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3rd Annual Sovereign 2 SilverStar Ski Marathon 2024: Exciting finishes, many winners, great season finale

Sovereign 2 SilverStar — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:58:58 +0000

Video Credits: Sovereign 2 SilverStar Ski Marathon

April 6 & 7 was a winning weekend for Nordic skiing in North America. The Sovereign 2 SilverStar Ski Marathon (S2S) reminded us that late season snow and great conditions are still possible!

The 2-day event featured two distances (21k and 40k), two ski techniques (Classic and Skate), co-hosted by two world-class venues – Sovereign Lake Nordic Club and SilverStar Mountain Resort.

Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon 2024. (Photo: S2S / Vanessa Garrison)

The S2S attracted over 600 participants and 830 race entries. Skiers ranged from 6 to 83 years and came from all over North America and as far away as Switzerland and Australia.

Everyone was treated to some exciting finishes (including one that was to 100^ths of seconds!), the highest number of young skiers ever participating, and many smiles!

The S2S doled out many prizes – to those who skied and to those who joined in a festival of fun, with a Movie Night, live music, discounts from S2S sponsors and a Silent Auction. The Silent Auction raised $12,300 for KidSport Vernon, the S2S partner charity that provides grants for kids who may otherwise miss out to play a season of sport.

Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon 2024. (Photo: S2S Vanessa Garrison)

Prize money for the Club Championships – a competition based on participation and distance traveled – went three deep this year. Congratulations to Montana Endurance Academy ($2,000), Space Dogs Nordic ($1,000) and Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club ($500). Another $500 was won by Black Jack Ski Club for the Best Club Story about increasing participation in Nordic skiing, including in the S2S.

S2S Classic Race 2024. (Photo: S2S / Tor Nenzen)

Beautiful wooden plaques were awarded to the top 3 overall females and males in the Pacific Northwest Loppet Series; a series that combines events from the Columbia River Valley, the Callaghan Valley, the Methow Valley and the Okanagan Valley. Top 3 overall women: 1^st Barb Riley, 2^nd, Daphne Brown, 3^rd Suzanne King. Top 3 overall men: 1^st Dave Riley, 2^nd Clark Shipka/ Mikhail Kudienko, 3^rd Geoffrey Wasteneys.

Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon 2024. (Photo: S2S / Vanessa Garrison)

Top 5 overall winners in the 40k distance received prize money, and 6^th, 7^th and 8^th received one free race entry for next year. Medals were awarded to the top 3 overall finishers and by age group for the 21k and 40k distances, Classic and Skate. Congratulations to all who finished and all who placed. Final results are available in Zone4. Below are the top 3 overall winners for each distance, ski technique and gender.

Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon 2024. (Photo: S2S / Vanessa Garrison)

Saturday Classic: 21k Males 1^st Zibi Cieplak, 2^nd Heron Land-Gillis, 3^rdHamish Woodman. Females 1^st Fiona Woodman, 2^nd Annika Heale, 3^rd Annika Vipler. 40k Males 1^st Xavier McKeever, 2^nd Tom Stephen, 3rd Max Hollman. Females 1st Hannah Mehain, 2nd Anna Sellers, 3^rd Dasha Atkins.

Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon 2024. (Photo: S2S / Vanessa Garrison)

Sunday Skate: 21k Females 1^st Fiona Woodman, 2^nd Emelie Kvick, 3^rd Lisa Johannesen. Males 1^st Odin Berryman, 2^nd Hamish Woodman, 3^rd Jake Ulansky. 40k Females 1^st Amanda Butler, 2^nd Anna Sellers, 3^rd Katya Semeniuk. Males 1^st Tom Stephen, 2^nd Max Hollman, 3^rd Xavier McKeever.

Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon 2024. (Photo: S2S / Vanessa Garrison)

The S2S 2024 Photo Gallery is live, with hundreds of photos that are all free to download^*, and a 2-minute event video that’ll make you want to sign up for next year already! 2025 dates will be available soon at www.sovereign2silverstar.com

Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon 2024. (Photo: S2S / Vanessa Garrison)

Starting out on the St. Croix: What High School Skiing Taught Jessie Diggins

Ben Theyerl — Wed, 17 May 2023 19:38:14 +0000

The Stillwater Area High School Girls team celebrates on the steps of the Giant’s Ridge chalet after a State Championship in 2018. (Photo: MSHSL Archives)

It was, “a race people still talk about,” said long-time Stillwater Area High School Coach Bill Simpson when FasterSkier interviewed him in February.

Distinctive red and white letterman jackets looked on from the stadium, medals clanging from the giant “S” insignias in the cold Iron Range wind. Giant’s Ridge, just outside of Biwabik, looked like the Hoosiers Field House if the janitor had forgotten to turn the heat on. A pairing of two future stars of the sport, Annie Hart and Jessie Diggins, sprinted to the finish of the Minnesota State High School State Nordic Ski Meet side-by-side. Diggins gained an edge, and her teammates joined one-by-one behind as the result became clear and the jubilation began. The Stillwater Ponies won the Minnesota High School State Nordic Ski Championships for the ninth time in program history, the most of any Girl’s program in Minnesota State Meet history.

Thirteen years on from her State Meet win, Jessie Diggins became the first American to win an individual World Championship in cross-country skiing. In the wave of adulation from the traditional European skiing world that followed, observers honed in on the two defining characteristics that Diggins has made her signature approach to skiing: 1) a complete focus on the success of her team and 2) her ability to push deeper than any other athlete in the sport. Or, as US Ski Team Program Director Chris Grover characterized it, the recognition that 1) “[The Americans are] a team having fun and enjoying the process” and 2) the “[other side], you see [Jessie] suffering. You see the tempo, pushing so, so hard.”

For Diggins, how she pushes and who she pushes for have been connected in her skiing from the beginning. The characteristics that led to an American landing on top of a World Championship podium were forged in an arena unique to American skiing—Minnesota high school skiing, with its over two-thousand yearly participants.

In a pre-World Championships press conference in February, Diggins said shooting for the team title of Minnesota State Champions with her Stillwater teammates “was the first time that I broke through that first level you push to in racing. I went, ‘Oh my God, there’s so much more in my body than I ever realized, and I can do this.’” For her, there was a traceable line from Giant’s Ridge to Planica, Slovenia, “having to figure out how to allow myself to care as much about my own races as I would care about my teams.” Still today, Diggins adds, “put my teammates at the finish line, and it all comes out.”

In high school skiing, said Bill Simpson, “the golden rule is not to turn anyone away.” In Stillwater, and in the High School circuit it races, there is an emphasis on accessibility and the absolute power of teamwork which serves as a grassroots source for what the wider-world of skiing is recognizing as American skiing’s signature qualities: the importance of teamwork, of celebrating the competitors as much as the competition itself, and of pursuing the experience of ski racing as much as the competition.

Today, high school circuits face the ever-evolving challenge of balancing tradition and that “golden rule” of accessibility, all while pushing forward with more skiers than ever.

Tradition in the North Star State

The Minnesota High School State Meet has been held every year since 1939, making it the oldest continuously running cross-country ski race in the United States. The tradition was a confluence of the state’s particular melting pot last century, when the Scandinavian diaspora saw many pioneers of the modern ski sport immigrate to the Midwest. For generations of Minnesotans (before the Vikings started playing Football), the popular way to pass a Sunday afternoon was at the foot of a ski jump. All it took was a Duluth boy named Billy Anderson approaching his physical education teacher to get a high school league formed, and from 1933 on, the Minnesota State Nordic Ski Meet has been held. Cross-country skiing, second in popularity to ski jumping as a nordic skiing discipline early on, was added permanently after 1938. For a full history of this nascent period, read Ryan Rogers’ extensively researched history of skiing in the state, Winter’s Children.

Bill Simpson started coaching the Stillwater Ponies in the mid-70s. Simpson, a teacher in Marine on St. Croix, was recruited to coach the first Stillwater High School Girls’ Team after Title IX was passed in 1972 and showed up to his first State Meet in 1975. “Even after Title IX, girls still weren’t allowed to ski jump in high school competition,” said Simpson. That ultimately led to the Nordic Ski State Meet becoming a cross-country only affair after 1977 and marked the start of the rapid development of the sport thereafter.

Simpson quickly went on a recruiting drive when the Girls team was added, grooming trails right around the Marine on St. Croix elementary school that allowed kids to stick around after school and hop on skis. Keeping the barrier to entry low paid off. When that group of Marine on St. Croix elementary schoolers reached Stillwater High School in the mid-80s, they would enjoy an unrivaled stretch of success, winning the State Team Championship every year from 1982-1987.

The star of those Stillwater Ponies teams was Kris Hansen. Hansen would win the State Meet individually in 1985 and 1986, which coincided with a rapid shift from classic to freestyle skiing, “In 1985, everyone was still classic skiing, with some marathon skate thrown-in. In 1986, everyone was skate skiing,” Hansen wrote to FasterSkier in February. Hansen was a sophomore and junior during her ’85 and ’86 triumphs, and contributed to the last of Stillwater’s mid-80s team title in 1987 while being ineligible to win the individual title after missing qualifying to compete at World Junior Championships. That unfortunate rule would lead to a fortunate lesson: “Competing that year taught me the absolute power of being part of a team,” Hansen said. “There was constant thinking on how to strengthen our collective performance and achieve that group goal [of a Team title].”

For Hansen, the lessons learned became the core of the philosophy around which she would structure the Stillwater team when she returned to coach it in the late 1990s. Her old coach, Bill Simpson, was still around, and fostering local kids’ love of skiing from an early age. Then and today, the Stillwater program fluctuates between 100-200 skiers on its roster at a time. It rivals the biggest club programs in the country, while drawing from a stretch of hilly bluffs and Twin Cities exurbs alongside the St. Croix river. It is one of the larger programs in Minnesota, but is also just one of 94 school districts in the state that sponsor a high school program. The sum total of high schoolers racing in Minnesota every year is over 2000. Programs stretch from small Iron Range towns to downtown Minneapolis, with skiers putting on skinny skis in just about every topography Minnesota has to offer. Golf courses, woodlots on the back forty, one of those 10,000 lakes or the shores of a one so big they called it Superior; you’re likely to find ski tracks on any of them when the winter hits. It’s what Hansen calls “the magic of the high school program: you don’t need to come from a ski family to learn and grow as a skier here.”

