From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
CANMORE, Alta. — Cross Country Ski de fond Canada’s Events Committee is pleased to announce the Sovereign Lake Nordic Ski Club in Vernon, B.C. will play host to the 2020 Canadian Ski Championships in March 2020.
Clubs throughout the area, including Sovereign Lake, Larch Hills in Salmon Arm, Telemark out of Kelowna and Kimberley along with Black Jack from the Kootenay’s and Revelstoke have continued to support high-performance racing programs over the last 10 seasons.
“Sovereign Lake Nordic has played a critical role in providing Canadian cross-country skiers access to snow early in the season as the anchor to our NorAm program,” said Dave Dyer, CCC’s events director. “It was time we finished the season off in the same style as we have become accustomed to every December by going back to the Vernon region for our national championships.”
Dyer added the Selection Committee was especially impressed with the evolution of the leadership group and dedicated staff at Sovereign Lake Nordic.
The premier event on the 2020 domestic race calendar will fall immediately after the World Cup Finals in Canmore, Alta., March 20, 2020.
Homologated in 2005 to meet FIS standards in preparation for the return of the FIS World Cup to Canada, the trails at Sovereign Lake will provide a variety of options for both senior and junior skiers at the 94th running of the Canadian Ski Championships event.
“SLNC last hosted the Canadian Ski Championships in 1995 making the 2020 Nationals Campaign the 25th Anniversary of that event. An annual stop on the Haywood NorAm circuit each December, hosting other world-class events such as the 2005 World Cup and 2011 World Masters Championships, SLNC is poised to once again welcome our country’s top athletes during these eight days of racing,” said Pat Pearce, Chair of the Bid Committee. “The Organizing Committee is excited to get to work on its tasks to host the 2020 Canadian Ski National Championships.”
Located just 22 km from downtown Vernon, and 50 minutes from Kelowna International Airport, at an elevation of 1667m, Sovereign Lake Nordic Club and Silver Star Mountain Resort together provide over 105km of daily groomed Nordic ski trails. Its high elevation, moderate winter temperatures, world-class grooming and outstanding early and late season ski conditions provide some of the best cross-country skiing in the world.
SLNC is the largest not-for-profit ski club in North America, founded in 1974, with backcountry skiing roots dating back to the early 1930’s. With over 1850 members and a thriving Youth and Master’s program of over 340, Sovereign operates a full-service facility with night skiing, large rental/retail shop and tuning services. We host over 29,000 visitors annually and offer a busy S’Cool Ski Program for more than 1700 local children across three school districts.
The 2019 Canadian Ski Championships will be held at the Nakkertok Nordic Centre, March 13 – 20, 2019. A two-day pursuit will lead off an action-packed week of domestic racing prior to the World Cup Finals slated for Quebec City.
Sovereign Lake Nordic Club is seeking a highly motivated and skilled coach available for full-time employment effective September 5th, 2017. This position offers an annually renewable contract with fair compensation package. The Club Coach position is not reliant on grant funds, offering stable and secure employment. Compensation is based on experience, abilities, certifications and track record of coaching athletes at a National Level.
Sovereign Lake Nordic Club offers the largest daily groomed network of ski trails in Canada (with partner SilverStar), is among the largest clubs in the province (with over 1650 members) and sits at a high elevation providing exceptional skiing conditions for 8 months a year. This past season, club members skied from October 14th through to June 4th on 100% natural snow. SLNC has an exceptional track record of hosting world class racing events including the 2011 World Masters Championships, the 2005 World Cup and annual NorAm.
Vernon, B.C., is a small city providing exceptional amenities with endless outdoor recreation opportunities taking place on three lakes, over 200km of hiking and biking trails, endless paved country roads and world class cross country and downhill skiing.
Resumes will be accepted until Sunday, August 13th. Please provide 3 industry references and 2 personal references. Click here for the Club Coach Job Description. For more information please contact Troy Hudson (SLNC General Manager) at (250) 558-8916 cell, or by email at troy@sovereignlake.com.
Emma Lunder (left) sharing the “Queen of the Mountain” title from Biathlon Canada’s summer “Testival” with Rosanna Crawford (right); Brendan Green was the “King of the Mountain”. (Courtesy photo)
Welcome to “17 Questions for 2017”, where we are catching up with American and Canadian national-team members before the beginning of the winter season.
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Canada’s Emma Lunder had her big break in 2014, when she finished 30th in her first-ever World Cup sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Now 25 years old, the Biathlon Canada “B” teamer has a few more World Cup starts under her belt, including a tenth-place relay result in Hochfilzen last season with teammates Julia Ransom, Megan Tandy, and Rosanna Crawford.
Lunder missed the cut for the first period of World Cup racing, finishing eighth (+1:30.4) and ninth (+43.7) behind Crawford in national team trials in Canmore in November. But then she has also jumped in a ski race, placing third in an 8.1 k Alberta Cup race behind American cross-country skiers Chelsea Holmes of APU and 2010 Olympian Caitlin Gregg of Team Gregg.
Lunder is set to start racing on the IBU Cup circuit Ridnaun, Italy, this week.
1. Biggest change in your life in the last five or so months since the ski season ended?
The Canadian women’s biathlon team with Anais Bescond of France (third from left), who joined them for a training camp this summer. (Courtesy photo)
The biggest change in my life since the ski season ended has probably been the amount of time I’ve been spending in Calgary. I’ve been heading into the city almost every weekend to spend time with my boyfriend (Christian Gow) and his amazing family. Since my family lives in Vernon and Yellowknife, it’s been pretty special to have a home away from home to relax and recharge at on the weekends.
2. Biggest change in your training?
I was really happy with the training I put in last year, so my approach this year was very similar. There haven’t been too many changes, but I’ve put a much larger emphasis on core work, which usually includes a pilates session every week, as well as trying to be better about rest and recovery.
3. Major areas of improvement you’ve seen so far?
This year I’ve put a lot of focus towards my shooting, and I think with something like shooting there’s always going to be more to improve, but so far I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve made.
4. Whom you’ve been working closest with this offseason (coaches or training partners)?
Julia, Rosanna and Sarah have been my closest training partners all season. We’ve definitely become a tighter group of teammates and friends, with another year of learning and understanding how we work best together.
5. Best trip in the last five months (and why)?
Emma Lunder and Christian Gow at a Biathlon Canada training camp in New Zealand this summer. (Courtesy photo)
Our team spent three weeks in New Zealand this summer, and it was an amazing experience. I loved being able to ski right from the door, come inside to an amazing meal, take a nap and do it all over again. Skiing on snow in August is always a perk.
6. Favorite cross-training?
Running! On rest weeks I love exploring new trails wherever I am (or old favorites, like the trails I grew up running on in Vernon). And nothing beats running with a dog – Rosanna’s dog Gonzo has joined us on more running workouts this year than I can count.
7. Favorite non-athletic activity or pastime this summer?
Reading! Last January a close group of my friends decided we’d keep track of how many books we read in 2016 and compare notes in the new year. I’m currently on book #39. Also, this summer I picked up some sourdough starter from my dad in Yellowknife, so twice a week Christian and I have the most amazing sourdough waffles for lunch.
8. Song that was your jam this summer?
Closer – The Chainsmokers. And basically anything country.
9. All time favorite race moment?
My 2nd place finish at the Canmore IBU Cups in 2015. Racing in Canada with my family and friends watching, PLUS my first ever podium was an unbeatable experience.
10. First thing you pack in your bag when you leave for Europe?
Canada’s Emma Lunder leaving the range en route to second place in Saturday’s 7.5 k IBU Cup sprint in Canmore, Alberta. (Photo: Pam Doyle)
My Kindle + one hardcover book. I love being able to turn real pages for at least a few days on tour.
