Check out some of the racing action from Val Cartier. Boys did a 10/10k and girls a 5/5k, then a 1.2k sprint and 10/15k classic. Most races were held on 2.5k loops so it was great for spectating.br /br /br /Pursuit Videobr /object width=”320″ height=”266″ class=”BLOG_video_class” id=”BLOG_video-6fc155d8c15adc9c” classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv10.nonxt6.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D6fc155d8c15adc9c%26itag%3D5%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26app%3Dblogger%26et%3Dplay%26el%3DEMBEDDED%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1264637965%26sparams%3Did%252Citag%252Cip%252Cipbits%252Cexpire%26signature%3D4AF6A39C0975EEC08F51EFDFF5B12F7CA3C82068.4BCA023A3C6CBFCD96838536A23F7CF12F68064%26key%3Dck1amp;nogvlm=1amp;thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D6fc155d8c15adc9c%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3DOQ2pRqNTo7_Zq9ukpXcTs6j-ZD8amp;messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den”param name=”bgcolor” value=”#FFFFFF”embed width=”320″ height=”266″ src=”http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv10.nonxt6.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D6fc155d8c15adc9c%26itag%3D5%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26app%3Dblogger%26et%3Dplay%26el%3DEMBEDDED%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1264637965%26sparams%3Did%252Citag%252Cip%252Cipbits%252Cexpire%26signature%3D4AF6A39C0975EEC08F51EFDFF5B12F7CA3C82068.4BCA023A3C6CBFCD96838536A23F7CF12F68064%26key%3Dck1amp;nogvlm=1amp;thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D6fc155d8c15adc9c%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3DOQ2pRqNTo7_Zq9ukpXcTs6j-ZD8amp;messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash”/embed/objectbr /br /Sprint videobr /object width=”320″ height=”266″ class=”BLOG_video_class” id=”BLOG_video-23f4fdd3892b6ac1″ classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv11.nonxt1.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D23f4fdd3892b6ac1%26itag%3D5%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26app%3Dblogger%26et%3Dplay%26el%3DEMBEDDED%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1264637965%26sparams%3Did%252Citag%252Cip%252Cipbits%252Cexpire%26signature%3D23F9D96E31332781816367000009310156B1F63.2E098F85E6837A91BB0942F21B7C07E9CB306888%26key%3Dck1amp;nogvlm=1amp;thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D23f4fdd3892b6ac1%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3Dvzg-vu6rtn6D1iJcQrQzeaMP0qsamp;messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den”param name=”bgcolor” value=”#FFFFFF”embed width=”320″ height=”266″ src=”http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv11.nonxt1.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D23f4fdd3892b6ac1%26itag%3D5%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26app%3Dblogger%26et%3Dplay%26el%3DEMBEDDED%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1264637965%26sparams%3Did%252Citag%252Cip%252Cipbits%252Cexpire%26signature%3D23F9D96E31332781816367000009310156B1F63.2E098F85E6837A91BB0942F21B7C07E9CB306888%26key%3Dck1amp;nogvlm=1amp;thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D23f4fdd3892b6ac1%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3Dvzg-vu6rtn6D1iJcQrQzeaMP0qsamp;messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash”/embed/objectdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-7186812698810344177?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
Category: XCFeeds
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30k!!
Monday was a disappointment. Tried to do way too much and ended up doing nothing at all to help my cause for the Olympics. Heading into yesterdays race I knew I had to have a good race and that I was going to go for the win. Realistically I was just hoping to stick with Kris as long as I could hoping to make it to the line relatively close to him so I could pick up some critical USSA points that I missed on Monday.