Accessibility, Community, Teamwork: the High School Skiing Ethos

In Stillwater, and other programs like it, the tradition of high school skiing forms a feedback loop that continues today. “We had a community where young people had mentors their own age,” Hansen said. “And then, the opportunity to become mentors for others. Everyone feels their value in a place like that.”

Hansen’s approach helped build another Stillwater Team Champion team in 2008, and then again in 2010, with Jessie Diggins leading both efforts. Her personal highlight as a coach, though, would come eight years later. “Both of my twins skied at the State Meet as team captains, Hansen remembered. “My daughter’s team won and my son’s team was runner-up. And then Jessie and Kikkan won their Gold; February 2018 is hard to beat.”

It was a moment of clairvoyance for what had powered US Skiing to an historic milestone. High school skiing is an outlier in skier development models across the world. It is a kind of inherited relic from when American culture intersected the Scandinavian diaspora early last century in the Midwest. But its key ethos is something that remained all the way through to Pyeongchang. A basis in community, a commitment to accessibility, and a unique emphasis on the power of team in an individual sport: high school skiing had been informing decades of US skiers, and now one of them, Jessie Diggins, had taken it, leaned in, and propelled herself and her teammates to the top of the sport. Hansen could celebrate on the terms by which she defines the sport of skiing: one member of her team stood atop an Olympic podium with a medal, another generation was learning simultaneously back in Minnesota. Her ski community was still growing, still pushing, still welcoming more young athletes to try skiing, and then emphasizing working together once they were on there.

Five years on from the Pyeongchang gold medal, Diggins is still forging new paths for American skiing, while her approach to the sport has become a grounding for an entirely new generation on a nation-wide scale. Aside from winning an individual World Championship in Planica, she also teamed up with Julia Kern to help win a bronze for the US in the Team Sprint, helping Kern become the first American athlete of the next generation of US skiers to win a World Championship medal. In a pre-race press conference, Diggins was as attentive to her teammates strengths as ever, emphasizing her trust and her admiration for Kern’s “fitness, her distance chops, the raw speed, the tactics, the confidence, and her ability to also just dig, all out, for the team. That above all, is what is really special about our team.”

The Challenges of Keeping “the Magic Power” Intact

Stillwater High School skiers during practice in 2019. (Photo: Brian Peterson)

For the country’s oldest ski circuit, change has always been a feature rather than a bug. Those changes have almost always included debates on how to keep the accessibility of high school skiing open, while preparing skiers to compete in the sport of cross-country skiing at its highest level. “There has always been a weird spot where the top athletes here are some of the top athletes in the country,” said Simpson. “There is something cool about that though, too; we have athletes in Norway one week, and then back at their Section race the next. How many high school sports is that happening in?” In the past, balancing a sport with an international outlook has meant cutting ski jumping from the Nordic ski program, adding classic skiing back into the sport after it was abandoned in the late 1980s, and adopting a pursuit format for the State Meet. Presently, though, the biggest challenges in keeping community-based Minnesota high school strong are the shifting demographics of the Gopher State’s communities, themselves.

“For a long time, there were new programs every few years, but that’s not so much the case anymore,” said Simpson. “And the schools in the [rural] northern part of the state are increasingly putting co-ops together” in order to try and keep their numbers on a similar scale to the Twin Cities schools, where participation in cross-country skiing has exploded during the pandemic. The trend highlights a long-rooted dynamic between more rural programs from the state’s varied rural landscapes and the Twin Cities metro area.

That rural-metro divide is also one that is increasingly colored by another distinct phenomenon: the rise of club skiing in the Midwest. Long a fixture of Western junior circuits, club skiing was a relatively small component of junior skiing in Minnesota, and in neighboring Wisconsin and Michigan, until a generation ago. Since then, big programs such as the Twin Cities’ Loppet Nordic Racing, which currently holds the title of Best Club in the country at Junior Nationals, have increasingly become home for high school athletes with a year-round focus on ski training, and from across a wide swath of communities that once trained in their own, distinct programs. “I worry about the club culture,” said Hansen. “For me, the feature of the high school program is that you don’t need to come from a ski family, and you don’t need to have a huge bank account to learn and grow as a skier and as a member of a team.” In contrast to the no-fee or modest fee structure most high school programs have traditionally had, club ski programs in the state can cost a family anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars in yearly registration fees (many do offer scholarships to offset costs for families). Many deliberations from the Minnesota High School Coaches’ Association over the past decade have allowed a hybrid model to emerge in the state, where athletes often race and belong to both a club and a high school program. “That is a tricky balancing act always” said Simpson, but also “One that makes the best out of the realities that people are willing to invest in skiing.”

Logistical challenges also loom large in the future of the high school circuit. “We’re a winter sport, and [in Minnesota] we’re losing winters with climate change,” said Simpson. “We’re increasingly competing for time on a limited number of man-made snow loops with every other team in the state.” For Stillwater, that means an hour-long drive to get on snow compared to being able to step out of the high school on groomed snow consistently when Simpson started. Man-made loops once used by Metro area schools exclusively in the early season are also increasingly becoming called upon for schools from beyond the Metro, and for more of the season, than ever before. Snowmaking efforts in Duluth have eased the congestion in recent years, but the chase for snow still requires “more time set aside to get to venues and is a prohibitive cost for schools looking to add the sport” explained Simpson.

A Great Race and a Grand Tradition Continues

“Year-to-year, thousands of kids [are] involved in high school skiing,” says Simpson. “If we can hold onto that number, and hold onto what has made high school skiing special, we’ll be doing ok.”

“I will always cherish my athletes coming together with their best performances and to see a community work so hard to achieve something together,” said Kris Hansen.

With an eye towards capturing that special essence of high school skiing, athletes, coaches, supporters, communities, and teams returned to Giant’s Ridge last February. It rained on day one before the sky cleared and a bout of brutal Minnesota winter cold swept over the glacial knolls and through the bare oaks and maples. The crowd that gathered had yet to watch Jessie Diggins stand atop a World Championship podium (that championship milestone would be achieved a few weeks later) but arrived knowing that what it would see was what they had seen on display from that champion, in this venue, that had radiated out through the sport of skiing over the past decade. The kids were here, and they would push for themselves, for their communities and, most importantly, for their teams.

This year, those values came fast, hard, and close into the Giant’s Ridge stadium. In the Girls’ race, results came down to a split second. In the Boys’ race, results were decided by even less. Zoe Devine, from the small Iron Range town of Ely, won the girls race over Duluth’s Lydia Kraker. Benon Brattebo, from the Twin Cities’ suburb Eden Prairie, outstretched Blaine’s Ben Lewis; their times both officially even, 26:00.9. Red and black suits flooded into the stadium to celebrate a team championship—this time belonging to Duluth East—with Stillwater taking second in the Girls’ competition.

The athletes had pushed hard for each other and had given it their all. Powerhouse programs that have long stood out in their nearly century-long existence etched their name into yet another year of lore. It was typical of Minnesota high school skiing, which only served to highlight how atypical it was. The letterman jackets, the familiar faces here year-after-year as athletes, then coaches, then parents, then just fans. It was a race that a decade from now, as one of the wise-old stalwarts of the whole spectacle, Bill Simpson, would put it, will prove to be one “people still talk about.” And that is as good a reassurance as any that high school skiing is a grand tradition, and a vital one too.

Stillwater senior Jessie Diggins, right, finishes ahead of St. Paul Academy senior Annie Hart in the 2010 edition of the Minnesota State Meet. (Photo: MSHSL Archives)

Join Team Birkie in 2023-24

FasterSkier — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 08:00:35 +0000

Team Birkie is made up of individuals who are committed to reaching their potential as cross-country skiers. The goal of the program is to support each athlete’s pursuit of domestic and international excellence by providing necessary infrastructure for success in the sport. This infrastructure includes a full-time coaching staff and individualized year-round training program, experienced race service, equipment sponsors and suppliers, physical therapy, access to training facilities, sports performance testing and a rollerski treadmill, a monetary stipend for expenses, and a group of motivated teammates.

Following application submission, the coaching staff will reach out to you to schedule a video call to further discuss your interest with Team Birkie.

The deadline for all applications is April 15th, 2023.

APPLY FOR TEAM BIRKIE HERE

Summer College Program 2023

In addition, Team Birkie is excited to continue the Summer Collegiate Program. Team Birkie is looking for college athletes who want to take a serious and determined approach to their training and racing, and who want to capitalize on a summer of great training. We look forward to having a motivated and exciting group of collegiate athletes in the Twin Cities this summer!

The program begins June 1st and ends August 20th. The cost of the program ranges from $1,500 to $2,500. Costs of this program include a periodized training plan, daily access to coaching, performance testing & evaluation, and the opportunity for daily training with a high level group of athletes.

New this summer is the Advanced Summer Program. This program offers additional training support and resources beyond the Summer Program. Athletes who sign up for the Advanced Summer Program will have access to the same performance testing and evaluation we use for our Team Birkie athletes. This testing will be conducted on a rollerski treadmill at the beginning and ending of the summer, and will have specific training recommendations based on results from the testing. This is also a great way to track training progress throughout the summer. These athletes will also have access to four technique sessions on the Rollerski treadmill, which has shown to be one of the most effective way to improve technique and skiing efficiency.

Summer Program – $1,500

All training sessions led by Team Birkie coaches
Training sessions 5 days per week
Periodized training plan

Advanced Summer Program – $2,500

All training sessions led by Team Birkie coaches
Training sessions 5 days per week
Periodized training plan
Performance Testing & Evaluation on rollerski treadmill (beginning and end of the program)
Individual Technique or Training Sessions (4) on a rollerski treadmill supervised by Team Birkie coach

The deadline for all applications is April 15th, 2023.

APPLY FOR TEAM BIRKIE SUMMER COLLEGE PROGRAM

Free Fall 2022 Race Recap

FasterSkier — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 14:14:42 +0000

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 BY NENSA

photo Paul Bierman

This past weekend 114 hearty humans braved the wet weather at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, VT and competed in Sunday’s Free Fall Rollerski Race!