11. Venue/event you’re most excited to visit this season?
The venue I’m most excited to visit this season is Hochfilzen, Austria. If I’m racing there in February it’ll mean I’ve qualified for my first ever World Championships, which has been a major goal of mine since I started my biathlon career.
12. Who will win the World Cup title this year?
Martin Fourcade and Rosanna Crawford!
13. Biggest sacrifice you feel you’ve made choosing this career path?
I know I’m extremely lucky to be following my dreams right now, but I fret about being a freshman at the age of 30.
14. If you could change one thing about your sport, what would it be?
I would eradicate doping. I think if we could erase any doubts about who is racing clean and who isn’t, biathlon would be pretty close to perfect.
15. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Homemade eggs benny and cinnamon buns! (Sunday morning breakfasts in Calgary are always the best)
16. In 5 years, I’ll be ____?
Beginning my 30’s.. and hopefully a career?
17. In 50 years, I’ll be ____?
Reading book after book to my grandchildren.
The women’s 8.1 k freestyle podium at the Alberta Cup in Canmore, Alberta, with winner Chelsea Holmes (c), of APU, Caitlin Gregg (l), of Team Gregg, in second, and Biathlon Canada’s Emma Lunder (r) in third. (Photo: annas4036/flickr)
Sun stretches over the hills during a cross-country lesson at Crested Butte in Colorado. The nordic center there is hosting its annual Crested Butte Nordic Thanksgiving Camp from Thursday to Sunday. (Photo: Xavier Fane)
We’ve been hearing about West Yellowstone since, well, the U.S. Ski Team officially started its annual Fall Camp there in 1978. But surely, Montana’s southern tip can’t be the only place to get on snow this time of year…
That’s why we provided a guide to Thanksgiving on-snow camp venues in the U.S. and Canada (we realize this week isn’t Thanksgiving in Canada, but we’re sticking to areas that offer skiing around this week in late November for all intents and purposes). If we’re missing an early season camp, we apologize — it’s a big continent — but let us know so we can feature that camp in next year’s guide.
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What:Yellowstone Ski Festival
Where: West Yellowstone, Montana
Each year, the Rendezvous Ski Trails see hundreds of skiers each day during the Yellowstone Ski Festival on Thanksgiving week in West Yellowstone, Mont.
When: Tuesday, Nov. 24, to Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015
How many years running? 20+
Target audience: Masters and beginners (clinics available for both), as well as elite racers
Endurance United team members get ready for a day of skiing during a morning run in West Yellowstone, Mont., at this year’s 2015 Yellowstone Ski Festival. (Photo: Gabby Naranja)
Anticipated participation: An estimated 4,000-5,000 skiers throughout the week. “It varies from year to year depending on the snow conditions and the snow level,” West Yellowstone Ski Education Foundation Program Director Moira Dow explained. “Because we’ve gotten snow early this year and good snow, we have been able to get the word out. Like right now the trails are packed. We will probably have a lot of people coming for longer periods of time.”
Advance reservation required? Racers must preregister. Trails are open to public; trail pass required.
Grooming report: Essentially everything is open. “It’s full-coverage skiing on good skis with full tracks,” Dow said. More details | Webcam
Green Mountain Valley School nordic skiers meet up during a ski on the Rendezvous Ski Trails this week in West Yellowstone, Mont. (Photo: Gabby Naranja)
What makes this camp unique? “The number of trails and the quality of snow that we have. We’re one of the few places in the country that does have consistent, early, good snow. In addition to that, we have a lot of industry participation. And we have great evening programs for people. We have not just skiing, we have the full package for everybody and anyone, from the beginner skier who wants to get out on the snow for the first time, to the SuperTour elite athlete who can train at high altitude, and good snow in the early part of the season.”
Special events:
U.S. Ski Team Development Coach Bryan Fish and the former vice president of Fischer Skis U.S. nordic division, Peter Ashley, will be featured speakers
Freebies: “Everything at the indoor expo at night is free. Anybody who has a trail pass can get into the outdoor demo area for free. In addition, on Wednesday and Friday night we have ‘après-ski’… [with] complimentary adult beverages and junior beverages, sledding, some music, and fun stuff like that. Just a little bit more of a party atmosphere after the sun goes down and before the expo opens.”
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What:Crested Butte Nordic Thanksgiving Camp
Where: Crested Butte, Colorado
The Crested Butte Nordic Thanksgiving Camp, now in its 14th year, is a fundraiser for Crested Butte Nordic, a nonprofit dedicated to getting people on the local trails. (Photo: Xavier Fane)
Skiing at Crested Butte Nordic in Colorado. (Photo: Xavier Fane)
How many years running? 14 as an official organized camp: “Crested Butte has really good and reliable early season snow so the Nordic Center decided we should try to get folks to come here and get some instruction from our great instructors,” said Drew Holbrook, marketing director for Crested Butte Nordic and the Grand Traverse ski race. “We also have a wonderful venue for early season nordic skiing and we’ve been fortunate enough to have been on-snow every year.”
Target audience: All ages and abilities, “from never-evers to master blasters looking to improve their technique,” Holbrook said. “If parents are skiing along with children, kids ski free. All kids 17 and younger get free passes and rentals. And, actually, all season long we do that — people 17 and younger ski free. At the Thanksgiving Camp we also do free kids clinics. So if a parent is taking a clinic, then they can have their kids taken care of all day.
Anticipated participation: Several hundred skiers on the trails throughout the long weekend. For clinics, projecting 75-80 participants.
Advance reservation required? Pre-registration recommended for clinics.Nordic Center trail passes available any time. Skiing at Lily Lake, a 10 k early season trail system four miles up Kebler Pass Road, is free.
Trail pass rates: $18/day, skiers 17 & younger ski free. $130 for a 10-punch transferable pass.
Grooming report: With about a foot of snow at the venue in town, “it’s looking like in-town skiing for the camp,” Holbrook said. As of Tuesday, Ruthie’s Run (5-kilometer loop at the nordic center and up on the bench) and Lily Lake (six miles west of town up on the pass) were groomed. “We’ll have over 10 kilometers of high quality skiing available,” Holbrook added. More details
Here’s a deal: Kids 17 and under enjoy free rentals, passes and clinics at the Crested Butte Nordic Thanksgiving Camp. (Photo: Xavier Fane)
What makes this camp unique? “As a non-profit, our mission is to get people out on the trails skiing. We are not making a ton of money off it,” Holbrook said.
“We just want people to come here and use our trails and make it affordable. A lot of people come back year after year and work with the same instructor. They get to know each other and get to know the other people that come into camp. So it’s definitely got this small feel to it, it’s kind of personalized.”
Special events:
For the first time, a race (on Sunday): 5/10 k freestyle + kids’ race with new homologated course on Ruthie’s Run. “It’s engineered, seeded, and mowed,” Holbrook said. “Due to the engineering, we are able to groom the race course with a lot less snow than we used to need. That enables us to count on having this race and count on have a good race venue close to town.”
Winter Kick-Off Party (Saturday night): Fundraiser for Crested Butte Nordic, tickets $30/adult,$10/children.
Wax clinic, nutritional talk and Nov. 25 is opening day at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, with free skiing all day.
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What: CXC Thanksgiving Nordic Festival
Where: Telemark Trails in Cable, Wisconsin
After three nights of blowing snow, CXC Thanksgiving Nordic Festival organizers were ready to groom the Telemark Trails in Cable, Wis., on Nov. 22. (Photo: Facebook)
When: Wednesday, Nov. 25, to Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015
How many years running? First year. “Our goal for the festival is to show the template to other communities, what it takes to make snow … to provide a business and operations template to other places around the Midwest so they can do these festivals in late November and then have a reliable loop for the winter,” CXC Executive and Athletic Director Yuriy Gusev explained.