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2010 Patagonia Pursuit at Mt Bachelor
I am holding off for right now on a complete wax recommendation because the weather forecast is changing every hour on the hour. I am pretty sure it will be warm and wet. The question is rain or snow and when. Currently the forecast is:br /br /Friday Night: Snow and freezing rain likely. Cloudy, with a low around 28. South southwest wind between 8 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.br /br /Saturday: A 50 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 34. Southwest wind around 11 mph. br /br /Just an hour ago there was no frozen precip in the forecast.br /br /This is a pursuit or relay with the first leg 6km of classic and then 6km of skate. br /br /Glide wax should not be too hard. I am planning on klister skis with probably a red or silver klister covered with a 0 to -2C hard wax if we get some new snow. For skate I would chose some fairly soft plus base skis. Then prep with a layer of SOLDA UF7 on clean bases. If new snow then go with SOLDA F31 Pink and cover with Fluor 100 either powder or spray. Could use SOLDA Powerjet 1. If it doesn’t snow could use SOLDA F31 Orange or F40 Red and cover with Fluor 100. Economy wax would be just UF7. Finish the skis with the coarse structure using the Toko Structurerite Tool, interupted for the skate skis and linear for the classic skis. Brush well after pressing in the rill. This rill is best applied after waxing and prior to Fluoros. Also remember to let the skis cool after ironing and corking the fluoro before you brushbr /br /Kick wax is the current mystery. I am going to wait until tomorrow and hope the weather picture becomes more clear. br /br /Have fun,br /br /Bertdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6589659500745667109-6137522444974408597?l=www.webskis.com%2Fwebskisblog.html’ alt=” //div
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Stage 6: A Beautiful Day For Racing
The conditions were seemingly perfect as it was sunny and blue skys with the temperature hovering around -4°C. The races were fast with the winning times of 23:14 for the men over 10km and 12:37 for the women over 5km. Today was a chance for those classic specialist take a bite out of the lead times if they had good races as the only thing that the athletes informed on how they were doing was splits rather than the racers around them. There was not really a lot of opportunity to see the racers as there was only three different cameras set up a long the course, the start, the 2.2km check and the finish.
Men
Daniel Rickardsson took his first ever World Cup victory as he edged out Lukas Bauer by 1.7 seconds. Northug was third while Teichmann’s master pacing had him end up in fourth even though he was already 15 seconds down and in 37th place at the 2.2km time check. The field has gotten smaller and smaller and today saw only 58 racers cross the finish line. That’s 30 less than the 1st stage in Oberhof. Devon Kershaw was having a great run, sitting in 8th at the 7.2km mark. Then everything unfolded, somehow Kerhsaw’s binding broke in the last couple kilometers and he lost almost 48 seconds in the final ending up in a frustrating 37th place. After the race, Rickardsson had this to say…
I am very happy about my race today. It is my first victory on the World Cup level so it is amazing. My tactics was to race fast in the first lap and maintain speed in the second one as well.I felt quite in the good shape in the morning. Usually I amstronger in classic technique. The next race on Saturday is in classic technique too so I could be in a good shape there as well. The final climb is very tough so we will see.
Right now the Swede sits in 5th overall, it’ll be tough, if not impossible to make up anytime in the 7th stage as it’s a mass start. If any break aways are attempt, there’ll be those who will do everything to reel the skier back in as to not lose anymore time in the overall classification. The past couple years in the Tour he has been 24th and 47th, so as long as he skis decent races in the last two stages, he should set himself up nicely for a career best. The top eight in the men’s division are now separated by slightly less than a minute which will make for an interesting finish to the Tour.
Results
1. Daniel Rickardsson
2. Lukas Bauer
3. Petter NorthugNotes: Alex Harvey had another great race, cracking the top 10 to finish in 9th. With the result, he now sits in 19th overall which places three Canadians in the top 20. Kershaw is 16th despite today’s result while Babikov is 12th. Another Russian left the Tour today, Pankratov had fallen victim to the sickness that seems to be sweeping through the men’s Russian team.
Women
The race was lead from wire to wire by Justyna Kowalczyk. In a race of this distance, it was surprising to see her open up the gaps she did. By 3.1km, she already had over a 12 second gap on the next fastest skier. Aino Kaisa Saarinen had a good race and finish in second while Petra Majdic rounded out the podium and was 15 seconds behind the Pole. With the win, Kowalczyk reclaimed the overall lead while Follis slipped to 3rd overall. Kowalczyk talked about the race saying…
It was a great race today for me. I did not have any special tactics for today. I only to wanted to go fast and have a good race. 5 km classic is my favorite distance and technique so it was a good day for me. I like Toblach very much. Tomorrow we have a rest day so I will have time to think about the mass start competition in classic technique on Saturday in Val di Fiemme. There a lot girls who can still fight for the overall victory. Petra Majdic, Aino Kaisa Saarinen, Arianna Follis. Everything is still open and there are tough races ahead of us.
It’s too bad there weren’t more talented skiers from Poland to make a competitive relay team because Kowalczyk would make a lethal lead out skier. With her hard-as-nails way to racing, she would absolutely tear teams apart with her ability to push through the pain.
Majdic spoke after the race and mentioned that she has been having trouble with her leg lately, perhaps some sort of muscle related injury and how it’s difficult to heal with the limited amount of time before races. We’ll have to keep note and see how that progresses.