The FreeFall has become a staple of NENSA’s roller series and always draws a competitive and fun crowd. Open racers were slated for a 15km and juniors a 5km — both utilizing the same full 5km race loop which includes some sporty downhills. Minutes before the men’s start it began to rain and the track became slick. Racers took the challenge in stride and navigated downhills, and slippery ups, with varied tactics. At the finish there were unfortunately more DNF’s due to falls than we have ever experienced — but the overwhelming feedback was that was “wild fun” and “really hard.” Before the women’s race the Jury made the decision to eliminate the furthest loop and eliminate the most technical downhill on the course for safety reasons. The women contested an 11.5km course. Both races saw really awesome overlap of juniors, collegiate and elite level skiers.

Video

In the men’s race the top of the field included a rematch of US Ski Team athletes, Johnny Hagenbuch (Dartmouth) and Ben Ogden (UVM). Although Ogden had just returned from impressive international races at Toppidrettsveka, it was Hagenbuch who prevailed for the second year in a row with a time of 34:20. Johnny described his tactic to fend off Ogden, by starting faster than he usually would, and then treating each lap as a six minute interval in the hardest part of the course. Times were nearly two minutes slower than 2021 due to heavy rainfall and a wet track. Also of note was UVM freshman, Petter Bakken (son of the legendary Thorodd Bakken), who placed third, less than a minute from Ogden.

The women’s race was equally talented at the top end — featuring a fun rivalry between the US Ski Team’s Julia Kern (SMS T2) and US Biathlon’s Deedra Irwin (National Guard Biathlon). Kern missed the 2021 event, and came to 2022 psyched to visit the Ethan Allen venue for the first time in ten years, a place she noted she has fond memories for. Kern left the gate first and used her powerful technique to log the fastest splits for all three laps. We were thrilled to have Irwin join our race, and she was, “really redlining,” to show her fitness on her home track and push her limits against the cross country specialists. Kern covered the course in 27:55, just shy of a minute faster than Irwin. U20, Haley Brewster (UVM) put in an impressive performance to take the final spot on the podium.

USST Coach, Matt Whitcomb and NENSA’s Fred Bailey start the final competitors of the 2022 FreeFall.

While NENSA races draw some of the best skiers in the country, every event is intended to accommodate all levels of skiers and development. Due to the slippery conditions, both the juniors and any recreational or masters skiers were treated to a dual start 6km course that eliminated the trickiest of downhills on the track. Despite increased rain, the stoke of the juniors and masters was contagious. USST World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb was present throughout the junior race and remarked how impressed he was with the skiing he saw, and how similar NENSA rollerski events are to what he just witnessed in Norway.

Congrats to everyone who competed in this event, and a big thank you to the Adam Terko and the Mansfield Nordic Club, the Ethan Allen firing Range, and all the awesome volunteers that came out to help. We are also very grateful to Bullitt Timing for their exceptional services.

2021 FreeFall Champion, Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2), charges to the finish.

In addition the incredible support we receive from our NENSA associate sponsors – Salomon, LL Bean, Swix, and Fischer – we are also grateful to Enjoy Winter and Swenor Rollerskis for supplying NENSA with an awesome fleet of rollerskis so the top-seeded athletes in all our events have matched skis. All women and juniors, and 35 men raced on matched skis. And no NENSA rollerski race would be complete without the exceedingly tasty support of Cabot who has generously donated cheese for this season’s podium finishers! Full results and top-3 highlights below as well as a photo album courtesy of Paul Bierman.

PHOTOS

Julia Thurston of Mansfield Nordic, ran registration and was excited to see her likeness on the winter-side of the new NENSA / Fischer / OneWay trailer!

The Free Fall was the third race of our seven race series. Next up we head to the Castle Conquest New York for an exciting double header weekend in Lake Placid featuring the Keys to the Castle Freestyle Sprint on September 24th and the legendary Climb to the Castle freestyle hill climb on September 25th. There is also a biathlon race and free BKL learn-to-rollerski opportunity on Saturday at Mt Van Hoevenberg. Details and registration HERE. You can view our full 2022 rollerski line up HERE.

FULL RESULTS

Open Women:
1. Julia Kern, SMS T2 / US Ski Team
2. Deedra Irwin, National Guard Biathlon / US Biathlon Team
3. Haley Brewster, UVM Ski Team

Open Men:
1. John Steel Hagenbuch, Dartmouth Ski Team / US Ski Team
2. Ben Ogden, UVM Ski Team / US Ski Team
3. Petter Bakken, UVM Ski Team

Junior Women:
1. Emma Reeder, Dartmouth
2.Ava Thurston, Dartmouth
3. Camille Bolduc, University of Vermont

Junior Men:
1. Luke Allen, Dartmouth
2. Cooper Camp, Dartmouth
3. Alexandre Cormier, Fondeurs-Laurentides

Junior Girls:
1. Nyla Scott, Gould Academy
2. Kate Carlson, Mansfield Nordic Club / EABC
3. Ruth Krebs, Craftsbury Nordic Club

Junior Boys:
1. Taylor Carlson, Mansfield Nordic Club
2. Brady Morigeau, EABC
3. Lucas Barstow, Gould Nordic

Master Women:
1. Jocelyn Sommers, SMC Ski Team

Master Men:
1. Landen vom Steeg

USST Coach Matt Whitcomb helps send out the Junior and Masters field in a fun dual start format.

In Bozeman, Jim Bridger Rollerski Races Look to Bring Summer Competition to the West

Ben Theyerl — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 23:16:56 +0000

Logan Diekmann, Nina Seeman win on the streets of Bozeman, and BSF’s Rollerski races look to harness the momentum of summer training out West. Featuring Results and Video Highlights.

Men’s Open field rolls out at last weekend’s Jim Bridger Rollerski Races, held in Bozeman, MT (Photo: Jenny White/BSF).

BOZEMAN – Jim Bridger was a mountain man. One of those figures born firmly entrenched in the old ways back East, before he split for the Mountain West for something new. A character to chart a theme pervasive through the American vision of the West – that ability to make something new and pursue it with everything you got.

It’s a tortured and uncomplicated metaphor (Bridger was one of the first white men into the intermountain West, but of course, wasn’t the first person to exist there). But if you were going to distill that character, and tap in purely to that “Pioneer, O Pioneer” spirit, you could do worse than the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF) Pro Team Head Coach Andy Newell.

For most of the 21st century, Andy Newell was a metonym for the very top of American men’s skiing. Through four Olympics, 220 World Cup starts, and breakthroughs every step of the way, Newell was there, making the in-roads that a generation of men’s skiers is now picking up on. Newell retired from racing in 2018, and in just four years has quickly transitioned his ebullient energy into setting up a coaching consulting business, Nordic Team Solutions, expanded BSF’s Nordic programming to include a successful Pro Team, and made Bozeman’s mountains and plains a popular training ground for collegiate athletes during their summers.

Andy Newell in his latest roll as Race Director last Saturday in Bozeman. (Photo: Jenny White/BSF).

Long home to an established nordic community with Montana State’s NCAA program and BSF, the efforts of Newell and the athletes he works with have been based in an effort to re-think and try out approaches to skiing development, training, and culture in Bozeman, and in the larger U.S. Ski Community. And in the latest example, that meant looking at a nearly 30-year-old BSF-held running race and saying, why not add a rollerskiing event?

The 29th annual Jim Bridger Trail Run last weekend then, also marked the 1st annual Jim Bridger Roller Ski Races. And the impetus, as for many things with Andy Newell, was to simply go all in on nordic in the pursuit of promoting the sport. “I’ve always loved racing the big European rollerski races like Blink and Toppidrettsveka. I thought this would be a fun opportunity to pair a legit rollerski event with a trail run and host them back-to-back. Having races like this is a great development tool for athletes” said Newell, in an email to FasterSkier. The races also acted as a fundraiser specifically for the BSF Pro Team, which has been one of the fastest growing and competitive programs in the U.S. since it was founded. Something that Newell talked about at length with FasterSkier earlier this summer.

Andrew Morehouse, BSF’s Nordic Program Director also added that the impulse to bring rollerski races inspired by those in Scandinavia to the United States is one that has been successful in the East and Midwest, but hasn’t found its way out West quite yet, “We’ve seen the success of roller ski races in the East and have talked within the Intermountain Division of how we can create a meaningful roller ski race series for our athletes in the West. I think this race, along with the Schutzenski Festival in Utah (to be held at Soldier Hollow during the US Ski Team’s Fall Camp there this October), is a great step towards that goal.”

The Women’s Open field goes into a corner during their 12 k race in Bozeman last Saturday. (Photo: Jenny Smith/BSF).

Inaugural Jim Bridger Rollerski Race Report

In the pursuit to bring top-level rollerski racing to the hot, dry, and high Mountains out west, BSF’s efforts were a success.

A field full of BSF’s Pro and Comp (U14-U20) program athletes, along with racers from across the Intermountain West and a strong contingent of collegiate racers sure to show up on Eastern Carnival result sheets this winter made for an incredibly competitive and robust field.

They raced distances of either 6 k for the U16/U18 fields, or 12 k for U20/Open field on a 1.5 k loop that took them around the streets south of the Montana St. campus in Bozeman. The design was in line with the vision of promotion for the event, “high speed, multi-lap races right in [town] to make it spectator friendly and exciting,” said Newell. As with many roller ski events, racers also were provided matched skis, in this case from sponsors Swix and Solomon.

All races were skate, and with relatively flat terrain on course, that made for an event in which there was hardly a V1 to be seen. This was a day for V2, and a great opportunity for athletes to work theirs at max-effort next to other skiers and see where they can tweak their power application and tempo. Rollerski races, by design, are meant to be a stepping stone in training on the way to next winter, after all.

The early going in both the men’s and women’s open field were tight-packed affairs. Racers hemmed and hawed through tight-corners to bring the top-end of the field together, until slowly but surely, those lead packs became smaller and smaller.

In the women’s field, the last couple laps saw a group containing Dartmouth College (DAR) skier Nina Seeman, along with BSF Pro members Mariah Bredal and Sarah Goble gain an advantage. There was nothing between them until the race’s end, when Seeman and Bredal broke for a final sprint, and Seeman came away the winner (27:58). Bredal finished second (27:59), with Goble coming in shortly after (28:07) to complete the podium.