A 1 k loop was made and groomed for the first-annual CXC Thanksgiving Nordic Festival in Cable, Wis. (Photo: Facebook)
Target audience: All skiers; open to the public
Anticipated participation: Based on the camp’s Facebook page, at least 75 plan on attending, and Gusev estimated that paired with a local turnout would amount to 200-300 skiers. “We don’t want to make it a big deal … just to show the community this is an opportunity to ski,” he said.
Advance reservation required? Yes, for clinics (instructed by Gusev on Friday, Saturday and Sunday).Trails open to public.
Trail pass rates: $50 season passes, good for the festival and the whole winter. Trail passes can be purchased at www.cxcskiing.org/skipass, Telemark condominium office and Cable Area Chamber of Commerce Office.
Grooming report: Skiing on a 1 k loop at Telemark started on Sunday: “Usually there’s no natural snow this time of year, so our plan was to make snow,” Gusev said. “It just didn’t get cold like it normally does.” Once temperatures finally cooled late last week, the snowmaking crew was able to work on blowing and laying out a 1-kilometer manmade loop, some of which will be used for the 2016 Junior Nationals sprint course. More details
What makes this camp unique? “Anytime you have early snow, you stand out. I think it can be a key component to have this … to provide a reliable base for the rest of the winter, especially for youth programs where the snow is critical and also for entry-level participants. We’ve seen already with the couple snowmaking areas in the Twin Cities how much impact these have on the ski industry and local ski shops. They’ve been able to actually do relatively well in snowless winters.”
Special events: Fischer Demo
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What: Snow Mountain Ranch Nordic Ski Camp
Where: Granby, Colorado
A November day at Snow Mountain Ranch, which opened for skiing earlier this month and remains open with 50 k groomed with a set track. (Courtesy photo)
How many years running? First time in recent years
Target audience: Beginner skiers to seasoned racers
Advance reservation required? Yes.
November skiing at Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, Colo. For the first time this year, a five-day camp was held for masters. It ended on Tuesday. (Courtesy photo)
Participation: Capped at 24. “Smaller is better from both a coaching and athlete viewpoint,” Snow Mountain Ranch’s Nordic Center Director Bill Pierce explained. In its first year with little marketing, the five-day camp attracted four athletes.
“It was really small, but it was great,” Pierce said. “It’s so early that people don’t expect there to be snow [when] it’s 60 degrees in Boulder. … We just want to put another option out there; a lot of skiers want to be on snow in early November and Denver is really easy to get to.”
Trail pass rates: $350 for the camp, includes all coaching sessions and day passes
Grooming report: 50 kilometers groomed and track-set. Snow Mountain Ranch started grooming Nov. 4 and opened for skiing on the 14th. According to Pierce, they have anywhere from a 4-5 inch base to 10 inches in some places. It was snowing there on Thanksgiving, with four inches of snow expected to fall today. More info | Webcam
What makes this camp unique? “This is the earliest masters camp in North America on-snow as a pre-Thanksgiving camp,” Pierce explained.
The idea was to run a masters camp similar to an elite or junior camp, with two-a-day sessions combining workouts and technique — all at 9,000 feet above sea level. The focus was on transitioning from dryland training to snow skiing, with an emphasis on technique and slow volume at high altitude.
With a small but mighty coaching staff (two of which are USSA certified), Pierce said the ability to work with athletes helps them set, understand and achieve skiing goals.
“We all speak the same language,” he said of the coaches. “You can go to a lot of places, and a lot of places you feel like you’re getting a lesson. There’s a difference between a lesson and coaching.”
“[This camp is] just another opportunity in the country to go skiing all day,” he added.
When: 2 1/2-day weekend and 5-day midweek camps (schedule):
A gaggle of skiers at a junior camp head out on the trails at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre on Nov. 14 in Vernon, British Columbia. Roughly 800 skiers took to the trails that day. Each winter, Sovereign Lake hosts a series of weekend and weekday camps, called SuperCamp. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)
Camp #1:Nov. 20-22
Camp #2: Nov. 23-27
Camp #3: Nov. 27-29 (with Pro-camp option)
Camp #4: Nov. 30-Dec. 4
Camp #5: Dec. 4-6
Camp #6: Jan. 15-17
Camp #7: Feb. 19-21
How many years running? 26 (The SuperCamp program started in 1989)
Target audience: All ages and skill levels from beginner to elite racer.
Advance reservation required? Yes.
Anticipated participation: Typically around 225 to 250 participants, hoping for 260 this year.
“In its heyday in the early ’90s [SuperCamp attracted] upwards of 400,” Sovereign Lake Nordic Center General Manager Troy Hudson explained. “We want to get back to those numbers by offering some great new initiatives like focussed Masters Pro camps for racers and more options such as the biathlon camps which are proving to be very popular.”
Trail pass rates: Dual area trail passes included in camp fee, ranges from $339 to $925 Canadian dollars per person (depending on length of camp, and half or full days). Pricing
VR40 blue-wax skiing on Nov. 16 at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, B.C. (Photo: Ryan Olson)
Grooming report: Sovereign Lake has 40 kilometers groomed and Silver Star has an additional 40 k open. More details (and webcam)
What makes this camp unique? “I’m often asked, what is Supercamp?” SuperCamp coordinator Shane Landreville wrote in an e-newsletter. “That’s a great question and because Supercamp offers so much more than a traditional ski lesson, it’s a difficult concept to explain and it’s difficult for people to wrap their heads around it. Quite simply, Supercamp is a Nordic experience.”
SuperCamp attracts top-level coaches, as many come from across Canada to get early snow before they start their season at home. Each camp includes lectures and lessons on waxing, how to build a training plan, and sports nutrition, as well as access to the national altitude training centre gym, and best of all, 105 kilometers of trails between Sovereign Lake and Silver Star — many of which are used for World Cup, NorAm, and World Master events.
With half- and full-day options, the camp is at an altitude of 1,600 metres (5,250 feet). Many of the accommodation options are on the nordic trails. You can ski or walk to restaurants and bars in the evening.
Biathlon camps are either five days long or a single afternoon, and a new Pro camp is more racing focused.
The Silver Star alpine area opened earlier this week, as did the separate Fat Bike trail system.
Special events:
Keynote speakers, a sports nutrition lecture, and wax clinics
Stretching classes, body pre-activation sessions, and for 5-day campers, two 30-minute massages. “Skiing for a solid 2 days or 5 days is tough, it really is, so taking care of your bodies is important,” Landreville wrote. “For our 5 day camps, you can also take part in the excursion to the spa and pools at Sparkling Hill Resort.”
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Also: Canada’s Early Season XC Venues
What: Frozen Thunder
Where: Canmore, Alberta
Fresh snow at the Canmore Nordic Centre: A n Olympic Legacy Venue now a regular host of Canadian based World Cups. (Photo: Pavlina Sudrich)
How much snow: Boreal Glide, a 2.5 k manmade loop, is open for both freestyle and classic. Course map | Weather
Good to know:
According to according to Julie Moffet, the regional operations coordinator at Forêt Montmorency, la Forêt is the only place in North America with cross-country skiing as early as Oct. 30 all the way to Easter in April.
No races or special events are scheduled, simply skiing and snowshoeing for all.