Results
1. Justyna Kowalczyk
2. Aino Kaisa Saarinen
3. Petra MajdicNotes: Even though it was reported that Johaug had dropped out of the Tour yesterday, she was in the tracks today. I’m not sure if the coaching staff had a change of heart or if the young Norwegian pleaded her case to show she deserved one more chance. Either way, she finished a mediocre 30th place today and I expect that the Norwegian staff will be urging for her to go home and train now. Two more athletes dropped out including Olga Rotcheva and Belorussian Ekaterina Rudakova.
Til Next Time.
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“I spent the whole race wanting to vomit but not because I would have had diarrhea.”
“I spent the whole race wanting to vomit but not because I would have had diarrhea.”br/br/ – em Overheard at US Nationals./em
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Bryan Cook Finishes 3rd Place in the US Nationals 30K Classic
Full Results HERE
Great article on the day HERE
Garrott Kuzzy reports on the day HERE
Audrey Weber reports on the day HERE
more to come…. -
Stage 6 Preview
The course for tomorrows rather short courses – a 5km for the women and a 10km for the men – will see like sprints compared to today’s races. They will be in the classic style and the course appears to have a couple good climbs on it including one that rises 40 meters in elevation from the 1.9km to the 2.3km mark of the 5km loop. With only three stages left, the contenders have realistically been widdled down to 18 on the men’s side and only four in contention on the women’s side. Tomorrows race is the first true individual start and I expect the overall standings to be mixed up a little bit, even without any bonus seconds on the line.
On the men’s side, Bauer is the odds on favorite at 5.00. If you wanna make some money Babikov it at 101.00 to win, a pretty nice payout if he races like he did today. No one has seem to put out odds for the women as of yet, but for my money’s worth, I would have Saarinen taking the race.
Women
1. Aino Kaisa Saarinen
2. Justyna Kowalczyk
3. Petra MajdicMen
1. Dario Cologna
2. Lukas Bauer
3. Axel TeichmannSome more exits from the Tour include Angerer, who leaves due to sickness. As I incorrectly reported yesterday that Johaug went home after the Prague sprint, today she is officially going home now. She has yet to show the form that we all know she possess and must find it before the Olympics.
I almost forgot to mention that today Petter Northug’s turned 24. What’s a better way to celebrate you birthday than with a win? Probably with the Tour de Ski title.
Til Tomorrow.
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North of the Border
This past weekend Ollie, Chelsea, Tucker and I headed to NorAm races at Valcartier, a venue about 30 minutes north of Québec City. We were also lucky enough to be graced with the presence of chef/wax-tech/trail-side cheerer extraordinaire Anna. The races were chock-full of top Canadians; it seemed like everyone except those in Europe for the World Cups was there. Needless to say, the competition was tough. We were there for five days and three races: 15/30 km continuous pursuit, skate sprint, and 10/15 km classic. I was, predictably, in seventh heaven the whole time, catching up with my Québecois friends, speaking French, and walking around my old haunts.
There are many stories from our voyage but here are a few choice tid-bits:
– Ollie does the best impression of the Québecois way to say “oui.” Also, he has a never ending supply of Canadian jokes.
– Canadian National Team skier, Dasha Gaiazova, is crazy fast. She also peed right in the middle of the stadium on sprint day. I guess if you’re that fast, you can get away with that.
– Allez, allez! Hup hup hup! Let’s go!! The announcer was awesome though not at all neutral in his cheering.
– The skate sprint course was unbelievably short and fast. The top male qualifier skied the 1.2 km loop in 1:39!
– tricky classic waxing + no Pepa = stressed out CGRP skiers
– venue without an indoor space + heated wax trailer = really happy CGRP skiers
– Patty Ross (Middlebury assistant coach) cracked up one day because she overheard me chatting away in French interspersed with a “geezum!”
– The women had to do 4 x a 2.5 km loop for the classic race because they said the 5 km men’s loop had 60 m too much elevation gain for FIS standards. (I’m still wondering if they meant 60 feet, not meters) In either case, they made a point of sticking to the rules.
– In the classic race, my coach from last year told me on every lap “to use my legs.” It was like Pepa was there. (I really was trying to have good technique, I swear.)
– The French word for “pursuit” is “poursuite” – which is just kind of funny for some reason.
Sweet photo of Chels in the skate sprint.
Ollie lapping through the stadium in the pursuit.
Check out the race reports we wrote about the pursuit and sprint and distance classic on Fasterskier.com.
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A Historic Day for GMVS XC!!