Mariah Bredal (BSF) leads the Women’s field. Bredal finished 2nd overall to Nina Seeman (Dartmouth), tucked in 2nd place here. (Photo: Jenny Smith/BSF).

The men’s field saw a similar battle at the finish between three of BSF Pro’s leading lights. Into the final lap, Logan Diekmann, Finn O’Connell and Reid Goble were locked into a pack, with the promise of a true sprint all but assured for spectators. Goble found himself leading the pack for most of the lap, with O’Connell taking second wheel and Diekmann in third. Diekmann and O’Connell then launched their attack from behind their would-be lead-out, with Diekmann putting just enough gap over the line that the rare (and dangerous) rollerski lunge finish wasn’t needed. Diekmann in first (24:44), O’Connell in second (24:45), with Reid Goble rounding out the podium in third place (24:57).

Above – Reid Goble (BSF) leads Finn O’Connell (BSF) and Logan Diekmann (BSF) in the final lap of the Men’s Open 12 k. Below – Diekmann takes the sprint finish ahead of O’Connell. (Photos: Jenny White/BSF).

In the 12 k U20 Women’s race, St. Scholastica (CSS) skier Mia Case took the win over Park City’s Elena Grissom in second, and Sidney Benyon. The 12 k U20 Men’s race BSF’s Phin Fischer took first place ahead of Sumner Cotton (BSF) in second and third place Soren Davidson (BSF).

The inaugural BSF roller ski races were filled with fields of those who will find themselves at the top of NCAA, SuperTour, and even perhaps a World Cup this winter. That’s not bad for an inaugural running on the southside streets of Bozeman, and is yet another marker of the city, and Bridger Ski Foundation’s growth and development into a leader in the country’s ski community.

Many skiers then showed up to put impressive results up in Sunday’s Jim Bridger 10-mile Trail Run. Reid Goble (BSF) placed second overall (1:20:24), Peter Wolter (Sun Valley) was third (1:21:17), and Finn O’Connell (BSF) fourth (1:22:24). Mariah Bredal won the Women’s race (1:26:59), with Hannah Rudd (BSF) third (1:35:03), and Sarah Goble (BSF) fourth (1:37:37).

The BSF, and Bozeman, Nordic community together in Bozeman for some rollerski racing. (Photo: Jenny Smith/BSF).

Junior Rollerski Results:

U18 6 k Women:

1st Natalie Nichols

2nd Elsa Futch

3rd Keely Fischer

U18 6 k Men:

1st Woody West

2nd Jasper Jacobson

3rd Nate Strubel

U16 Women:

1st Izzy Waters

2nd Necia Nichols

3rd Olivia Nelson

U16 Men:

1st Lucan Fascio

2nd Colton Petsch

3rd Ian Carmack

Full Running Results here

Video Highlights!

Men’s Open Field podium. 1st – Logan Diekmann (BSF). 2nd – Finn O’Connell (BSF). 3rd – Reid Goble (BSF).

Women’s Open Podium. 1st – Nina Seeman (Dartmouth). 2nd – Mariah Bredal (BSF). 3rd – Sarah Goble (BSF). (Photo: Jenny White/BSF).

NENSA Summer Series Kicks Off with Lost Nation Roll and Some On-Snow Action

Ella Hall — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 17:25:31 +0000

The 2022 NENSA Summer Series hosted its first rollerski race of the season at the beginning of July. The Lost Nation Roll took place at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center on July 3rd, and by all accounts, was a huge success. Both men and women raced 10 k in an interval start format on the Outdoor Center’s paved rollerski loop.

Charging out of the start gate, Quincy Massey-Bierman (Middlebury College) heads out for 10 k (Photo: Paul Bierman)

Coinciding with the Eastern Regional Elite Group (REG) camp, around 40 top Eastern juniors boosted the race attendance numbers. NENSA’s Competitive Program Director, Justin Beckwith, explained that this year’s edition was the third open event they’ve co-hosted with Craftsbury and it was the best attended. Beckwith said, “It’s exciting to see the community out cheering and of course to have elites from CGRP (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and SMST2 (Stratton Mountain T2), with three [U.S.] Ski Teamers in the mix, Ben [Ogden], Will [Koch] and Sydney [Palmer-Leger].” As Lost Nation Roll was the first race out of the seven in the NENSA series, it was also the debut moment for the podium cheese provided by Cabot, which was certainly a highlight.

Geo Debrosse of Mansfield Nordic Club gets underway in the open men’s 10 k (Photo: Paul Bierman)

On the men’s side, Ogden (SMST2) topped the podium, finishing in a time of 23:25.3. Brian Bushey (University of Utah) came in second, +11.9 seconds behind Ogden. Finn Sweet (Craftsbury Ski Club/UVM) completed the podium, in third place (+13). The 6 k U16 boys competition was won by Micah Bruner of SMS (13:04.9).

For the women, Margie Freed of CGRP took top honors, with a finish time of 26:29.6. Behind her, Evelina Sutro of SMST2 finished second (26:55). In third position, Kelsey Dickinson, also of CGRP, finished in 27:04.7. Ruth Krebs, skiing for Craftsbury Ski Club, won the U16 girls race in 15:39.3.

Margie Freed (CGRP) topped the podium in the Lost Nation Roll 10 k (Photo: Paul Bierman)

Beckwith extended thanks to the race hosts, saying, “Craftsbury’s track and their amazing community / race crew make hosting a race easy and fun.”

Up next in the series is the first of three hill climbs, the Rollins Roll up Mt. Kearsarge in Warner, New Hampshire on August 21st. About the upcoming event Beckwith said, “While we know we will have a strong junior showing we are really hoping to boost masters participation in our three hill climbs throughout the series (Rollins, Climb to the Castle, and Mt. Greylock).” As incentive, Beckwith explained that there will be a special overall prize for the best two of three placements for masters from Allagash Brewing.

Taking place the same day as the Lost Nation Roll, was NENSA’s second Learn-to-Roll event of the 2022 summer season. Spearheaded by NENSA Youth & Introductory Program Director, Kait Miller, the clinic provided an opportunity for any skier looking to try their hand at rollerskiing for the first time.

Kelsey Dickinson (CGRP) navigates course obstacles on her way to a third-place finish in the open women’s race (Photo: Paul Bierman)

Miller explained that over the course of the summer she hopes to add a few more Learn-to-Roll opportunities in combination with scheduled rollerski races. She said, “So far the Lost Nation Roll is the only event we’ve done this with and it seems to be a good format with some clinic participants showing up early to watch the races.”

Capping off an action-packed day, skiers headed to Craftsbury village for a little time on natural snow. Emerging from Craftsbury’s summer snow storage, the strip was fashioned into a jump course which saw some great aerial moves.

Full results from the Lost Nation Roll race can be found here. More information on upcoming NENSA rollerski events are available here.

Cross Country With a Twist: NordicX Event Lights Up Anchorage

Rachel Perkins — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 11:39:48 +0000

Erik Bjornsen, Sadie Bjornsen Maubet, and Rosie Brennan enjoy a very different race atmosphere at NordicX. (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

What comes to mind when you think of a cross country ski race? Depending on your location and how you choose to interact with the sport, there are likely a variety of answers to the question, but it’s likely that there are some common themes.

“Cross country events are pretty much all the same when you boil them down, you know?” said retired US Ski Team member and 2018 Olympian Reese Hanneman. “It’s a test of endurance and speed over a set course, and it’s timed, and you’re usually out there in the woods alone. And I mean, that’s what cross country [racing] always will be, but I always felt like there was room for more.”

In what he described as “living out [his] 10 year old dream”, Hanneman set out to break this mold. His dream came to fruition on April 2nd in his home of Anchorage, Alaska, as cross country skiers from the junior level to recent Olympians careened down the slopes at Hilltop Ski Area, rounding tight turns, skating uphill, and catching air – with some not-so-graceful landings – off of jumps before finishing amidst a festival atmosphere at the base. The event was NordicX, an untimed, head-to-head “nordic-cross” event where style points on the final kicker into the finish might earn you a lucky loser spot in the next round.

“I knew that there was a lot of appetite for [an event like] that because every time I coach kids, which has been quite a bit over my career, I see that same energy and excitement for hitting jumps and sessioning little whoopty-dos or tabletops. And basically, there’s no cross country event that caters to that.”

One of many kids enjoying the features on course and in the Kiddie Cross terrain park at NordicX. (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

While Hanneman wanted a non-traditional event, he was not looking to eliminate the character or skills of cross country skiing altogether. He pulled from his experience competing in the 2016 Red Bull Nordix event at Lake Louise in Alberta, where he raced against other top international skiers including Norway’s Petter Northug and his US Ski Teammate Andy Newell.

“It was so fun and it was so crazy and scary and fast. And I was like, ‘Man, I need to bring this to Alaska.’”

In creating his own event, he said he wanted to navigate the “delicate balance of new, exciting, and extreme, but also staying true to cross country skiing. It’s one thing to build a little booter next to the xc ski trail and ski ’round and ’round hitting it with your friends, and it’s another to try and package that experience into a full-on event that offers excitement for all ranges of skills and ages.”

JC Schoonmaker does a 360 into the finish at NordicX. (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

“I knew it needed the right venue,” Hanneman continued. “I wanted something ‘net downhill’ because otherwise I felt like it would be too similar to other xc races, a loop with the same start and finish meant that in order to have a huge downhill you would need a huge uphill. But I also wanted it to be ‘cross country’, so that it truly rewarded good cross country skiers, and so that cross country skis were truly the best tools for the job.”

As the course and conditions hinged on both the weather and Hilltop’s grooming, an official course map was never set. To ensure the event catered to skiers beyond the nucleus of elite skiers based in Anchorage, an A-, B-, and C-Line was established on each of the features, making air-time not requisite and allowing athletes to select a route that felt safe, at the expense of simply forgoing the fastest line, which might pay off in the end if it kept the racer upright with equipment intact.