To reserve a room on the trails (with two single beds and a shared bathroom), with access to a cafeteria, two lounges with a fireplace, game room, auditorium, and wax room, visit http://www.foretmontmorency.ca/en/lodging/
Rosanna Crawford at the flower ceremony after achieving a career-best fourth in the Pokljuka IBU World Cup sprint last week. (Photo: Christian Manzoni/NordicFocus)
Some of the U.S. Ski Team members are starting to feel like themselves again, even after a couple crashes took Kikkan Randall and Sophie Caldwell out of contention in Sunday’s freestyle-sprint semifinals at the World Cup in Davos, Switzerland.
“It was a bummer to fall because the feelings were a lot stronger today,” Randall said after placing ninth. “I was just really happy that I felt more like myself today. You don’t realize how bad you were feeling until you start to feel good again.”
“I was just thinking, ‘Oh God, am I ever going to get back there this year, and how long is it going to take?’ ” Caldwell said after ending up 11th. “I’ve just taken big steps the last two weekends, and that helps a ton with my confidence.”
Liz Stephen placed 12th on Saturday in the 10 k freestyle in Davos, 4.9 seconds out of the top 10.
“Each weekend is a little bit of a step forward for me and that’s a fun way to go about it,” Stephen said. “I didn’t race as well as I possibly could have to get a top ten, so I’m happy with the way it ended up.”
Two Canadians made it into the heats on Sunday — Lenny Valjas and Jesse Cockney — and ended up 18th and 29th, respectively, which coach Tor-Arne Hetland found both promising and disappointing.
“When you’re starting in the heats, you want to be in the final,” he said.
“It feels awesome to finally get into the heats again,” Cockney stated after his first time in the World Cup top-30 since two seasons ago in Canmore, Alberta.
Then there was Rosanna Crawford, a Canadian biathlete who racked up four of her best IBU World Cup results over the last week. Following her fifth-place finish in the pursuit in Hochfilzen, Austria, two weekends ago, she placed fourth in the next race: the 7.5 k sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia. The next day, on Saturday, Crawford was seventh in the pursuit, then capped the weekend with 12th in the mass start to put herself a best-ever eighth in the overall World Cup.
“I am really happy with where I am heading into the Christmas break, only one race that wasn’t in the top 16,” she wrote in an email.
Her Biathlon Canada teammate Nathan Smith, also made the top-30 overall World Cup cutoff for the mass start, and in his second-ever time racing that format, he placed ninth.
“Mass starts are a lot different than pursuits. It’s nice to get one under my belt now and I hope to do a few more this season, too,” Smith reflected. “I’m very happy … and it’s a perfect way to cap off a strong trimester. It gives me extra motivation to rest up and train over the Christmas break.”
On Saturday, Canada’s Megan Heinicke rose from 41st to 14th in the pursuit.
“I kept that little voice in my head that was telling me this was an awesome race pretty quiet because I know how fast everything can change,” Heinicke explained. “I didn’t really believe it until after the last standing.”
Hannah Dreissigacker en route to her best IBU World Cup result in 17th in last Thursday’s sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.com.
US Biathlon’s Hannah Dreissigacker tallied a career-best 17th in the Pokljuka sprint, just ahead of teammate Susan Dunklee in 19th.
“Biathlon is so weird,” Dreissigacker said. “When things go badly, it’s so hard, and it’s hard to imagine that they would ever be good. And then a week later, somehow everything just goes much better. It’s such a roller coaster like that.”
At the IBU Cup in Obertilliach, Austria, Canada’s Scott Gow found his way onto the podium in the 10 k sprint last Friday, Audrey Vaillancourt was seventh in the women’s sprint that day, and Julia Ransom recorded a career-best seventh in the sprint last Wednesday. That same day, Gow’s younger brother Christian was “ecstatic” after placing eighth in the men’s sprint. To start the series off, Emma Lunder placed 10th in the 15 k individual last Tuesday, followed by Ransom in 11th.
“The whole Canadian team is only going to build on this momentum,” Ransom predicted in an email that day.
At the Nordic Combined World Cup in Ramsau, Austria, the U.S. placed fifth in the 4 x 5 k team event, and Billy Demong as the sole American to qualify for Sunday’s individual competition finished 32nd.
The NorAm made its second stop in Sovereign Lake, British Columbia, where 20-year-old Dahria Beatty of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) and Canadian U23 team won the women’s 15 k freestyle interval start and American Kris Freeman won the men’s 30 k by more than 1 1/2 minutes over Brian Gregg.
The day before, on Friday, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Rocky Mountain Racers) edged Alysson Marshall in the women’s classic sprint, and Patrick Stewart-Jones (AWCA) dominated the men’s sprint.
“I’m racing among a group of super strong and talented girls who I respect a lot, so I try to learn from them during the races, but I also try not to be intimated,” Bouffard-Nesbitt wrote in an email. “I didn’t leave anything out there today, I just went for it!”
Quiet serenity away from the stadium at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre on Nov. 9.
By Gerry Furseth
VERNON, B.C. – Both Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre and Silver Star Ski Resort had a ‘soft-opening’ for cross-country skiing on Thursday, Nov. 7. By Saturday, there were classic tracks and 75-kilometres of trails set. FasterSkier’s Gerry Furseth spent Saturday on the Sovereign Lake side, where 100 of some 1,700 club members picked up their season passes and 236 visitors bought day passes.
A popular place: the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre parking lot on Nov. 9, two days after opening for the 2013/2014 season.
Although most were local, skiers came from as far as Saskatchewan. A good collection from the neighboring clubs, Larch Hills and Telemark, made the roughly one-hour drive to kick off the season. About 15 skiers drove five hours from Vancouver, representing at least three of the coastal clubs.
To the East, Canmore has Frozen Thunder and about half of the national team. On the opposite side of the country, La Forêt Montmorency neighbours the epicentre of Québec skiing with another large group of national team members. Of the early skiing destinations in Canada, Sovereign Lake and Silver Star comparatively fly a little under the radar.
Like most nordic areas in the region, Sovereign Lake is operated by the local ski club. The day lodge staff and the track setters are paid, but a large amount of volunteer work makes the system and events possible.
There is a definite family feel with trails named for founding members (i.e. Wylie Loop, for Carl Wylie) and founder’s grandsons (Lars Taylor, a local star, long retired from racing). A photo of Matt Wylie racing at the Canmore World Cup last season is featured on the wall of fame, putting him one up on his cousin Alysson Marshall. A perennial NorAm destination, the club hosted World Masters in 2011 and hopes to bid for nationals in a few years.
Farther up the hill, Silver Star is a major alpine destination, known for champagne powder and 7 metres of annual snowfall. The resort maintains 50-plus kilometres of trails without a need for snowmaking. The main street of the village is groomed, but not set for classic.
A fun way to end a long day is to ski up to Long John’s and order a pint of liquid carbohydrates – local and organic, of course. The community has a mandatory gingerbread-house colour scheme, which sounds tacky but somehow looks great once the snow arrives.
For the last decade, skiers have stayed at Silver Star while racing at Sovereign Lake.
The dual-area pass is changing the way visitors see the area. Pat Pearce, the chair of Sovereign Lake Nordic, said “it has gotten much more popular … the idea of skiing across [to Silver Star], having lunch and skiing back.”
Larch Hills coach Brian May brought 50 juniors to the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre last weekend.
“We are in a real evolution and growth of the programs right now,’ said Sovereign Lake head coach Darren Derochie, who moved to the area in 1987 to try to make the Olympic team in 1988. He represented Canada at the 1992 Games.
“Our junior development program is around the two dozen range, whereas a few years ago we only had a handful of kids of that age,” Derochie explained.
