FasterSkier

Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

  • Statistics

    In my Rogers Park Elementary School class the students were working on statistics this winter. I was away racing, but I keep in touch with Ms. Price & suggested that they do a project looking at the statistics section of the FIS website. FIS does a great job of providing not only individual bios and career histories but also cumulative information. When I returned from Canadian Nationals and got back into going to math class they showed me their projects and we did a group discussion/critique.

    Here’s a sampling of their work…

    (and yes, I can tell that I’m becoming more teacher-esque because I brag to my friends about how brilliant “my” kids are.!


    “What I’m graphing: I’m going to graph how many girls from USA ranked in the World Cup for cross country skiing over the years.”
    I think that this is specifically number of American females who made it into the top 100 of the FIS points list, covering 1982-2009. I think that this trend looks encouraging… moving upwards!


    “Average Age of Cross Country 5k Winners”
    This, in addition to being a visually appealing graph, shows that the average age doesn’t vary too much, mostly being about 25 years old. 1983 is at the far left and the data continues through 2009.


    “Places Where Ski Jumping Competitions Were Held”
    Germany & Austria held way more World Cup ski jumping comps this season with 11 & 10, respectively. It was pretty clear when we were in Austria that they had a strong culture of skiing with ski areas and trails all over the mountains. It would be interesting to look at how the number of World Cup competitions held in an area affects the development and success of that sport in the area.


    “Amount of Female Skiing Wins for Norway in the World Cup”
    Be careful, the years run from 2009 at the left of the graph to 1982 (I think) at the right side of the graph. So it looks like Norwegian women are increasing their dominance, albeit with a sharp drop off from last year to this season… looks like the Norwegian team missed having Astrid on the world cup this year. It is worth considering that the number of races and hence overall number of wins available in a season might have changed over the years. A more consistent stat would have been percentage of races won by Norwegian women.


    “Youngest Average Age For Female Skiers: World Cup 1982-2009”
    From which I would surmise that there’s no noticeable trend in the age at which the youngest females are winning world cups. I think this is the average of youngest 5k winner, youngest 30k winner, and so on over the season.

    I always do feel grateful that I get to work with such wonderful students and that I can help spark their interest in math & skiing!

  • Some pics from Falun…

  • Some pics from Falun…

  • Some pics from Falun…

  • 15/30K Pursuit

    Liz Stephen and Ivan Babikov won the pursuit races at Birch Hill on Friday.  Full results can be found HERE.  The CXC Elite team had an excellent day with Caitlin Compton placing 9th, Kristina Owen 10th, Maria Stuber in 13th, Johanna Winters in 17th, Heather Zimmerman in 29th, Garrott Kuzzy in 5th, Bryan Cook in 7th, Brian Gregg in 12th, Andre Watt in 18th, and Guz Kaeding in 44th.  We have had awesome skis in all the races so far.  Everyone is very grateful for our support crew of Bryan Fish, Bill Pierce, and Wayne Fish.

    About 2 inches of fresh snow fell on the morning of the race, and the tracks were very soft making for a difficult race.  Articles on the pursuit races can be found HERE (men) and HERE (women).  I have lots of photos from the men’s race, but I will not be able to post them until I get home.  There are some photos from the pursuit race included in the article HERE.

    Tomorrow is the 30/50K classic.  This is the last race of the season.  I will not be racing, but look for more great results from the CXC Elite team tomorrow.

  • World Premiere?

    So after the overwhelming response I’ve had about my initial Petter Northug youtube video and after his triple gold performance in Liberec, a few people asked me if there was going to be video about his successes in Liberec. I thought to myself, I have the footage (thanks to a nice guy in Britain that was able to torrent the World Cup season), but I needed to find proper music and a little creativity. Hopefully I accomplished this, but that’s up for the viewer to decide. I apologize in advance about the poor quality, it was a lot clearer before I uploaded it. So without further adieu, I present “Northug’s Golden Hat-Trick”. Enjoy.

    Til Next Time.

  • World Premiere?