Holding to the spirited theme of the event, Hanneman described it as “a freestyle event in both feel and in practice,” meaning there were no official course maps, no timing, and plenty of subjectivity in the results. Get sendy and try to 360 off the final kicker into the finish only to crash and stall out before the line? Style points – you just became the lucky loser and can move on. Flooded legs from the uphill sprint section cause you to catch an edge off the drop and yard sale? The crowd loved it – lucky loser spot for you also.

Not everyone stuck the landing at the finish of NordicX… (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

No official prologue seeded athletes; after a few hours where skiers could preview the course, the event simply kicked off with heats of six in the quarterfinal, splitting the 100 athletes between open and junior men’s and women’s categories. Among the field were six Olympians: alphabetically, Erik Bjornsen, Rosie Brennan, Hannah Halvorsen, Logan Hanneman, Sadie Bjornsen Maubet, and JC Schoonmaker, most of whom ended up on the podium at the end of the day. Next year, Hanneman hopes to include additional categories for parents, masters skiers, etc.

For those who weren’t up for racing or couldn’t quite match the on-ski agility of Maubet or Schoonmaker, a continuous stream of raffles offered plenty of alternative opportunities to win. A DJ fed the energy at the base, while emcees Rob Whitney and Lee Bolling kept the momentum alive between heats, announcing the winners of numerous prizes from sponsor companies like Odlo, Fischer, Oakley, Skull Candy, Toko, and more.

Emcees, director of radness, associate director of send: keeping the energy high at the base with continuous prize drawings. (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

Rosie Brennan charges around a tight turn as she races through the heats at NordicX. (Photo: Russell Hood / NordicX)

Though these factors added to the festival atmosphere at the base, spectating alone was plenty exciting. In particular, the finish of the senior men’s final was one to watch.

“You couldn’t have scripted a better finish,” Hanneman laughed. “You had JC Schoonmaker, who’s one of the fastest sprinters in the world right now, and Erik Bjornsen, who was just on fire all day back from retirement. [They were] just completely sending it and just flying through this final steep slalom section, and Erik is trying to catch JC, and JC is trying to hold him off. They go to the finish, over this big table top, and everyone’s holding their breath. JC goes off it and does this massive spread-eagle.”

But he didn’t stick the landing. Landing a little too far in the backseat, Schoonmaker’s skis washed out from underneath him, leaving him sliding across the snow toward the inflated archway that marked the finish. He stalled out just before reaching the line.

“Erik is coming at Mach 50, about to beat him to the line. JC has to roll over and, like, flops [his skis] over the line.”

Erik Bjornsen sticks the landing, but JC Schoonmaker flops over the line first for the win.a (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

From a photo finish, Schoonmaker was awarded the victory, with Bjornsen narrowly taking second. U20 APU athlete Michael Earnhart skied to third, taking the final podium step.

“NordicX was one of the most fun races I’ve participated in,” wrote Schoonmaker after the event. “It took me back to middle school building jumps with my friends and seeing how far we push the skinny ski boundaries. Everyone who took part in putting the race on did a great job and with the spectators who came out, it really just had a good vibe to it. Everyone was having a great time and I’d definitely like to do it again. My highlight was watching some of the younger skiers before the race who were hitting the last jump doing 360’s and backflips and seeing how pumped up they were to be there.”

The men’s NordicX podium: JC Schoonmaker came out on top in a dramatic photo finish with Erik Bjornsen, while Michael Earnhart took third. (Photo: Ophira Group / NordicX)

In the senior women’s senior division, it was a current and former APU athlete sweep, with Sadie Bjornsen Maubet taking the win ahead of Hannah Halvorsen in second and Rosie Brennan in third.

“Nordic X was a super fun event, with a fun new twist to nordic skiing, and nordic ski spectating,” wrote Bjornsen Maubet. “Reese did an amazing job of dreaming up this super fun and social way to share our sport with our community… I relied on my thirty years of spending most of my days on nordic skis to attempt to gracefully make it down the little jump park. Though incredibly inspired by all the young kids catching tons of air, and throwing font and back flips, I figured I better save those moves for another life. The day was full of tons of laughs, cheers, and excitement. It felt special to put a bib on beside my previous teammates, and participate in the fun.

“I look forward to watching this spectator friendly event grow in the Anchorage Community. I think my husband had the most fun of us all, as he showed up with his chainsaw without the blade, some flares, and wearing a hat that said ‘Make the Bjornsen’s Great Again’. He was the cheering squad of the day, representing his French blood and the famous French Team Valoche cheering squad.”

The women’s podium at NordicX: Sadie Bjornsen Maubet took the top spot ahead of Hannah Halvorsen and Rosie Brennan. (Photo: Ophira Group / NordicX)

When you can’t spray, pour. Winner Sadie Bjornsen Maubet shares a champagne celebration with third place Rosie Brennan. (Photo: Ophira Group / NordicX)

For Hanneman, there were also a number of smaller highlights he’s enjoyed looking back on. While marking the course with food coloring, he loved watching skiers riding the lift to the top of the course on their skinny skis, and seeing athletes from 13-year-olds to veteran racers sessioning the course to dial in their lines and strategize. During the heats, he watched a number of young athletes gain confidence, and perhaps some additional skills, after working through initial trepidation surrounding the new race experience.

“There were some juniors who you could see at the start of the day were pretty intimidated by the last part of the course, which was really steep and had some sharp slalom turns,” Hanneman explained. “It was definitely challenging their skill level. And by the end of the day, like they were coming through and just ripping, and they were having so much fun and you could tell they had gotten a lot better just in a couple hours.”

One of many kids enjoying the features on course and in the Kiddie Cross terrain park at NordicX. (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

For those 12 and under and too young to compete on the full course, there was a “Kiddie Cross” course, which included banked turns, tabletops, a rhythm section, and a number of other terrain park features for kids to play on and session.

“The parents love it, right? Because the parents are just sitting there in the sun, watching their little kids just love cross country skiing.”

He commented that he had friends who had been trying to sell their child on cross country skiing but felt like it was a hard sell compared to downhill skiing. “They were like, ‘Oh, man, I’ve been trying to get her out on their cross country skis all year and they don’t want to go,’ and they brought him to this event and their kids were like on their on their cross country skis just doing laps up the hill 1000 times so they could go back and hit the jumps again. So for me, that right there is like the essence of this event.”

A pair of NordicX racers ride the chairlift with their skinny skis. (Photo: Andre Horton / NordicX)

In reflecting on the event and its impact on the local cross country ski community, Hanneman felt it added “a shot of energy… I mean, there’s so many cool races out there, but this is just a little bit different. And I think it gets people excited.”

While the biggest air and most impressive skill was seen from the elite racers, Hanneman kept coming back to the youth participating in the event, highlighting that it really was his boyhood dream to see an event like this in Alaska.

“Something like this would have probably excited me for a whole year like knowing that it was coming. And I think the more people that we get excited about cross country skiing the better, because I think it can be a really fun sport, but, let’s be honest, sometimes it has this perception of being kind of slow and boring, and hard.”

He described it as the type of event that could nudge skiers with that perception to give it a try, opening their eyes to what’s possible and how fun the sport can be. While there are perhaps other locations in the US that might be a candidate to host, Hanneman also explained why Anchorage is an ideal location for NordicX.

Spectators catch the NordicX action from the base of the Hilltop Ski Area in Anchorage. (Photo: Eric Maurer / NordicX)

“We have a huge ski market here, massive participation in high school skiing, and obviously a ridiculous number of elite-level racers here.”

On all accounts, the first year of NordicX was a success, which begs the question: what are the plans for next year?

“So many people came up and were like, ‘I can’t wait for next year.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, man, I don’t know.’ I haven’t necessarily committed, you know? This was a crazy undertaking.”

Since retiring from professional ski racing, Hanneman has been investing his time and energy in starting and serving as CEO for the PR agency, Ophira Group. He and his wife also welcomed a baby girl in March, 2021, and he’s remodeling their family home. He expressed that pulling off the inaugural event was already “pushing the limits” of what he should take on.

Balancing CEO and family life with NordicX planning, Reese Hanneman hosts the xc ski event of his childhood dreams. (Photo: Ophira Group / NordicX)

“I do want to say thank you to the team that we put together which includes Lauri Bassett (exec. administrator at Cross Country AK) and Rob Whitney, and the people at Hilltop, because without them, this absolutely would not have happened.”

As for next year, “people are too excited about it for it to not happen again.” And he wants to see it happen for a second year. To pull it off, he anticipates putting together a larger team to more evenly distribute the workload, “just so that we can all maintain a healthy NordicX-life balance.”

Letters to My Younger Self: Murray Banks on Embracing Opportunity and Living Life to the Fullest

Rachel Perkins — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 11:40:40 +0000

Editor’s note: This is the third essay in our series, “Letters to my younger self.” Lauren Fleshman provided the modern locus classicus for this genre, while John Wood and Adam Verrier kick-started the series on FasterSkier.

When the private school at which my husband teaches offered him a sabbatical for the 2020-21 school year, we quickly began to fantasize about the ski town(s) in which we’d spend the following winter. A February 2020 trip to the Alley Loop Marathon had me captivated by the tiny high-altitude town of Crested Butte, which, despite being roughly 40 miles from our home in Carbondale as the crow flies, is over four hours by car in the winter, over 2,000’ higher in elevation, and has a truly magical community surrounding its nordic center. It’s pure paradise for cross country skiing.

We lucked into a rental on Craigslist in mid-February, only a few weeks before the pandemic descended on the US and made such rentals (and prices) impossible to find as a mass exodus from cities began for those who were suddenly able to work from anywhere in the world. We also lucked into jobs at the Crested Butte Nordic Center, myself coaching in the masters programs and instructing private lessons, and my husband coaching the youth programs.

It was in the masters performance group that I had the chance to work alongside Murray Banks, whose reputation as a one-of-a-kind, enthusiastic, high-energy coach with a keen eye for technique preceded him.

The masked-up smurfs behind the 2020-2021 masters performance group in Crested Butte, CO. From left to right, Rachel Bachman Perkins, Murray Banks, Cam Smith, Woody Martineau.

Coaching with Murray was an unforgettable experience. His energy and positivity are the right kind of infectious – the type that makes you want to be a better version of yourself, overall. The kind that leaves you wanting to ski better, try harder, be kinder, and recognize that attitude is everything, even when life throws you some massive curveballs.