The club executive and staff excitedly announced “mid-winter conditions on November 9th.” Seeking truth behind the claim, FasterSkier carefully inspected 15 k of the system, and while there were twigs sticking up through some of the trails, there wasn’t a single rock or dirty patch.
The classic tracks were good, but after two consecutive nights of heavy snowfall, it was a bit soft for skating in some areas. The end result of the two-hour inspection: “mid-winter” is a good description, as long as your idea of mid-winter includes heavy snowfalls. Don Wylie, part of the track-setting team, said a night of packing without new snow would get the skating lanes up to their usual standard.
Saturday night brought only 5 centimetres of new snow, allowing the track setters to catch up and create firm skating lanes. Another 15 k of trail opened Sunday, including Upper World Cup, which in this author’s opinion, is in better condition than the last five Decembers. For Furseth, this is the earliest ever switch from rock skis to race skis: most years he’s still on rock skis during early season NorAms. Classic was trickier Sunday, with a high of -2 degrees Celsius and some glazing in the tracks.
Some skiers end up at national training centres, but they certainly don’t start there.
Patrick Stewart-Jones of the Alberta World Cup Academy leads the way at the high point of the Upper World Cup trail at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre last week.
VERNON, B.C. – Sovereign Lake Nordic Center’s annual Summer Ski camp from May 10-19 attracted the usual collection of hard-core skiers, a mixture of teams and day trippers who need a last fix of snow before the inevitable arrival of summer. With neighbour Silver Star Mountain Resort gearing up for a summer of mountain biking, and the city of Vernon already in full-summer mode in the valley below, Sovereign’s weeklong camp is the last chance for set tracks in the region.
Canmore Nordic was the first group to arrive on May 10, with a four-day camp justifying the six-hour drive to Vernon. Another Canmore-based team, the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) arrived next for a seven-day, sleep-low (train-high) camp beginning May 12. Black Jack skiers trickled in for the final four days, and biathletes and Para-Nordic team members flocked to the snow-covered trails as well.
The week preceding the camp featured five consecutive days of temperatures at or about 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in the valley below and significant snow loss even at the 1600-metre low point of the early season trails. After four days of skiing and a major thunderstorm, the track setters shifted to a higher set of trails.
AWCA brought most of its athletes, including last season’s NorAm winners Emily Nishikawa and Michael Somppi, as well as Canmore World Cup top-15 finishers Jess Cockney and Phil Widmer, and perennial domestic podium contenders Kevin Sandau and Alysson Marshall.
“We are up here in the mornings for skiing a few hours at least and then we’re downtown [in Vernon],” said AWCA coach Mike Cavaliere. “We do some cycling, or running in Ellison Park, or go to the gym.”
While the team is expecting to return to crust skiing in Canmore, this camp was attractive for set tracks and the nearby low elevation (380 meters), with accommodation on a beach near the Ellison Park mountain biking area.
“Part of the goal is to let people enjoy summer,” Cavaliere said.
One day, the AWCA women got out their road bikes for a training ride to Marshall’s parent’s house in nearby Salmon Arm for lunch. The next day, the men rode from their lakeside accommodation to Silver Star Village – ascending some 1,200 metres – for their post-ski workout.
Former Canadian national team coach Dave Wood, now happily “retired” in Rossland, B.C., persuaded his small Black Jack team to drive five hours to start the new training season on groomed trails.
“We started skiing [in Rossland] in October, and they set track until April 27th,” he said.
And what about those masters athletes? Most stayed down in the valley, mostly for all the biking, mountain biking, running, rowing, and stand-up paddling recreational options. Skiers from at least four nearby nordic areas were spotted up at Sovereign, having driven by the summer alternatives to get here.
Despite the example set by the elite athletes, middle-aged journalists are simply not capable of skiing two hours in the morning and then running or biking in the evening for more than five consecutive days. Lesson learned. Or lesson not really learned, because it was so much fun.
Black Jack’s Julian Locke stops for lactate testing with coach Dave Wood while Michael Somppi (c) leads an AWCA train
Alysson Marshall (AWCA) striding into summer.
Phil Widmer (AWCA) during an L3 session at Sovereign Lake’s Summer Ski camp last week.
AWCA skier Emily Nishikawa (l) puts her head down under blue skies at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, B.C.
AWCA coaches Stefan Kuhn (l) and Mike Cavaliere stop for a photo opp.
The Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, British Columbia, is mourning the loss of one its employees, 26-year-old Jessica Rose Eaman, a staff member and club coach who died Friday, March 16, after behind injured in a single-vehicle accident the day before.
“Jessica gave back far more than she ever received from the few hours a week she spent in Sovereign Lake’s kids’ programs,” Sovereign Lake General Manager Scott Lemon told the Vernon Morning Star. “She would spend endless hours preparing and planning for the skiers, making sure their experience was comfortable and fun, and ended with a hug or a pat on the head to tell them how much she looked forward to seeing their smiles the next week.”
Weather and road conditions were considered factors in the accident.
Eaman will be formally remembered April 1 at 3:30 p.m. at the Schubert Centre in Vernon.
With the first two NorAm races of the season over and done, here are a few tidbits that didn’t make it into the recaps of the classic sprints and distance races from Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in British Columbia:
On coming back to Canada after racing overseas in the World Cup:
“Jet lag seemed to take a big grip on me for the first couple (days),” said Kevin Sandau, who returned about two weeks ago. “Normally when I get back from Europe it’s easy. I think because it’s midway through the season and I’m tired so it’s easier to get there. Now it’s like I get back in December and racing here hasn’t really started yet.”
At least there’s snow in British Columbia.
“(There’s) way more snow here than Europe,” Sandau added. “It’s nice to be able to warm up on a snow loop or ski on a 15 k loop.”