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0V7WsSTP-I/AAAAAAAABF8/zA4Unm1SjhA/s1600-h/blog+history.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0V7WsSTP-I/AAAAAAAABF8/zA4Unm1SjhA/s400/blog+history.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423876956012888034″ border=”0″ //aDavid Sinclair GMVS ’10 (US J1 Team), Peter Kling GMVS PG ’07 (US U-23 Team) and Adam Verrier GMVS ’87 (US Olympian 1994 and announcer for 2010 US Senior Nationals).br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0VzSrSHWuI/AAAAAAAABF0/YkcKbhJk1T4/s1600-h/kling.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 356px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0VzSrSHWuI/AAAAAAAABF0/YkcKbhJk1T4/s400/kling.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423868090931174114″ border=”0″ //aPeter Kling behind APU teammate in his Semifinal Heat. Kling went on to place 7th overall.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0VzSVyfNEI/AAAAAAAABFs/7DEO5irg84I/s1600-h/kling.jpeg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 169px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0VzSVyfNEI/AAAAAAAABFs/7DEO5irg84I/s400/kling.jpeg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423868085161374786″ border=”0″ //aKling in his quarterfinal heat (third skier).br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0VzSDaJ4vI/AAAAAAAABFk/lwiFatXesNU/s1600-h/blog+J1.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 194px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/S0VzSDaJ4vI/AAAAAAAABFk/lwiFatXesNU/s400/blog+J1.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423868080227476210″ border=”0″ //aThe US Ski Team Junior 1 Scandinavian Champs Team (Sinclair 5th from left).br /br /br /Today was the third day of competition at the 2010 US Senior Nationals in Anchorage, AK. The events today were classic distance races (which we now affectionately call “the old fashioned” way), with the Open Men/Women completing 30km/20km and the Juniors 10km and 5km. Waxing was rather difficult as we received nearly six inches of snow and a little freezing rain during the course of the races–oh yeah and it was hovering right at the magical zero degree mark.br /br /Athletes who had soft skis, big engines and tough attitudes rose to the top today. At the completion of the races the US Ski Team announced the World Junior, J1, and Under 23 Championship Teams. GMVS placed two athletes on these teams! David Sinclair is proving that he is one of the very best juniors in the country, placing fifth overall for Juniors (2nd J1) and taking the third spot on the Junior 1 Scandinavian Team that will compete in Kuopio, Finland at the end of the month. GMVS coach Tim Weston will serve as the Team Leader for this trip. Peter Kling, GMVS alum was named to the U-23 Team after his incredible 7th place finish in the Skate Sprint on the first day of Nationals. Peter is now training right here in Anchorage with the Alaska Pacific University team. This to my knowledge is a first — two GMVS athletes representing the US Ski Team in International Competition. A very cool moment for our program.br /br /Hans Halvorsen and Emily Stitt are competing at Nationals for the first time against the best juniors in the country. Today Hans skied a smart race and maintained a solid pace throughout the tough course. He is learning about pacing and finding the confidence to race alongside the best. Emily had a really strong skate race the other day placing among some of the strong eastern college girls and placing as the 14th Junior 1. Kristin Halvorsen is gaining form and skiing tough through some challenges with compartment syndrome. Look for her to gain top form as we continue the Eastern Cup Circuit and Junior Olympics this March in Presque Isle, Maine.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1847564486460994594-8049236563371943613?l=gmvsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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30km Classic
The forecast for today was 28 degrees and partly cloudy. It wouldn’t be a 30km Classic at Nationals without some more variables thrown into the mix. Sure enough, when we woke up this morning, there were big dollar flakes accumulating in a hurry. Of course, coach Bryan Fish and his wax crew of Igor Badamshin, Brandan Ostroot, and John Hugus were out and on the trail testing kick wax before 6:00 this morning. By the time the men’s team arrived at the venue for their 11:30 start, Fish had the wax dialed and the women were already on course.
Getting reports from their race that we had two women in the lead pack was encouraging for our crew warming up. In the end, Compton and Rebecca took 3rd and 4th, not far behind Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks in 1st and 2nd.
Caitlin Compton leading Rebecca Dussault and Liz Stephen
The men’s race was just as exciting. I sat out the race this morning, as has been the plan all along, in preparation for the classic sprint on Friday. I tested skis in the stadium with a number of the other sprinters, while the men’s field clicked off kilometers on their way to 30km through the fresh falling snow. James Southam, Kris Freeman, and Bryan Cook pulled away from the field early. In an exciting race of fades and comebacks, James extended his lead over Kris who barely held off a hard charging Cook over the final kilometers.