You’d never know that Murray was fighting cancer. Even on the days where most would throw in the towel, Murray would slip into his ski boots and make his way to practice. On days he wasn’t feeling well, he’d ski more slowly and keep the distance traveled to a minimum, but that didn’t prevent him from showing up with an ever-present grin, ready to encourage the group of skiers through technique cues and an interval session.

Though we only worked together for a few months, his impact was lasting. It is my pleasure to share the following letter Murray penned to his younger self.

March, 2015

Hey Murray,

Wow, you look so young! Oh yeah, you’re only 6. Have you got freckles? I don’t remember having freckles. Anyway, this is a bit unusual but a friend here in 2015 asked if I’d write you a letter with a few observations and perhaps a tip or two. Have a seat, this will be long as there has been a lot of water under the bridge over the past 68 years. I’m surprised you are reading this, you’re usually out in the neighborhood playing endless tag games with your friends. Did you have a hockey rink in the yard this past winter? Oops, gotta run, headed out to ski with my/your granddaughter Winter who is actually 6 just like you!

A young Murray Banks. (Courtesy photo)

March 2022

Sorry about that, I started this 7 years ago but got busy. That’s probably good though as you will have a better handle on some of the insights I’ll be sharing with you now that you are 13. OK, here in 2022 you are 75 years old. Hard to believe that you will be as old as your great gramma is now.

As you are learning, yours is an athletic family and we play almost every sport imaginable. And when we’re not playing an official sport, we are riding our bikes, competing in a tenacious whiffle ball game or playing capture the Flag ’til way after dark. Playing sports is our family thing and you are doing them all… baseball, basketball, football and hockey. It is a perfect childhood so I hate to do tell you this, but you will hold your own in sports until high school, then everyone else will grow and you won’t. Hey, it’s ok, you were born in late October and everyone is way older than you.

First, the bad news: you aren’t going to continue to be a star baseball player like you are now. And you aren’t going to make it in basketball either. And the football coach will say to you “Banks, you’re a tough kid but I can only use you when it’s 3rd down and 3 miles to go. You should run cross country.” I don’t think you even know what cross country is!

But, here’s the good news: you’re going to love running and you will become quite good at it in a few years. One more thing, don’t fret about maturing late… when you are in your 40’s and racing triathlons, you’ll go to your 25th class reunion, look around and wonder who all those old people are. Triathlon, bet you don’t even know what that sport is. It’s a cool sport that involves three events you already love and will be invented when you are in your 30’s, more about that later.

Murray Banks joins the cross country team at Cortland State in Upstate New York. (Courtesy photo)

In a few years, you will have to decide on a college — well, if you put a bit more focus on your school work, you will. You will get lucky and choose a school and major that you love and be on championship teams with great guys and coaches. One day while walking to class, a professor with national prominence for his teaching and coaching, will stop you and say, “Ya know Banks, you’re tougher than hell and someday all your training and determination will pay off big time. Keep up the good work.”

That interaction may only last 60 seconds but the eventual benefit will last 60 years. This is important, pay careful attention to older, wiser people you admire and respect.

They see things you can’t possibly see at your youthful, exuberant age. They have perspective that will benefit you in ways you can’t imagine now. Oh, and one more thing about college… you’re going to meet a very special girl on your track team. She’s a sprinter, she’s smart and she’s really attractive. If you don’t mess this up, she will become your lifelong love and training buddy.

With a bachelors degree in hand, you will embark on a teaching and coaching career that will earn you several honors and great satisfaction… slow down and soak it all in. Now this will be hard to fathom, but getting cut from baseball, basketball and football will come in very handy in a few years. As a high school running coach, you will seek out athletes who were rejected from other sports and turn them into championship caliber runners. The energy and imagination that often got you in trouble in school, will produce unique results in your teaching, coaching and racing career — hard to imagine isn’t it? Your struggles academically won’t last, just remember what Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than intelligence.”

“When you coach kids, you lose 40 years off your chronological age.” – Murray Banks (Photo: Xavier Fane / Crested Butte Nordic)

Now, back to that girl you will meet in college… she is a sprinter and you are a distance runner, that’s how she catches you, you just weren’t fast enough! But, she will become quite an accomplished endurance athlete and the two of you will enjoy years of racing all over the world. And it will be in two sports you aren’t even aware of now: triathlon and cross country skiing. And, as a bonus, when you marry her you will get an island! Yup, your teaching careers will enable you to spend summers on the family island and you can swim, bike & run a lot and become quite proficient at that triathlon sport. Actually, so proficient that you will both race in the world championship and people will pay you to do it. Really, honest, not kidding, this will be your job for a few years, you lucky guy!

Murray Banks and his wife prepare for Ironman Hawaii, 1988. (Courtesy photo)

Although you will absolutely love teaching, you will have an opportunity to take time off to be a full time athlete. And your 8th grade teacher Mrs Bentley, who will say to you “You’ll never make anything of yourself just playing sports, Mr Banks!” Well, turns out she was wrong, but probably best if you don’t say anything to her.

Instead, you will create a niche as a speaker and corporate trainer that provides the time to train and race nearly full time. It’s an occupation that resembles training and racing in every way… you prepare thoroughly for long periods of time; you need to be focused and goal oriented; you work intensely hard for short periods of time, followed by longer periods of recovery; and, when it’s time to race or deliver a presentation, you really need to be on your game, there is no room for mediocrity. Any time your work, recreation and passions intersect, you have the best of all worlds and so many good things arise. So, younger Murray, keep all options in your life open, there is no predicting what opportunities will present themselves.

Ironman Hawaii, 1983. (Courtesy photo)

But, I digress. Training for triathlons during long, cold Vermont winters was a challenge so you know what comes next? Cross country skiing.

For several years, skiing will just be winter fitness for triathlons but eventually, skiing will became your favorite family activity. You and Janie will eventually have two rambunctious boys who love to play outside day and night, just like you! They will play all the usual sports but will eventually get into ski racing and soon you will be going to races to cheer for them rather than the other way around.

Team Banks at a community fun run in Vermont. (Courtesy photo)

So finally, cross country skiing… get this, skiing downhill is way more fun than running down hill! And, while triathlon training can be tedious, arduous and exhausting, skiing is generally fun and challenging. So, you will retire from triathlons and spend most of your athletic energy training for and racing in cross country skiing and have the opportunity to race in cool places like Norway, Austria and Italy.

Masters World Championship, Asiago, Italy, 2014

You and that sprinter girl will both win gold medals at various masters world championships and you will meet people from those countries that will become lifelong friends. And, you will find that folks in their 50’s and 60’s who continue to ski race are really an energetic and positive group of people to hang out with.

And those boys you and the sprinter girl so enjoyed skiing with when they were kids…they took that joy for snow and mountains and parlayed it into careers as international mountain guides. And the best part? You will get to ski big peaks all over the world with them, which it sure beats playing basketball and baseball!

Troll Peninsula, Iceland, 2017. (Courtesy photo)

This all sounds a little too good to be true doesn’t it? Well, as you have probably guessed, it is. At the very pinnacle of your personal, athletic and professional success, life will throw you a curveball… cancer.

Now, at your young age, you may not understand what cancer is, so I’ll break it down a bit for you. Cancer is an insidious disease that eats at you over time and saps the energy and strength that have been hallmarks of your life. In your case, you will endure surgeries, radiation treatments and a bevy of drugs that will end your racing career. You will need every ounce of patience, optimism and tenacity that you’ve spent a lifetime developing through sports.

It will be the greatest test of endurance that you have experienced in your lifetime. But, there is an interesting cancer/ski racing analogy, bear with me on this. Imagine, you are in a 50km classic ski marathon, with temps at freezing and a damp, cold wind that makes the track indiscernible and waxing impossible.

The track is poorly marked and you are never 100% sure if you are on course. There are no kilometer signs and the route is ambiguous. Your kick wax has failed you – one minute you are slipping and the next your are walking on snow stilts. You pass spectators and ask “is this the way?” and they respond “not sure, just keep going.” You ask others “how far to the finish?” and they respond “not sure, just keep going.” The blowing snow and poor markings obscure any semblance of direction and you press on not knowing which trail to take.

Yup, living with an aggressive cancer is very much like a tough ski marathon… you know you have to keep going, but you have no idea how long and you can only hope the ones giving directions know the best path forward.

2020 Covid Cancer Climb with buddies at the summit of 12,300’ Cottonwood Pass, CO. (Courtesy photo)

But, my younger self, you are well prepared. All those years of endurance training and racing are paying off now as mental toughness, dealing with pressure, staying focused and learning to exceed your perceived limitations will carry you far longer than you might expect. Those teammates and coaches you loved will support and encourage you, just like they did decades ago. And, no matter how exhausted and frail you may feel, you will find strength and joy in doing what you’ve always done… getting outside in the sunshine to ski and bike with your friends.

At your age here in 1959, sport is a competition that you prepare for and do your best at. You are in the moment and not thinking of the lifelong benefits. But looking back, you will see that training, competition and pushing yourself was the best possible preparation for a lifetime of great joy, professional success and personal satisfaction. But most importantly, it will give you the ability to withstand discomfort, uncertainty and challenges you did not sign up for.

As an endurance athlete, you developed a unique life skill set that you can cash in when you need it most; and here in 2022, you are reaping those benefits.

Murray Banks and “the sprinter girl”, his lovely life partner, Janie. (Courtesy photo)

The mountainFLOW Eco Wax team takes on the Birkie: Part 2

Rachel Perkins — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 14:49:53 +0000

Just over a month ago, the American cross country ski community descended upon the small town of Hayward, Wisconsin. Skies were clear, the snow was cold and firm, and lycra was everywhere. But one set of race suits stood out, both because of the noteworthy athletes wearing them and for their bold neon colors. It was the MountainFLOW Eco Wax race team of Simi and Sophie Hamilton, Sylvan Ellefson, Sadie Maubet Bjornsen, Erik Bjornsen, Matt Gelso, and Liz Stephen.

While most reading FasterSkier will recognize these names without introduction, this is a “band” of retirees who have each, at minimum, raced on the World Cup. Five are Olympians, and one has a collection of top-10 results in World Championship and Olympic sprint results. In short, they’re good skiers who also happen to be good friends.