    So after the overwhelming response I’ve had about my initial Petter Northug youtube video and after his triple gold performance in Liberec, a few people asked me if there was going to be video about his successes in Liberec. I thought to myself, I have the footage (thanks to a nice guy in Britain that was able to torrent the World Cup season), but I needed to find proper music and a little creativity. Hopefully I accomplished this, but that’s up for the viewer to decide. I apologize in advance about the poor quality, it was a lot clearer before I uploaded it. So without further adieu, I present “Northug’s Golden Hat-Trick”. Enjoy.

    Til Next Time.

  • World Premiere?

    So after the overwhelming response I’ve had about my initial Petter Northug

  • check that off my list of things to do

    I made it through the second surgery, and after spending the night in the hospital I was released this afternoon.  I’m very thankful I just have 2 legs, and that was the last leg!  No more surgeries, thank you!  Now I can concentrate on healing and getting back on my feet. 

    The doctor is very optimistic.  Things went well in surgery yesterday, and my right leg is healing nicely.  That is great news!

  • US Distance Nat’ls Part III: 30K Pursuit

  • Classic Race

  • Ice Alaska 2009

    span style=”font-size:85%;”Final week of the ski season this week. It is nice to be back to full on winter. Anne and Owen family organized home stays for the entire CXC team which is really nice. I am staying with Hunter and Carole Judkins and have felt very welome and at home. I am continually impressed by the hospitality of the Fairbanks community. I took Sunday as a rest day and had a great time skiing with Hunter. We went out for a really nice dinner in Fairbanks then enjoyed the Ice Alaska displays and slides./span p align=”center”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rAv2_z3I/AAAAAAAAAIE/VfKDhLlhkWw/s1600-h/iceAlaska+019.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rAv2_z3I/AAAAAAAAAIE/VfKDhLlhkWw/s400/iceAlaska+019.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954026841558898″ border=”0″ //a/p p style=”font-style: italic;” align=”center”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0ry3cUrxI/AAAAAAAAAIs/mX1BHVbvuFI/s1600-h/iceAlaska+024.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0ry3cUrxI/AAAAAAAAAIs/mX1BHVbvuFI/s400/iceAlaska+024.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954887870623506″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”Our house in Fairbanks is great/span/p p style=”font-style: italic;” align=”center”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rA9ezQXI/AAAAAAAAAIk/dPjQRkuyKug/s1600-h/iceAlaska+053.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rA9ezQXI/AAAAAAAAAIk/dPjQRkuyKug/s400/iceAlaska+053.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954030498169202″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”King Kong/span/p p style=”font-style: italic;” align=”center”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rArWtc7I/AAAAAAAAAIM/CpYdzgs50Bk/s1600-h/iceAlaska+033.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rArWtc7I/AAAAAAAAAIM/CpYdzgs50Bk/s400/iceAlaska+033.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954025632396210″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”My favorite/span/p p style=”font-style: italic;” align=”center”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rzECa0gI/AAAAAAAAAI0/cPczxXtUpi8/s1600-h/iceAlaska+012.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rzECa0gI/AAAAAAAAAI0/cPczxXtUpi8/s400/iceAlaska+012.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954891251634690″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”Skiing with Hunter. Hunter hasn’t classic skiing in 10 yearsbr /but did great on a pair of my soft Salomons./span/p p style=”font-style: italic;” align=”center”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rA6FmtnI/AAAAAAAAAIU/5i8a5bc-muE/s1600-h/iceAlaska+016.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rA6FmtnI/AAAAAAAAAIU/5i8a5bc-muE/s400/iceAlaska+016.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954029587183218″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”Carole, Andre, Hunter, Scallops and Ahi/span/p p style=”font-style: italic;” align=”center”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rA0bRJwI/AAAAAAAAAIc/jYv8knkIjus/s1600-h/iceAlaska+035.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rA0bRJwI/AAAAAAAAAIc/jYv8knkIjus/s400/iceAlaska+035.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954028067432194″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”The Ice Slides were really fun/span/p p align=”center”a style=”font-style: italic;” onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rzUdJNGI/AAAAAAAAAI8/LzqIi2afN6I/s1600-h/iceAlaska+048.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M9ps8F85nS0/Sc0rzUdJNGI/AAAAAAAAAI8/LzqIi2afN6I/s400/iceAlaska+048.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317954895658693730″ border=”0″ //aspan style=”font-size:85%;”Gator/span/p p align=”left”span style=”font-size:85%;”Check out