With Cook on the podium, that made for a CXC athlete on each podium so far this week, and our 5th different CXC skier on the podium. Brian Gregg and CXC’s very own pro mountain biker Tad Elliott worked together for most of the classic race, before Gregg pulled away with an impressive double-pole at the end of the race to take 5th. With Chuck’s 4th in the 15km skate and Gregg’s 5th today, that makes 7 different CXC skiers with Top-5 finishes so far at Nationals. Not bad. We’re still looking forward to a National Championship that could come in the Classic Sprint.
Bryan Cook
Brian Gregg
Tad Elliott
Photos by Ian Harvey – Toko.
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An update
divdivHere are some random thoughts:/divbr /div/divdiv1. One of my classmates that I spent Dec. in span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Hibbing/span with sent me a pic that he took while we were up there. One of the last nights that we were there we went out to the lake (there was no snow on the trails) and skied around. Two of them had never skied before, but one of my classmates in dental school is Renee Kinney (skied for span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_1″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Stillwater/span HS, U of Vermont and Team span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_2″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Birkie/span), and so between her and I there was equipment to use. It was fun to all get out on skis together. img style=”TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 370px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 278px; CURSOR: hand” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423748495299014402″ border=”0″ alt=”” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hvZteNu0E40/S0UGhS1bbwI/AAAAAAAAAGs/Mvk1NqWOvsA/s320/IMAGE_048.jpg” //div/divp2. I was very sad to hear that Cindy span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_3″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Brochman/span had passed away after her long battle with cancer. She ran with Nichole on the run n fun team, and I only ever heard good things about her. /pp3. I did the TC Championships this past weekend, and it was a ton of fun. I am looking forward to skiing it next year, and span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_4″ class=”blsp-spelling-corrected”hopefully/span I will get out on classic skis a bit more before that race. This year I got out great at the start (and avoided the large pile-up), but I did not have the fitness to stick with the leaders. This kind of worries me, since I signed up for the long race at all of the big races this year (COLL, Mora, span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_5″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Birkie/span). It also could be because I am not as good of a classic skier. The skate race on span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_6″ class=”blsp-spelling-corrected”Sunday/span went well. Even though I still lost more time to Bjorn and Matt than I would have liked, I was able to post the 5span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_7″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span fastest skate time of the day and catch a number of guys who beat me in the classic race. /ppspan id=”SPELLING_ERROR_8″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Vakava/span skiers (and others we claim as our own) at TC Champs: /ppMen: 2span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_9″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”nd/span overall-Bjorn span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_10″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Batdorf/span (1st in classic, 2span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_11″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”nd/span in skate), 8span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_12″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Nathan span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_13″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Porath/span, 19span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_14″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Derek span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_15″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Wallen/span, 27span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_16″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Andy span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_17″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Schakel/span, 32span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_18″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”nd/span-Dave span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_19″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Christopherson/span (1st in age group), 33rd-Ryan span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_20″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Atwell/span, 38span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_21″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Per Nelson, 50span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_22″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Kevin span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_23″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Ivens/span, /ppWomen: 1st overall-Jojo Winters (2span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_24″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”nd/span in classic, 4span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_25″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span in skate), 3rd-Kathleen span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_26″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Dewall/span (1st in skate), 5span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_27″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Angie Robinson (3rd in skate), 8span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_28″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Cheryl span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_29″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Dubois/span, 10span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_30″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Margie Nelson, 13span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_31″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Mel span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_32″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”McMillian/span, 18span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_33″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Sara Conrad, 22span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_34″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”nd/span-Katie Anderson, 24span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_35″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”th/span-Allie span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_36″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Rykken/span/pimg style=”TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 355px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 244px; CURSOR: hand” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423755971913996114″ border=”0″ alt=”” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hvZteNu0E40/S0UNUfZWV1I/AAAAAAAAAG0/K2gyH50mOhA/s320/IMG_1544.jpg” /4. Bert span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_37″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”Blyleven/span misses the baseball span id=”SPELLING_ERROR_38″ class=”blsp-spelling-error”HOF/span by 5 votes. Seriously? Go Twins.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1572647974447867713-3283735432442092510?l=vakavaraceteam.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Race Three
We just got back from the naming of the Under-23 and World Junior Championships trip. The team is chosen by scoring the athletes two best results and then the top 6 junior and top 5 under-23 athletes make the team. Sadie and I both made our respective teams. We take off on the 16th after the Methow SuperTour sprint. div style=”text-align: center;”br //divdivToday’s race was a 10 km classic for the junior men. The temperatures warmed up and it snowed mostly all day. My race was scheduled to start at 1:50 but was postponed 30 min because of the snow. My plan today was to start out hard and to finish harder. So I got a good warm up and headed out at 2:20. I was happy with my first 5 km, feeling good and trying my best to ski the very hilly course strong. On my second 5 km lap I wasn’t able to turn the speed up as much as I was hoping. I caught Lex Treinen who started 30 seconds in front of me at 6 km. I finished in 5th place on the score board and then shortly after got bumped back to finish in 7th place. I was happy with the way my race felt but was a little disappointed by my result./divdiv style=”text-align: center;”br //divdivSadie opted to drop out of the race because “The field was lacking competition so I decided to drop out and eat tacos.”/divdivbr //divdivimg style=”float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pZgXW6b1QMk/S0V4vLIHPFI/AAAAAAAAADk/5npy-sKOVts/s320/DSCN2295.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423874078073633874″ /img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pZgXW6b1QMk/S0V3VpZnGiI/AAAAAAAAADc/IcQaHbAGXtE/s320/IMG_2032.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423872540011862562″ //divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-7289201629466063862?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Stage 5: Cortina-Toblach
Today saw the start of the distance races with the first point A to B race of the Tour. It was pursuit style so there were expectations of great battles and tactics on the course. The results of this race would determine the overall classification of the Tour. Simple concept: win the race and you become the Tour leader.