On Sunday’s distance course:
“I’m still trying to figure out what my strengths are. I’m not sure what my ideal course is in a classic, but I liked it.” — Jessie Diggins (CXC), 10 k winner
“I really like hills. There were quite a few out there.” — Kate Fitzgerald (APU), 10 k runner-up
“I think this course in general is really good for me. The altitude and the amount of climbs is kind of what my strengths are. I would say this course in general, I love it for skating but obviously for classic it worked out pretty well, too.” — Caitlin Gregg (CXC), third in 10 k
“This was a really challenging course. It’s a climb, I feel like for the whole thing. … I kind of just died in the second lap a little bit. It happens, but it’s all right. I feel like I need a little break.” — Jennie Bender (CXC), eighth in 10 k after placing fourth in Saturday’s sprints
“These hills, they just came at you. Every lap … you barely got a breather and then you were right back into it again. That said there was enough rest but you still had to be really smooth on the hills and not waste energy.” — Leif Zimmermann (Bridger SF), fifth in the 15 k
“The first two hills were really hard. This first hill, you pretty much climb from (the start) and you climb for, I don’t know, a ‘k’ and a half, just right off the bat. Wham.” — Reese Hanneman, ninth in the 15 k
“I tend to do a little better on a more double pole course. There was quite a bit of double pole in this, but there were a lot of hills. I was tired.” — Erik Bjornsen (APU/USST), 13th in the 15 k after placing third in Saturday’s classic sprint
“It’s a World Cup course so it’s hard. I normally would like this course but I didn’t have it today.” — Sam Tarling (Dartmouth), 32nd in the 15 k
On how a sprinter approaches a tough distance course:
“I just wanted to see how the body was. I started relatively conservative, just tried to build throughout the race. I had good skis.” — Phil Widmer (AWCA), 23rd in the 15 k after placing sixth in Saturday’s sprint
On the conditions for Sunday’s classic distance races:
“I think the classic skiing today was perfect. Fresh new snow, a little bit greasy in the track so they have to learn to kick the skis, so it’s fun.” — Erik Flora, APU head coach
“It was a little glazy out there so it was a little tricky I think to nail the kick, but my skis were fast.” — Leif Zimmermann (Bridge SF), fifth in the 15 k
On Saturday’s sprint:
“The course was really good. It’s a little bit soft, a little bit sugary, especially after all the rounds. It’s great having wide lanes, hard track like three tracks everywhere. They just do a great job here making the course nice and smooth.” — Mike Sinnott (SVSEF), who won the 1.4 k classic sprint
“When you have six guys with experience skiing together you’re pretty comfortable skiing in close quarters. I think as long as people aren’t being aggressive in places where there’s no need … there’s sort of some contact and people on your skis a little bit, but if you relax and pay attention to what’s going on (it’s fine).” — Brent McMurtry (CNEPH), second in the sprint
“The trails are amazing. They’re perfect, it’s some of the best skiing I’ve ever done.” — Sylvan Ellefson (Homegrown), eighth
On how good wax makes a difference:
“The skis were awesome. The coaches did a great job, good kick, good glide. It was perfect. Lots of good work out there.” — Kate Fitzgerald (APU), second in 10 k
“My teammate Karl (Nygren) had a really good race (Sunday) so I was pretty happy to hear that. … If you had the same wax on it’s like, ‘Oh, he’s having a good race and we’ve got the same stuff on.’ … We had some great skis today. Jason (Cork) and Gus (Kaeding) did awesome.” — Brian Gregg (CXC), seventh in the 15 k
On the significance of these races:
“The first sort of big, important race for me started (Dec. 4) with an Alberta Cup. These NorAms this weekend and next weekend are important for FIS regional spot and hopefully sort of see where my season takes me.” — Brent McMurtry (CNEPH), second in the sprint and 15 k
On racing in Canada:
“I really like it up here. It’s been beautiful, the weather’s been perfect. That really helps. Like in the sprints yesterday, you’re not freezing your butt off between the rounds so that’s always really nice.” — Jessie Diggins (CXC), who won both women’s races on Saturday and Sunday
“I love coming to Silver Star. I think it’s a great venue, great organization that puts on the races. It feels so good, oh my gosh it feels so good coming in (to lower elevation). I spend most of my time training down at sea level. I had one two-week training block (at altitude) the entire year. I’m pretty excited to even go down further.” — Caitlin Gregg (CXC), third in the 10 k and 11th in the sprint
“It’s just a good atmosphere. There’s so many trails and the course is always good and everything’s, I don’t know, its just fun.” — Rosie Brennan (APU), fifth in 10 k
“We’ve been here every year for the last five years. It’s one of my favorite places to come because the skiing is always really nice and the field is always really thick. It’s a great place to gain experience. And (Saturday) with all the rounds … everyone got to race a lot.” — Erik Flora, APU head coach
On how anyone could possibly manage placing fourth in five of the last six races:
“Karma.” — Matt Gelso (SVSEF), fourth in Sunday’s 15 k classic individual start
CXC racer Jessie Diggins (r) helps Kate Fitzgerald (l) of APU after the NorAm Cup women's 10 k classic individual start on Sunday at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, British Columbia. (Photo by Jesse Winter/JesseWinterPhotography.com)
VERNON, British Columbia — Before the Alaska Pacific University racers stepped onto the course at Sovereign Lake, many of them sensed what it felt like to win.
Their teammate and winner of Sunday’s World Cup freestyle sprint, Kikkan Randall gave them that feeling. While she won in Davos, Switzerland, the associated emotions resonated several thousands of miles to her APU counterparts in Silver Star, British Columbia.
Upon hearing the news that Randall and another teammate, Holly Brooks, broke the top 20 on Sunday, the APU skiers hooted and hollered and then prepared for their NorAm Cup races Sunday morning.
“Usually we end up waking up in the morning and checking for the results, so there’s kind of an excitement at breakfast,” said Becca Rorabaugh, who tallied a career-best distance result on Sunday of fourth in the 10 k women’s individual-start classic.
While the APU athletes didn’t get up early enough to watch the World Cup races live on Sunday, the results hit them all the same.
“Every morning we wake up and it’s like, ‘Yes, our team’s kickin’ it,’ ” said Rosie Brennan, who notched her best performance yet this season of fifth in the 10 k.
After Randall secured his second World Cup win in two weekends, the APU women nabbed three of the top five spots at the NorAm opening distance race. Kate Fitzgerald led the team in second.
“It’s so inspiring,” Fitzgerald said the APU women’s recent successes in Europe, including Sadie Bjornsen’s and Randall’s second-place finish in the team sprint last weekend.
“I’m so happy for them,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s like, I train with them. One of these day’s I’ll do that.”
She harnessed that motivation on the course, and paired with fast skis and some indirect tips from a competitor, Fitzgerald pulled off the solid NorAm finish. When Jessie Diggins, who wore the yellow leader’s jersey after winning Saturday’s sprint, passed Fitzgerald near 5 k, the runner-up responded by hanging on.
“(It) was really cool to see how she skis and how I can ski better,” Fitzgerald said. “I can’t remember where she ended up taking off, but, man, she definitely had some good speed there at the end.”
Pushing her top gear to the finish, Diggins crossed the line breathlessly. Once she regained some strength, she extended a hand to Fitzgerald, who had collapsed on the ground after finishing just behind her.
With the victory, in which Diggins clocked the fastest women’s time of 31:38.3, she sealed the weekend sweep. Fitzgerald was second (+56.7) and CXC’s Caitlin Gregg was third (+1:15.4).
“I like the individual starts because you have a chance to really push yourself,” Diggins said. “Sometimes in a mass start, people play games and kind of putz around … In an individual start, you have to hammer the whole way, which I like.”
Diggins burst out into a high-tempo race pace from the start, and found herself doubting her strategy at the top of the massive initial climb, about 1.5 kilometers in.
“I was going, ‘Man, maybe I took it out a little hard,’ but I just kept pushing,” Diggins said. “Eventually on the downhills you start to get a little more rest and you kind of work back into it. The course is cool that way.”
It might be pleasant to someone who liked hills — since there were several in the first half of the 5 k loop — and skied the course technically well.
According to APU head coach Erik Flora, his women did.
“I think all the girls have been training really hard and doing a good amount of preparation,” he said. “It shows on courses like this and you have to rely on fitness.”
Flora knew firsthand how his racers were doing as he called out splits on a hill in the women’s race. While most approached the inclines aggressively, few transitioned well about halfway through the climb. He noticed his APU women were among the minority.
Their smart skiing proved to Flora that they were filling in the gaps left by Brooks and Bjornsen. They raced at the Sovereign Lake NorAm Cup last year.
“It leaves kind of a younger, less experienced team and you see the girls are stepping up and making the next step forward,” Flora said. “So it’s really exciting.”
Another racer capitalizing off fond memories at Sovereign Lake, Gregg made the podium after placing second in the 10 k freestyle race there last year.
“It’s a fun place to ski,” Gregg said. “I get in my rhythm here and feel like I can carry my momentum all the way around.”
She did so in a way that likely annoyed her husband, Brian Gregg, who finished seventh in the men’s 15 k on Sunday.
“It’s always a competition, who does better for the day,” said Caitlin, who won honey, coffee and socks in addition to $150 Canadian dollars for her performance.
“Yesterday he didn’t get on the podium but he was higher than I was. That was a big deal,” she added. “Just a little rivalry, a maritial rivalry. It pushes us.”
After APU’s Rorabaugh and Brennan occupied fourth and fifth, Morgan Arritola of Sun Valley placed sixth in her first ski race since Nov. 26. She had since been in Hawaii, where she won the Xterra Trail Run World Championship on Dec. 4.