Racing the Birkie wasn’t about stacking a fast team; leading into the event, mountainFLOW founder Peter Arlein said it would be “super fun, and maybe not super serious.” As the photos suggest, a lot of fun was had, but some fast racing – on skis waxed with mountainFLOW products – happened too.

The mountainFLOW eco wax team was “all business” at the Birkie. (Courtesy photo)

“A trip down memory lane,” wrote Erik Bjornsen after the race. “Super fun to get a crew together and pretend to be athletes again. We are all at different fitness levels, one thing in common though: far from our best. It was fun to try and forget that for a weekend, and go live the athlete lifestyle. It’s been a busy winter in the retail industry, so it was nice to have a little break from work and hang out with friends. No beers were consumed… nothing but business at the mountainFlow house.”

(Side note: they may have been spotted at the Moccasin Bar post race.)

As he alluded, there was a range of fitness levels and race objectives, but the prominent theme seemed to be that becoming some of the best American cross country skiers of their generation correlates strongly with good technique and a high level of residual fitness.

Taking the top result was Sadie Maubet-Bjornsen, who finished fifth in the women’s race, just over two minutes behind winner Alayna Sonnesyn. Erik Bjornsen was the top male racer in 9th (+2:59.05), with Simi Hamilton finishing roughly four minutes behind in 16th. The remaining skiers finished in pairs, with Sylvan Ellefson crossing with Matt Gelso in 121st in the men’s division, and Sophie Hamilton finishing alongside Liz Stephen in 123rd and 124th.

“It was amazing to get the band back together!” wrote Maubet-Bjornsen. “My husband’s family is from Hayward, so after visiting them this summer, we were already committed to doing the Birkie simply to be considered valid members of the Berrard family. When Simi mentioned he was forming a fun team with some of my favorite previous teammates, I was all in. Having jumped full force into this new life, preparing for a 50k couldn’t have been more different than it would have looked in the past. My new way of exercising is waking up at 5:30AM, and hitting the ski trails from my doorstep from 6-7AM.

“Two weeks [before the race], I called in Rosie Brennan to give me some last minute interval workouts to train my brain to accept physical pain again. Four interval sessions later, I showed up and joined the dance. It was pretty fun to ski with the girls, and just witness the gift of fitness that comes out of all those years of hard work. As the top ladies skied away about 35 k in, I no longer could fake the fitness anymore, but still enjoyed every second of skiing it home.”

Adding to the message that more so than lingering fitness, these athletes have maintained a love of the sport and the friendships made through their time immersed in it, Maubet-Bjornsen continued, “I look forward to many more years ahead of joining various classic American races throughout the country that I never had the chance to participate in [while racing on the World Cup]. I feel lucky that my ‘band’ and family that I created in the past ten years is just as excited to jump into a 50 k race, despite the fact we are no longer the pro athletes we were before.”

Sylvan Ellefson in the wild, wearing his neon mountainFLOW race suit. (Courtesy photo)

“For me, cross country ski racing transcends so much more than competition,” wrote Ellefson post-race. “I’ve formed my family and life around the experiences I’ve had and the friends I’ve made along the way. To me the Birkebeiner is an event that encapsulates this cross country ski culture in the US. The people racing at the Birkebeiner are truly the backbone of the ski community and I think for them to see former World Cup and Olympic level skiers helps affirm that in the US, this sport is one giant family.”

The mountainFLOW Eco Wax team carboloads for the Birkie. (Courtesy photo)

Commenting on the mountainFLOW products and ethos, Ellefson added, “Our waxes were fantastic and I’ve loved using something other than what we’ve been accustomed to using for so long. I’ve tested a couple out now and they truly are not just a great wax, but also a great brand. Getting to spend time with Peter and Brian showed me the culture mountainFlow is trying to create in a space in the industry that is much needed.”

Matt Gelso prepares his skis with mountainFLOW cold wax at the 2022 American Birkie. (Courtesy photo)

More to come, as the coach of non-affiliated French athlete Celine Chopard-Lallier, who took sixth in the women’s race, shares his review of mountainFLOW products, on which Chopard-Lallier also raced at the Birkie. Note that this content is not sponsored by mountainFLOW.

(Press Release) NordicX Festival at Hilltop Ski Area in Anchorage on April 2nd

FasterSkier — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 22:57:24 +0000

Nordic-cross is coming to Anchorage!

Come watch Olympic and World Cup skiers battle it out in an action-packed event with big air, wipeouts, high speeds, and good times! The spring sun will be out, the festival at the bottom will have fire-pits and gourmet food and drink, and the atmosphere will be fun for the whole family.

What: Nordic-cross event (extremely unique; cross-country skiing meets jumps and big air)

When: April 2nd, 2022

Where: Hilltop Ski Area, Anchorage, Alaska

Categories: Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Men, Senior Women

FREE for spectators and families.

Registration for competitors is open! (Limited space! Prices increase March 15th.)

A cross country ski race unlike any other!! Competitors will be able to ride the chairlift up, which will be running exclusively for this event. The race course is on an alpine ski area (Hilltop Ski Area), starting at the top and finishing at the bottom. The mountain is open exclusively for this event; only nordic skiers on the mountain. No downhill skis or snowboards allowed.

The course will feature table tops, rollers, corners, big (and little) jumps, and of course a sprint uphill in the middle. There will be over $15k worth of of prizes and schwag to giveaway from Odlo, Skullcandy, Oakley, Toko, Arcade, Create38, AMH, Chain Reaction Cycles, and more. Most competitors and fans will win something!!

And, there will be a Kiddie Cross mini park for the young ones to rip through for hours!

Additionally, this will be a very fun event to volunteer at. It will be action packed and fun to watch. Those interested in volunteering, please sign up at: https://volunteersignup.org/TPJR9

MORE EVENT INFORMATION:

Website: https://nordic-x.com/

Instagram: @nordic_ _x

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nordicXevent

Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/2oqeBa6j0

Sonnesyn and Agnellet Win Close Races at the 2022 Slumberland American Birkebeiner

Rachel Perkins — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 22:46:48 +0000

FasterSkier’s American Birkebeiner coverage is made possible through the generous support of New Moon Ski & Bike in Hayward, Wisconsin. While you are at the Birkie be sure to visit New Moon Ski & Bike for all your local expertise.

Among the final major races in the ski world in 2020, the Slumberland American Birkebeiner pulled off an event with all the festivities for which the storied event is known. It was pure Birkie fever, with little concern for what other communicable diseases might be circulating at the time. A large snowstorm moved through the Northwoods of WI, followed by a bitter cold snap which let up just in time for a sunny day with mild temperatures on race day, setting up fresh, firm, and fast conditions that saw course records fall.

Flash forward through two years of pandemic and a non-traditional Birkie week format, and the weather gods delivered yet another pristine weekend for racing as the Birkie made its return, with all the Main Street revelry one could ask for.

This year’s Birkie also served as the final SuperTour of the season on American soil, with only Canadian Nationals which will be held in conjunction with SuperTour finals remaining on the calendar in late March. With several athletes who had been just behind the Olympic team cutoff appearing on the start list, along with a handful who declined World Cup starts in Lahti to race the Birkie and a few top international racers in the mix, the front lines of the elite wave were stacked. This set the stage for close racing and exciting final sprints on Main Street that kept the sound of the cheering crowds lining the finish at full volume.

The women’s race was decided in the home stretch as Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) took her third Birkie win in 2:22:52 ahead of Caitlin Patterson (CGRP) in second (+2.0), and Rosie Frankowski (APU) third (+9.0). Also racing for APU, Jessica Yeaton was the fourth woman to the line in Hayward (+27.0), with a retired-but-not-slow Sadie Maubet Bjornsen racing on the mountainFlow Eco Wax team taking fifth (+1:05.0).

Patterson had flown to the Midwest after spending three weeks in China as a member of the Olympic Team, however, she did not earn any starts there, calling it “#chinatrainingcamp” in a heartfelt social media post. Yeaton had also recently flown to the U.S. from Beijing after representing Australia at her second Olympic Games. Yeaton raced in five of the six events (Australia did not have enough women for a relay), with her top finish taking place in the opening 15 k skiathlon, where she finished 31st.

After winning the 2019 Birkie, Sonnesyn returned in 2021 for the unique opportunity to race both a skate and classic event in the same weekend. With pandemic restrictions in place, these races started and ended at the Birkie trailhead in Cable. Sonnesyn won the 45 k skate Birkie on Saturday, just four seconds ahead of Frankowski, then the two traded positions as Frankowski won the 45 k classic on Sunday, with Sonnesyn nearly a minute back in second.

The women’s podium of the 2022 Slumberland American Birkebeiner: Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) took the win ahead of Caitlin Patterson (CGRP) and Rosie Frankowski. (Photo: ©2022 American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation)

“It feels so good to be here on such a beautiful day,” said in the livestream interview from the finish. “Last year, finishing back at the start was a really great time too, but there’s nothing like finishing on Main Street and hearing that blast of cheering as you come off the bridge.”

A Midwestern native for whom the Birkie has long been a family affair, Sonnesyn said each Birkie win has been special for her. While other women pushed the pace at the front, Sonnesyn had never been the first through the checkpoints. Commenting on her tactics in the post-race interview, she explained that this strategy played to her strengths.

“There are some spectacular distance racers in the field today, and I recognized that going into it and knew that they were going to push the pace and keep it hard through the entire race. I trusted my sprinting, I’ve been training a lot with Jessie Diggins lately and I’ve learned a lot from her, so I knew that I had an extra gear that I could use at the finish as long as I conserved [energy] throughout the race… There were moments where I didn’t think I was going to close those gaps, [and] I crashed with 4 k to go, so that was a little bit dramatic of me, but overall, I just knew that they were going to fight hard and that I would need to fight too.”

The men’s race saw an even tighter margin decide the winner. A threesome of David Norris (APU), Adam Martin (CGRP) and Gerard Agnellet of La Clusaz, FRA headed over the lake together, with a few chasers following at a distance, still in view of the cameras.

While Craftsbury’s Martin led over the bridge, it was Norris (APU) who looked to be the strongest in the final drag race up Main Street. Norris moved to the front and steadily gained ground on Martin, while Agnellet began a late surge from the back of the group.