Men
From the very near the beginning, it was a lead pack of five consisting of Hellner, Northug, Teichmann, Østensen, and Cologna. A chase group of three formed including Kershaw, Heikkinen and Gaillard. Shortly after starting up the climb after the 12.7km check point, Østensen began to struggle with the pace and was subsequently dropped from the lead pack.
At the Ospitale time check at 12.7km, the top four were still together with Heikkinen and Gaillard still gaining only 19 seconds back while Kershaw and Østensen were finding it hard to hang on to the Fin and Frenchman. While the likes of Angerer, Jauhojärvi, and Harvey were loosing a lot of time (1:18, 1:55, and 1:49) to the leaders and slipping down the leaderboard, Babikov was making rapid gains as he hopped from 26th to 16th gaining 37 seconds. By about the 15km mark, the Heikkinen and Gaillard caught the leaders and that group grew to six strong. While the old chase group splintered, the new one had taken shape with 11 skiers who was about 40 seconds back at the next time check, but slowly gaining on the leaders.
It was the same standings at the 23.2km time check for the top 18 while everyone else was losing more and more time. The same came be said at 27.2km. It was like they were figurines traveling down the track at the same speed from 12 to 32 kms. Rather boring for the spectator.
Just after the 32.8km check, things started to get interesting. It seems that the athletes have wizened up to Northug’s tactics and with about 3km left, Hellner thought it was go time. He broke the pack into only three will Northug and Cologna able to hang on. Coming into the home striaght Hellner, Cologna, and Northug were three abreast, and you knew the inevitable was going to happen…again. Northug put in a 100m sprint and eased to the victory with Cologna in second and Hellner in third. The other race was with the main chase pack as they came fast and furious across the line with Curdin Perl having a great race ending in 7th. The fastest time of the day had to go to Babikov who gained 1:12 and 25 places which puts him right into contention being 37 seconds down in 9th overall.
Results
1. Petter Northug
2. Dario Cologna
3. Marcus HellnerNotes: Today saw 20 more men drop out of the Tour, most of them were sprint specialists. Notables included those mentioned in yesterdays blog and Newell, Fredriksson, Kozisek, Pasini, Strandvall, and Lassila. That leaves the men’s field with 62 strong out of the 88 that started back in Oberhof. The Canadians had another great day with Babikov leading the way. After Kershaw’s strong start, he failed to stick with Heikkinen and Gaillard and fell back what eventually became the main pack. He looked much more comfortable there and was able to ski a very good race, ending up in 17th only 48 seconds off the lead. Harvey also had a good race and now sits in 21st. After a couple poor races, George Grey make a huge jump today, going from 55th to 34th overall.
Women
The start of the race saw Saarinen hold a very comfortable 25 second lead over Kowalczyk and almost 30 seconds on Majdic. Shortly into the race, Kowalczyk, Majdic, and Follis clumped up and had the same mind-set; chase down Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. They worked very efficiently as a threesome and soon enough they had caught the leader at around the 5km mark. Shortly after becoming a foursome, Majdic attacked but ultimately amounting to nothing as the others reeled here in.
Not much happened for a while with the athletes taking turn leading and controlling the pace. About 2.5km from the finish, the fun began with Majdic attacking again. This time she was successful and opened up a 20-30 meter gap on the others. However, it was too early as Majdic lost what she gained on the final hill coming into the stadium as Follis and Kowalczyk swallowed up her advantage. Follis overtook Majdic for the victory while Kowalczyk challenged the Slovakian for the second place but ended up in third. Saarinen was unable to hang on and she now sits 27.6 seconds adrift of the lead.