Saturday’s sprint runner-up Alysson Marshall of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) was seventh, and Jennie Bender (CXC) placed eighth.
Emily Nishikawa (AWCA) was ninth and Amanda Ammar (Canmore) finished 10th to kick off her comeback season. Two years ago, Ammar left the sport because of health troubles, and she reentered the scene by racing two events at the 2011 Canadian National Championships.
“Coming back to the sport, I can only do my best and see how it goes,” she said. “I feel like I have the fight back.”
Ammar said she left racing in part because her body could no longer endure the training grind. She gave it another shot last year and had enjoyed nationals.
“Racing is fun and you feel pain,” Ammar said. “And when you’re racing and you feel the pain, sometimes you’re like, ‘Oh my god, why am I doing this?’ But that’s why we do it. All of us are a little sick and twisted and like that pain.”
Jessie Diggins (CXC) bursts out of the start in the qualifying round of the NorAm Cup classic Teck Sprints at Sovereign Lake in Vernon, British Columbia. (Photo by Jesse Winter/JesseWinterPhotography.com)
VERNON, British Columbia — Throughout Saturday’s NorAm Cup Teck Sprints, Jessie Diggins made a point to look back.
There were a lot of things the current SuperTour leader and Central Cross Country (CXC) skier was working on, but keeping her distance ranked near the top.
“I’ve had problems where I’ll get stepped on or pushed over or something,” said Diggins, who claimed her second classic sprint victory in the 1.2 k event in as many races this season.
“It’s purely because I need to be looking more and be very aware of when someone is going to make a move,” she added.
So Diggins looked back several times — something she doesn’t typically do. It was OK because in every heat but the final, she was several seconds ahead.
In the ‘A’ final, Diggins edged Alysson Marshall of the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) after Marshall qualified ahead of her with the fastest time of 3:15.4. Diggins was seeded second, 0.8 seconds back.
“(Alysson) got me fair and square,” Diggins said of the qualifier. “She did a really good job.”
After finishing the first lap at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, Diggins felt she could have paced it differently.
“But that’s all right because then in the rounds, you get a couple chances to redeem yourself,” she said.
That’s assuming one advances through two heats to the final.
Heidi Widmer (AWCA) knew she’d have to tweak her race form if she wanted to make it. Unlike Diggins, she focused on looking ahead.
In the qualifier, where Widmer was 10th, her sights nearly cost her. As she crested a hill with a tight corner, she found herself trying to avoid disqualification.
“I was a little premature on the turnaround,” she said. “I caught myself before I was going to turn around too early. The barricade was farther back. It was stupid.”
The younger sister of Phil Widmer, who was sixth in the men’s sprint, she joked about being too eager to turn around.
The Canadian sprinter regrouped for the heats, advancing with Marshall all the way to the ‘A’ final. There, Widmer finished sixth. Andrea Dupont (Rocky Mountain Racers) was ahead in third in third, Jennie Bender (CXC) was fourth and Emily Nishikawa (AWCA) was fifth.
“I wanted to ski really aggressive and make sure I put everything on the line,” Widmer said. “That meant when I got to the line I was pretty bagged.”
She wasn’t the only one. Bender, who qualified in fourth, completed an interval workout with a few teammates two days before, CXC coach Jason Cork said.
“We had a big training week this week so, of course you want to race well, but I think the big focus is nationals,” Cork said. “They did, like, 50 minutes of Level 3 on Thursday so I expected no one to be like super, super, super poppy.”
A pole mishap prompted Bender to ski faster. About halfway through the quarterfinal, another racer stepped on her pole basket and it slipped off. She wouldn’t have been as frustrated if it didn’t happen just a few weeks before in a West Yellowstone sprint.
“I was like, ‘Seriously?’ I made sure they were tight,” Bender said. “Stuff happens like that once in a while.”
After dropping behind, she grabbed a spectator’s pole and pushed forward to win the heat.
“(I) just busted my butt to get back there,” she said.
While Bender lunged at the finish of the ‘A’ final, she wasn’t able to beat Marshall. She wanted to land in the top three, but said the performance was good preparation for the classic sprint at U.S. Nationals on Jan. 8.
“I felt surprisingly better throughout the heats,” said Bender, who qualified in fourth and ended up in the same spot. “As I went along, I kind of woke up more.”
Marshall was also pleasantly surprised with how her legs held up. She stepped off a plane less than a week earlier after racing World Cup sprints in Dusseldorf, Germany, last weekend.
That experience, in which she teamed up with Canada’s Dasha Gaiazova in the team sprint, proved valuable.
“I just wanted to take what I learned on the World Cup and bring it here,” Marshall said. “The speed of the girls there and realizing how much faster you have to go.”
With several weeks of international racing and training behind her, she felt like she was coming into form.
“I feel like I’m getting faster and getting into good race mode now,” Marshall said.
Rounding out the top 10 was Marlis Kromm (AWCA) in seventh, Kate Fitzgerald (APU) in eighth, Kate Brennan (AWCA) in ninth and Alana Thomas (Nakkertok) in 10th.
Mike Sinnott (SVSEF) reenacts his Tim-Tebow finish pose after winning the men's 1.4 k sprint at the NorAm Cup opener in Sovereign Lake, Vernon, British Columbia. (Photo by Jesse Winter/JesseWinterPhotography.com)
VERNON, British Columbia — As six men threaded the underpass and burst into the stadium at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, Canadian Brent McMurtry and American Mike Sinnott sent spectators running toward the finish.
The men’s ‘A’ final of the 1.4-k classic Teck Sprints at the NorAm Cup opener Saturday was shaping up to be a close one, and who wanted to miss that?
As he crossed the line just ahead of McMurtry, Sinnott knew he had won and gave those close enough something else to look at. The Sun Valley racer dropped to one knee, put his elbow on the other and rested his head on his fist.
This was “Tebowing:” a salute, or rather means of poking fun at the Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. Chances are the Canadians had no idea what he was doing.
“Mike just Tebowed across the line,” exclaimed Sylvan Ellefson of Team Homegrown as he ran to congratulate him.
“We’ve been making fun of it for a while,” Sinnott said of the fad, in which people post pictures of themselves doing the pose in random places.
As far as they knew, no one had done it in a cross-country ski race.
“We thought whoever finally had a win in a mass-start race had to Tebow,” Sinnott said.
“He’s a pioneer, I would say,” Ellefson said with a smirk.
Tebowing aside, Sinnott as the current SuperTour leader broke new ground with his first victory in Canada.
“It’s nice to know that I have some good form in the rounds heading into U.S. Nationals in a couple weeks,” he said of the Jan 2-8 races. “I had a lot of energy. I don’t feel necessarily like I had my top gear, but I was holding my energy well through the rounds.”
The third-fastest man in the qualifiers, Sinnott ended up in the favorable inside lane at the start of the final and used his positioning to power by the No. 2 qualifier, McMurtry.
A member of the Pierre Harvey National Training Center and national team, McMurtry didn’t have time to react. He had made a point to focus on transitions throughout the heats, but Sinnott snuck up on him.
“For me, a little bit of a weakness in sprinting is the finishing stretch,” McMurtry said. “I was feeling good and I could feel him get around me. We were side by side and … my technique fell apart a little bit and I collapsed a little bit.
“The difference of a couple tenths of a second,” he added. “It doesn’t take a whole lot.”
Erik Bjornsen of the Alaska Pacific University (APU) squad placed third for his best result in Canada, by far. At the same venue in 2009, the U.S. Ski Team member was 32nd in the 1.1 k freestyle sprint qualifier.
