of the girls race, but I was really impressed with how these girls kept contact with the front Norwegian and Swedish teams throughout the race, and while from the outside the results look somewhat typical for these races, they are far from typical. Both our teams beat the Swedish II team, and both Est I and II. Estonia is not messing around here, they are strong skiers, and our girls just beat them straight up. Impressive.
The boys race was even more spectacular- Logan and Dylan scrambled for the Americans, and right off the start on the first hill out of the stadium a Swede fell in the track directly in front of Logan, placing him in dead last at the top of the first hill. By the time I saw him about half a K later, he was in about 6th, in a pack with most of the field except the Norge and Suomi A teams who had a 6 second lead. The next time I saw him, 2k after that, he was in second in a pack with the Norwegians and Fins, about 10 seconds up on the next group of racers. Paddy came around next, looking smooth and strong (as always!) and keeping right on the heels of the Norwegian, except when he kept passing him! Forrest did a stellar job anchoring the team, keeping close contact with the NOR and FIN teams, and eventually joined by the SWE I team. Unfortunately, with 300m to go, Forrest’s pole broke and the fading Finnish skier was able to get back by. A fourth place at these very competitive championships is usually an incredible result, but today it was no mistake that the USA team was in the lead for most of the race, and while still happy with their skiing, it was a bittersweet result for the boys. The USA II team was missing a third leg due to Jack’s accident, but the organizers found us an ambitious club skier to jump in and race with us. He was really excited to race for the stars and bars, and had lots of fun due to the great skiing by Dylan and Peter, skiing tight in a pack of Fins and Swedes. Now we are back in Ostersund, and its way past my bedtime, so I’m going to get a little rest before taking the Alaskans to the airport tomorrow morning. One last note before I sign off- Ostersund is a really cool place if you’re a nordic skier. Tonight Pete and I were filling up a rental car before returning it at a random gas station in town, and these two really fit people walked by me twice on my way in to pay. When I got back out Pete was all excited and said “did you just see Emil Johnsson and Anna Haug??” (they were buying firewood). Then an hour later we went out to dinner at a thai restaurant and shortly after sitting down, world renowned nordic skiing physiology researcher H.C. Holmberg randomly parks his car right outside the window where we were sitting. So we invited him in and he ate with us and chatted about skiing technique and training philosophy for two hours! Pretty cool stuff here.
-Matt

HEY ALL

-Kate