Results
1. Arianna Follis
2. Petra Majdic
3. Justyna KowalczykNotes: Like the men, more sprint specialists dropped the Tour in favour of training. Those included Prochzkova, Ingemarsdotter, Brodin, and those mentioned in yesterday’s blog sans Johaug. She is still in the Tour despite me reading an article incorrectly. For Canada, Renner had another good race as she gained six positions to 23rd overall.
Til Tomorrow.
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Day Three!
Well, the best way to describe today’s 20k classic race is, TOUGH! The forecast for today called for temperatures anywhere between 26-32 degrees and a 50 percent chance of snow/rain, possibly starting in the morning or maybe holding off until the afternoon. For those of you who don’t know as much about the technical side of skiing, well these conditions are probably the toughest for waxing! The options are endless…is it zero skis, harries, stiffer skis, softer skis, klister cover, hard wax, etc. As you can imagine, this makes for a little bit more stressful morning choosing skis.br /br /When I woke up this morning I checked the temperature, 27 degrees. I looked outside, falling snow. “Hhmmm” I thought to myself. As I drove to the race venue, the snow was beginning to fall harder and it was starting to accumulate. I walked into the waxing trailer where the coaches were busily testing everything! I managed to get a good warm-up in, although I forgot that the first 2.5k of the course doesn’t have lights. It was dark and I kept my eyes open for moose meandering the trails. Fifteen minutes before the start, I frantically went looking for my coach and my race skis. I tested them with only a few minutes to spare and they were slipping. My coach applied another layer of wax, but with only five minutes remaining until the start, I did not have time to test them again. I ran to the start, went through ski check and found my starting lane amid 9 lanes and over 70 starting positions. Everyone was silent and still with 30 seconds to go. “Bang!” the gun went off. I had a strong double pole start, positioning myself near the front. As soon as the pack of women hit the hills, I began to slip! I focused on setting my foot and wax pocket…but I just kept slipping. I immediately dropped back to somewhere around 20th place in the first 2k.br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S0Z9SXUmcqI/AAAAAAAAAic/ZZfWrg4o3ag/s1600-h/women+20k+up+elliots.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S0Z9SXUmcqI/AAAAAAAAAic/ZZfWrg4o3ag/s320/women+20k+up+elliots.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424160555665879714″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”The pack of women 1k from the startbr /Photo by Bill Roth of ADN.com/spanbr //divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span style=”font-style: italic;”br //span/divI completed my first 7k lap and I was discouraged. I was expending a lot of energy trying to set my wax. I passed my coach and asked if dropping out might be a good option, in order to save some energy for Friday’s classic sprint. I did not get a quick enough answer, so I kept racing. Back out onto the tough 5k loop with lots of big hills I went! I slowly caught and passed the girl in front of me. Half way through the second lap, my skis were beginning to kick better and i was able to push a little harder. I caught up to a pack of four girls in front of me. I hung on their tails for about 2k before making my move and passing them. With 6k to go, I skied as hard as I could! I managed to work my way up to 11th and was gaining on the girls in front of me. Had we skied another lap, I probably could have caught them.br /br /div style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S0Z7mV43NNI/AAAAAAAAAiU/oges0lJhlqY/s1600-h/women+20k.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 230px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bfd1dFDmRWA/S0Z7mV43NNI/AAAAAAAAAiU/oges0lJhlqY/s320/women+20k.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424158699855230162″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-style: italic;”Liz Stephen leading the train of women.br /Photo by Bill Roth of ADN.combr //span/divbr /Today was a tough race but there is always something to learn and today I learned not to give up! A lot can happen in a 20k race and fortunately my race got better and better as I went. Tomorrow is a rest day and U.S. Nationals will conclude on Friday with the classic sprint.br /All for now!br /br /Click
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Heather Mooney leads Americans in Noram
a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S0Yhm8wKiBI/AAAAAAAAAfI/uOtUlxhFPz8/s1600-h/IMG_0103.