“I wanted to get a podium,” Bjornsen said after qualifying for the heats in seventh.
To do so, he capitalized on the “stair-step hill” he considered one of the most important parts of the course. By taking the outside lane on the hairpin corner at the top, he was able to block his competitors throughout the heats and make it to the ‘A’ final.
For clocking the third-fastest time of all the finalists, Bjornsen received $150 dollars. Prize money trickled down to fifth place ($75 dollars) and awarded winners $300 dollars. Runners-up on both the men’s and women’s sides received $200 dollars.
In his first year in the senior men’s division, Patrick Stewart-Jones, of Nakkertok and the Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA), was fourth.
“This was his first time in the ‘A’ final,” AWCA coach and 2010 Olympian Stefan Kuhn said. “(And) he’s a first-year senior, which is hugely impressive.”
Success like his stems from older teammates, Kuhn said. When AWCA skiers like Phil Widmer and Jesse Cockney have great days, it affects the younger athletes.
Coming off a victory in the Alberta Cup sprints last weekend, Cockney qualified in 20th and ended up ninth on Saturday. An early favorite at Sovereign Lake, Widmer posted the top qualifying time and dominated the rounds. He ultimately placed sixth, and attributed the result to a last-minute mix up.
“The start guy, he screwed up the start order, so he called me in sixth and I kind of got flustered,” Widmer said. “So I grabbed my skis — which were my warm-ups — and went to the start line. And then I did a lap on my warm-up skis.”
While he wished he could redo the final, Widmer said he was pleased with his performances in the three heats and qualifier.
“I was in the front for most of the heats I was in and I think Sinnott skied the final really smart,” he added. “He was controlled until the end, when he needed to be fast so he was able to get the victory. All the credit to him.”
Central Cross Country (CXC) skier Karl Nygren churned out a career-best fifth in a sprint.
“I was pretty stoked (for) Karl… really stoked,” said CXC head coach Jason Cork. Nygren had previously placed eighth in a 1 k classic sprint in January.
“I felt good in the final stretch each time; that was nice,” said Nygren, who was 10th in Saturday’s qualifier and made it to the semifinals as a lucky loser by time.
“I was able to close it down a couple times and speed by,” he said.
Reese Hanneman (APU) was the sixth-fastest qualifier and finished the day in seventh after a rough go in the semifinal.
In a tight semifinal, Hanneman said he stumbled on some else’s poles between his legs and had to play catch up to finish third in the heat. That put him in the ‘B’ final, which he won just ahead of Ellefson.
“It’s a little weird being … not (a sprint) specialist but a sprint-er, and feeling a little uneasy about heats,” Hanneman said of the first sprint heats of the year for many Americans. “You want to just remember everything you know from skiing heats. It’s totally a different race from skiing a prelim. It’s important to try to get that feeling of skiing fast.
“There’s so much that can happen,” Hanneman added. “I mean your whole race depends on five other people and what they do.”
Ellefson, who was eighth overall, was fourth in the qualifier and a lucky loser in the quarterfinals. Endurance had been the plan all along, he said.
“I was thinking, as long as I was in that top three (in the first round) … I would move on,” he said.
In the semifinal, he found himself in a tough spot as the fourth man on one of the final climbs.
“Unfortunately, I got a little pinched out,” Ellefson said. “The ‘B’ final was good. I kind of just stuck in there behind Reese. Reese was skiing fast and we were battling it out to the finish.”
The fifth-fastest qualifier, Torin Koos of the Bridger Ski Foundation finished 10th.
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![Sun stretches over the hills during a cross-country lesson at Crested Butte in Colorado. The nordic center there is hosting its annual Crested Butte Nordic Thanksgiving Camp from Thursday to Sunday. (Photo: Xavier Fane)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/CB-Nordic-4-e1447710079470.jpg")
![Hundreds of skiers took to the Rendezvous Ski Trails on Tuesday in West Yellowstone, Mont.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/IMG_0369.jpg")
![Athletes get ready for a day of skiing during a morning run in West Yellowstone, Mont., at this year's 2015 Yellowstone Ski Festival. (Photo: Gabby Naranja)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/IMG_0138.jpg")
![Green Mountain Valley School nordic skiers meet up during a ski on the Rendezvous Ski Trails this week in West Yellowstone, Mont. (Photo: Gabby Naranja)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/IMG_0165.jpg")
![The Thanksgiving Camp is a fundraiser for Crested Butte Nordic; a non-profit dedicated to getting people on the local trails. (Photo Xavier Fane)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/CB-Nordic-3.jpg")
![Skiing at Crested Butte Nordic in Colorado. (Photo: Xavier Fane)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/CB-Nordic1.jpg")
![Here's a deal: Kids 17 and under enjoy free rentals, passes, and clinics. (Photo Xavier Fane)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/CB-Nordic-5.jpg")
![After three nights of blowing snow, CXC Thanksgiving Nordic Festival organizers were ready to groom the Telemark trails in Cable, Wis., on Nov. 22. (Photo: Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/12278774_1031395940236479_7949141002265399855_n.jpg")
![A 1 k loop was made and groomed for the first-annual CXC Thanksgiving Nordic Festival in Cable, Wis. (Photo: Facebook)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/12274223_1032411313468275_2726795297016171275_n.jpg")
![A November day at Snow Mountain Ranch, which opened for skiing earlier this month and remains open with 50 k groomed with a set track. (Courtesy photo)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/Nordic-Center.jpg")
![November skiing at Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, Colo. For the first time this year, a five-day camp was held for masters. (Courtesy photo)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/NordicSki.jpg")
![A Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre board member checks out the trails on Nov. 21. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/IMG_0463.jpg")
![A gaggle of skiers at a junior camp head out on the trails at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre on Nov. 14 in Vernon, British Columbia. Each winter, Sovereign Lake hosts a series of weekend and weekday camps, called SuperCamp. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/IMG_0448-e1448552216419.jpg")
![VR40 blue-wax skiing on Nov. 16 at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Vernon, B.C. (Photo: Gerry Furseth)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/20151116_101327.jpg")
![Crawford at the flower ceremony. Photo: Christian Manzoni/NordicFocus.com.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/18.12.2014Rosanna-Crawford.jpg")
![Hannah Dreissigacker en route to 17th place in the World Cup sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, today. Photo: USBA/NordicFocus.com.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/Dreissigacker18122014cm133.jpg")
![Less crowded away from the stadium at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre on Nov. 9.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/IMG_2134_Less-crowded-away-from-the-stadium.jpg")
![A popular place: the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre parking lot on Nov. 9, two days after opening for the 2013/2014 season.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/IMG_2133_Popular-place.jpg")
![Larch Hills coach Brian May brought 50 juniors to the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre last weekend.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/IMG_2146_Coach-Brian-May-brought-50-kids-from-the-Larch-Hills-Club.jpg")
![Some skiers end up at national training centres, but they certainly don't start there.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/IMG_2147_Skiers-end-up-at-National-Training-Centres-but-they-dont-all-start-there.jpg")
![Patrick Stewart-Jones of the Alberta World Cup Academy leads the way at the high point of the Upper World Cup trail at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre last week.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/05/Patrick-StewartJones-leads-the-way-at-the-high-point-of-the-Upper-World-Cup-trail..jpg")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Sovereign-Lakes-Day-2-63.jpg" "Jessie Diggins, Kate Fitzgerald")
![NorAm Cup, Classic Sprint](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Jessie-Diggins-2.jpg" "Jessie Diggins")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2011/12/Sovereign-Lakes-301.jpg" "Mike Sinnott, Sovereign Lake")