  • US National Championships in Fairbanks, AK

    Brent Knight, James Southam, and Becca Rorabaugh each metaled in the 5k classic race. Results can be found here. Kikkan Randall (APU) tags Katie Ronsse (APU), while Maria Stuber (CXC) tags off to Caitlin Compton (CXC) in the 6×1.5k Sprint Relay event at the 2009 US National Championships. (Photo credit: Sam Harrel of the Fairbanks Daily News Miner). The team sprint was one of the hardest

  • Sugar, Snow and Puppies!

    a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy95h58vI/AAAAAAAAAeE/L5hbEfYTVSc/s1600-h/IMG_0146.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy95h58vI/AAAAAAAAAeE/L5hbEfYTVSc/s400/IMG_0146.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317892405246685938″ border=”0″ //aWe are right in the heat of one of my favorite times of year. This week we have explored two Forest Service Roads, had a team alpine day at Sugarbush North, boiled sap, found moose antlers, smiled a lot all while getting in some good, post-season ski workouts.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy39I00HI/AAAAAAAAAd8/gl8rPF_T1Dk/s1600-h/IMG_0149.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy39I00HI/AAAAAAAAAd8/gl8rPF_T1Dk/s400/IMG_0149.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317892303136018546″ border=”0″ //aThe cutest thing in the world…Welcome Tanner Halvorsen!br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy3vT5K5I/AAAAAAAAAd0/GJDcrrlbFgQ/s1600-h/IMG_0152.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy3vT5K5I/AAAAAAAAAd0/GJDcrrlbFgQ/s400/IMG_0152.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317892299424344978″ border=”0″ //aThe view from the lift at Mad River. MR will close this weekend as well as Sugarbush North. The skiing is good and just softening from the cold past few days.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy3fqC-3I/AAAAAAAAAds/o9XpG7ZnWG0/s1600-h/IMG_0159.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy3fqC-3I/AAAAAAAAAds/o9XpG7ZnWG0/s400/IMG_0159.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317892295222295410″ border=”0″ //aMr. Preston Butler and his proud booty. The funny part was that two guys left the trailhead just ahead of us with snowmobiles, snowshoes and camo…searching for antlers specifically. I had found a smaller antler two years ago up there, but I bet those guys don’t do as well as Preston.br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy3ZGJmvI/AAAAAAAAAdk/Pjxx5iCO0BA/s1600-h/IMG_0160.JPG”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3c1Nv5NLyNg/Sczy3ZGJmvI/AAAAAAAAAdk/Pjxx5iCO0BA/s400/IMG_0160.JPG” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317892293461121778″ border=”0″ //aOh yeah, like I said, smiles!div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1847564486460994594-7317845915463954241?l=gmvsxc.blogspot.com’//div

  • Team Sprint Article Links

    Click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE for a couple of good articles on yesterday’s team sprint competition at the U.S. National Championship.  Also, there are some photos HERE and full Results HERE.

    The 5K (women) and 10K (men) Classic races were held on Tuesday and the CXC Elite team had some impressive finishes.  Bryan Cook was the top CXC male skier in 7th place, while Caitlin Compton was the top female CXC skier in 5th.  Full results from the 5/10K Classic can be found HERE.  Tomorrow in the 15/30K Skiathlon race, while Sunday is the 30/50K Classic.

  • Dr. Strangeblood, I presume?  (AP photo)

    img src=”http://22.media.tumblr.com/COiZNt422ljpqik44h6PmZ1Io1_250.jpg”/br/br/Dr. Strangeblood, I presume?  (AP photo)

  • Bangkok Post Article on Austrian Dopers.

  • Time for Round 2

    This week has flown by.  My boyfriend, Drew, came to Minnesota on Saturday and just left this afternoon.  It was great to spend the week with him!  My leg is healing nicely, so we were able to do some touristy type activities around the twin cities.  We went to Mall of America, and expeienced pure terror on a ride designed to scare 3rd graders.  We also got to break a mental sweat at the Science Museum of Minnesota, and watch an educational movie in the omnitheater.  But most of all, it was great to have him here to spend some quality time together.