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xxDw1qNK1JA/S0Yhm8wKiBI/AAAAAAAAAfI/uOtUlxhFPz8/s320/IMG_0103.JPG” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424059754241230866″ //abr /Austin Caldwell in the background going through ski markingbr /br /When the snow dust settled after 100 plus women racers tore 4 times each around a 2.5k loop, Heather Mooney was 1st American, 1st in her age group, 3rd for all Juniors and 15th overall. She was also the top American in the sprint and won the junior B final. (Rachel Hall was the only other SMS skier to make the heats and finished top 20 for Juniors). OK, so most the Americans are out in Alaska racing at U.S. Nationals, but as one of the younger juniors racing Canada’s top juniors and seniors it was a very impressive race! I guess our trip to the epic tubing park with 42 slides and 17 lifts the day before the race paid off!br /br /Check out the Faster Skier article for more details.br /br /http://fasterskier.com/2010/01/gaiazova-kuhn-win-final-valcartier-norams/br /br /The waxing was a little tricky for the 10/15k classic, with temps 10 degrees lower then predicated. We perhaps “over” waxed with a little more kick over glide. But overall the skis worked pretty well and the rest of the team all had nice races.br /br /Cam Mcdermott had a great race coming off a recent compartment syndrome surgery to finish up 1st in her age group and 32nd overall. Issy Pellitier, Rachel Hall and Hallie Grossman were bibs 1,2 and 3. Since the racers only started 15s apart they were all in sight of each other right away . They ended up catching each and basically skiing a team trial complete with a 3 way sprint to be the first finishers. At the end of the race they all finished 10k within 30s of each other and some great top 5 age group finishes. Ashleigh Spittle SMS winter termer and one of Australian top Juniors continues gain experience and fitness racing these highly competitive North American fields.br /br /Walker Bigelow continues to struggle with knee tendinitis but managed a solid 10k before having to pull over. Austin Caldwell was 15th in his age group in the super hilly 15k classicbr /br /br /Complete results here.br /br /http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=2600br /br /br /Photos and Video to follow once I unpack and reunite all the cables and adapters!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-8910113726780033306?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Final stage of Olympic Biathlon Trials set to begin
Altenberg, Germany – Most of Europe has been experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures through the month of December, but a new front moved in on Sunday and has brought enough snow to bring winter sports back to life. It was just in time for Olympic Biathlon Team Trials, which start on Thursday, January 7th at 4AM EST.br /br /The Maine Winter Sports Center is well represented at these trials, with six of the twelve athletes having come through our programs. They are looking to join Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela and Jay Hakinnen who have already been named to the Men’s Olympic Team, and Haley Johnson who has already been named to the Women’s Team. Those competing at Trials are vying for two available spots on the Men’s Team and three spots on the Women’s Team. br /br /The Trials will start with a time-trial Sprint race Thursday at 4AM EST. That first race will be contested just between the U.S. Team, and will be scored using percent-back. It is a formula in which the three top times are averaged together to get a base score. All the competitor’s times are then compared to that base. In this system at least one racer will typically wind up with a score of 100 or better. The racing continues on Saturday with another Sprint race, also scheduled to start at 4AM EST. There are estimated to be close to 300 competitors combined in the Men’s and Women’s races, so it the competition should last for a while. br /br /The top 60 Men and Women from the Sprint will qualify for the Pursuit on Sunday. The athletes will keep their two best scores and the top two men and top three women will be nominated to the U.S Team, to be made official by the US Olympic Committee on Monday the 11th.br /br /The IBU is promoting live streaming coverage of the races at: http://services.biathlonresults.com/DataCenter_IBU.aspxbr /In any event, we will post results at www.mainewsc.org as soon as they become available.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6813061107698506856-1466059182832311524?l=mwscbiathlon.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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Welcome to the J1 Team
J1 Scandinavia Cup Teambr /Kuopio, Finland, January 29-31br /br /January 6, 2010br /br /Congratulations, and welcome to the 2009 USA J1 Scandinavia Cup Team. A lot of intervals and ODs went into this achievement, and we thank you for that dedication. Whether this is your first year on the team or you are a seasoned veteran, we are going to Finland as a new team that is on a mission to accomplish one thing together—to compete for the USA against some of the best in the world.br /br /As the stresses associated with making this team subside, regain control of your training next week. Refocus your goals. Whether you squeaked onto this team or qualified first, you now are all equal teammates. As you look around at your new teammates in this room, can you see yourself having the best races of your life with the support of this crew? See it.br /br /Train wisely in these next two weeks, and make sure you are healthy before the travel. Contact us if you have any questions about training, travel, and racing. Congratulations, thanks for your hard work, and get the engines tuned! Remember that your qualification to this team is a stepping-stone to your next big goal, rather than a destination. We’ll see you in Finland, if not sooner.br /br /Best,br /br /Tim, Matt, and Ashleydiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8099746996508773021-2559481496440324174?l=usaj1team.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
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