    Tomorrow morning I am going into the hospital to have my left leg operated on.  I’ll be spending the night at the hospital again, and heading back to my mom’s house to recover.  I’m so glad I only have 2 legs, and this will be the last surgery!!!!

  • By The Numbers

    262 800: Swiss francs Dario Cologna won in prize money
    227 000: Swiss francs Petra Majdic won in prize money
    11 215: Amount of prize money Alex Harvey won in only 10 races entered this year
    6 500: Amount of prize money Devon Kershaw won in 23 races entered this year
    2 659: World Cup points Norway beat Finland by to win the Nations Cup
    287: World Cup points that Alex Harvery collected this year in 10 races, 4 of them, the maximum points available was 50 instead of the usual 100.
    183: Male athletes that featured in the top 30 in World Cup races this year from 19 countries
    130: Female athletes that featured in the top 30 in World Cup races this year from 20 countries
    100: World Cup points Kowalczyk beat Majdic by for the overall title
    37: Overall placing Dario Cologna had in the 2007-2008 season
    36: Biggest volume week Kris Freeman put in this year in hours
    20: World Cup point difference between Piller-Cottrer and Cologna for the distance Crystal Globe
    11: More races Pietro Piller Cottrer entered than Ola Vigen Hattestad and still finished behind Hattestad in the overall title by 18 points
    10: World Cup sprint podiums Petra Majdic had this season
    9: World Cup podiums Axel Teichmann earned this season
    8: Overall World Cup placing for 20 year old Therese Johaug
    7: More individual podiums Aino Kaisa Saarinen had this year than the year prior
    6: World Cup sprints Ola Vigen Hattestad won this season
    5: Overall World Cup position for Lukas Bauer after being on the podium only twice this year
    4: Medals that Canadian men won this year
    3: Gold medals Petter Northug won in Liberec
    2: World Cup races Justyna Kowalcyzk failed to enter all season (out of 33)
    1: More year until the 2010 Olympics

  • By The Numbers

    span style=”font-weight:bold;”262 800/span: Swiss francs Dario Cologna won in prize money br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”227 000/span: Swiss francs Petra Majdic won in prize money br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”11 215/span: Amount of prize money Alex Harvey won in only 10 races entered this yearbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”6 500/span: Amount of prize money Devon Kershaw won in 23 races entered this year br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”2 659/span: World Cup points Norway beat Finland by to win the Nations Cupbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”287/span: World Cup points that Alex Harvery collected this year in 10 races, 4 of them, the maximum points available was 50 instead of the usual 100.br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”183/span: Male athletes that featured in the top 30 in World Cup races this year from 19 countriesbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”130/span: Female athletes that featured in the top 30 in World Cup races this year from 20 countriesbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”100/span: World Cup points Kowalczyk beat Majdic by for the overall titlebr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”37/span: Overall placing Dario Cologna had in the 2007-2008 season br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”36/span: Biggest volume week Kris Freeman put in this year in hoursbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”20/span: World Cup point difference between Piller-Cottrer and Cologna for the distance Crystal Globebr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”11/span: More races Pietro Piller Cottrer entered than Ola Vigen Hattestad and still finished behind Hattestad in the overall title by 18 pointsbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”10/span: World Cup sprint podiums Petra Majdic had this seasonbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”9/span: World Cup podiums Axel Teichmann earned this seasonbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”8/span: Overall World Cup placing for 20 year old Therese Johaugbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”7/span: More individual podiums Aino Kaisa Saarinen had this year than the year priorbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”6/span: World Cup sprints Ola Vigen Hattestad won this seasonbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”5/span: Overall World Cup position for Lukas Bauer after being on the podium only twice this yearbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”4/span: Medals that Canadian men won this yearbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”3/span: Gold medals Petter Northug won in Liberecbr /span style=”font-weight:bold;”2/span: World Cup races Justyna Kowalcyzk failed to enter all season (out of 33)br /span style=”font-weight:bold;”1/span: More year until the 2010 Olympicsdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5681647567099261892-8913813538734274469?l=nordicxplained.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div