In the closing meters, Agnellet accelerated to move alongside Norris’ right side, matching his pace just before the line where Norris threw his boot to keep his advantage. A photo finish decided that Agnellet had nipped Norris at the line – 50 kilometers of tactical racing decided by just centimeters of distance.

This is Norris’ third appearance at the Birkie. The 31-year-old won his first Birkie in 2016, then was fifth and second American behind Kyle Bratrud in 2018. Today’s result earns Norris $4,500 in prize money, plus a $2,500 bonus for being the top American male. Equal payout for the top male and female saw Sonnesyn earn $7,500 for the win plus the $2,500 bonus, perhaps easing the sting for both athletes who were just beyond the ranking needed for 2022 Olympic team selection.)

Just behind the excitement at the front, Adam Martin (CGRP) took third today (+2.0), while Ian Torchia (SMS T2) was fourth after a short gap (+15.0). Craftsbury’s Akeo Maifeld-Carucci, a 2019 Birkie winner, rounded out the top five men, +18.0 behind Agnellet.

Torchia would announce on Instagram the following day that the Birkie had been his final race as a professional skier.

“Thank you very much,” Agnellet said through a translator at the finish. “I just loved the course here. It was fantastic and I’ve been very impressed with all the people I’ve met and all the encouragement I’ve received along the way. It’s been just a beautiful day here and I’m so excited to be on this great course, and to be representing France and to be the top man on the podium today.”

Agnellet was also asked about his strategy, in particular whether he had confidence that he could win in the final sprint and boot slide the line.

“My plan was to stay in contact with the front of the pack, and David Norris was looking so strong today. At a certain point I was thinking, ‘David has this and I’m racing for second place.’ But as the race went on, I was feeling stronger and stronger, and was happy to have come around David at the end.”

The men’s podium of the 2022 Slumberland American Birkebeiner: France’s Gerard Agnellet won the photo finish, edging out David Norris (APU), with Adam Martin (CGRP) close behind in third. (Photo: ©2022 American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation)

In the 55 k classic, Delaney FitzPatrick clocked the fastest time in the women’s race with 3:23:39, while Hayward native Josie Nelson was second (+5:26) and Molly Watkins of Duluth, MN was third (+8:10). For the men, Team Birkie coach Leo Hipp took the win in 2:51:57, while Chris Brunham of Stowe, VT crossed second (+20.0). Even Wetzel of Waukesha, WI rounded out the men’s classic podium in third (+2:24).

2022 Searchable Results

Fresh Snow and World Class Grooming Set the Stage for a Weekend SuperTour Distance Pursuit in Craftsbury

FasterSkier — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 20:40:00 +0000

In the wake of a winter storm, athletes found ideal race conditions for a weekend of distance racing at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, which hosted the Henchey Memorial Carnival. (Photo: NENSA Facebook Page)

By Ian Tovell and Rachel Bachman Perkins

Find FasterSkier’s coverage of Friday’s freestyle sprints here.

Saturday: 10 k Interval Start Classic

After another 4+ inches of snow fell throughout the day on Friday, NENSA described the conditions for today’s 10-kilometer interval start race as a “banner day for classic skiing” on the two-lap course at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. The weekend of racing, titled the Henchey Memorial Carnival, included athletes of all levels, was described as “a celebration of the type of ski racing that [the late Bill Henchey] loved.” All three stages scored points toward the U.S. SuperTour Standings, while Friday and Saturday encompassed the UVM Carnival, and Saturday and Sunday’s distance races were part of NENSA’s Eastern Cup race series that allows developing athletes to qualify for Junior Nationals.

Results from the 10 k classic stage on Saturday established the start order and deficit for Sunday’s 7.5/10 k freestyle pursuit. The women took to the course first on Saturday at 9:45, with the men following at noon.

As the women lapped through the 5 k checkpoint, a familiar name topped the standings. Friday’s sprint winner Katharine Ogden (SMS T2) came through the halfway point in a time of 15:23.5. Rosie Frankowski (APU) was in second, 5.3 seconds back, while Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) came through in third (+9.4). Second alternate for the Canadian Olympic Team, Jasmine Drolet (DAR) came through in fourth (+14.9), with Becca Rorabaugh (APU) right behind in fifth (+15.0). Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic Club) was 8th (+36.2), as the first U18 skier through the 5k mark.

Over the second lap, Ogden held onto her lead, claiming her second victory of the weekend in a time of 30:59.8. Though she has won all three SuperTour sprint races she has entered, this is Ogden’s first domestic distance win of the season. She was second to Caitlin Patterson (CGRP) in the 10 k classic in the U.S. Cross Country Championships in early January, then took second to Rosie Brennan in the same event the following weekend in Sun Valley.

“The race today was a lot of fun,” Ogden wrote to FasterSkier after the race. “It was a gorgeous Vermont day. Sunny, new snow, perfect grooming. Basically, a wonderful time. I love racing in Craftsbury with so many people I love. I also had some awesome skis, which is always a blast. It was especially fun to have my mom and dad and sister there! In terms of pacing and tactics, this course really has a lot of constant output, so I was mostly just focusing on skiing well and smoothly, and taking advantage of swapping between doublepole and striding to get little bits of recovery where I could. I got to ski with a little pack of EISA people (past and present) at the very end, which was fun.”

SMS T2 went one-two, as Sonneysn was able to catch and overtake Frankowski, placing second (+26.6) and third (+26.8), respectively. Yet another Sonnesyn-Frankowski matchup…

The women’s 10 k classic podium after the second day of SuperTour racing in Craftsbury, VT. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

Rorabaugh crossed in fourth (+29.3), with Drolet rounding out the top-five (+34.4). Thurston was able to stay in the top-10 placing ninth (+2:18.5).

As the first collegiate racer, Drolet (DAR) topped the EISA podium with a time of 31:34.2. Yesterday’s collegiate sprint winner, Anna Bizyukova (UVM) was second (+36.1) and tied for seventh overall (+1:09.5). Erin Bianco (CBC) placed third (+58.3) and took the final spot in the top-10 overall (+1:31.7).

In the men’s race, it was between two athletes through the 5 k mark; Adam Martin (CGRP) went through with a time of 13:18.6 with Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) only 2.1 seconds behind. Johnny Hagenbuch (SVSEF) was third (+9.3) at the half, with teammate Peter Holmes (SVSEF) in fifth (+15.0). Sitting in fourth was Finn O’Connell (BSF Pro), but his split did not register as he crossed the checkpoint.

Adam Martin races the 10 k interval start classic during the Henchey Memorial Carnival in Craftsbury, VT. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

Martin was able to hold on for the win, closing the race with the fastest second lap split. Taking the win at home, he stopped the clock at 26:56.9. Martin took second in last weekend’s 10 k mass start free in Lake Placid, and won the 15 k classic at both the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Soldier Hollow, and the second SuperTour race weekend in Cable, WI.

Yesterday’s sprint winner Ketterson held solidly onto his position, finishing in second (+12.4), while Hagenbuch came through in third (+24.4).

“I’m really psyched to win today,” Martin wrote in a post-race email. “Interval start classic races are my favorite, so racing today at Craftsbury was close to my ideal race. A big snow storm came through Thursday night into Friday, so today’s near perfect conditions are a testament to our incredible grooming crew. I started toward the end of the A-seed directly in front of Zak Ketterson. I believe Zak put some time on me in the first 3 or 4 k, but I was able to claw that back by the lap mark and narrowly increase my lead by the finish. It deserves mention in all races, but at home when I know many of the volunteers, I especially want to thank everyone who came out to help put the races on, and as always our incredibly hard working wax techs.”

The men’s 10 k classic podium after the second day of SuperTour racing in Craftsbury, VT. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

O’Connell finished fourth (+29.5) in the men’s overall, with Karl Schulz of Sun Valley next to round out the top-five (+38.1). It was a strong day for the Craftsbury Green Racing Project and the Sun Valley Gold Team, as both placed three skiers in the top-10.

In the collegiate race, Finn Sweet of UVM took first in a time of 28:08.5 beating two fellow Vermonters. Peter Wolter (MID) was not far behind, coming in second (+1.7). Fellow UVM skier, Gregory Burt finished third (+3.7). These athletes were 11th, 12th, and 14th in the overall standings, respectively.

10 k Classic Results:

Women | Men

Sunday: 7.5/10 k Freestyle Pursuit

The final day of racing in the Henchey Memorial Carnival featured a pursuit start for the 7.5/10-kilometer freestyle races, with start order and time back from the first starter determined by the previous stage’s results. Switching the order of the previous day, the men took to the course first, with Adam Martin (CGRP) heading out 12 seconds ahead of Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie). Johnny Hagenbuch (SVSEF) left the gate 24 seconds back, with Finn O’Connell (BSF Pro) next (+29.0), and Karl Schulz (SVSEF) starting fifth (+38.0).

With live timing giving splits solely based on time of day, overall position was tough to track from afar. As racers lapped through the 5 k checkpoint, Schulz had skied the fastest first lap, coming through midway in a time of 12:29.4. Goble Reid of BSF Pro came through with the second fastest time (+9.5), just ahead of teammate O’Connell (+10.3). Reid had started 13th, 1:18 back from Martin. Sam Wood (+12.9) of Sun Valley came through with the fourth-fastest time after starting 12th overall, 1:14 back. “Retired” long-time Craftsbury Green Racing Project team member Ben Lustgarten rounded out the top-five fastest splits at the midway point (+ 13.6). Both Martin (+37.8) and Ketterson (+25.4) were outside the top-10.

As mentioned, lap splits only tell part of the story. As the overall winner of the pursuit is whoever crosses the line first, moves and countermoves at the front of the field tell the true story of the day. Wearing a target on his back, Martin was quickly chased down by yesterday’s podium athletes, Ketterson and Hagenbuch. Lapping through the stadium, all three athletes raced together, heading out what would be a tactical second half. In the hunt were O’Connell and Schulz, both of whom were also within reach of the podium.

In the final kilometer, Hagenbuch began to lead the charge toward the finish, creating a small gap to Ketterson and Martin who were evenly matched as the leaders headed into the finish lanes. Hagenbuch held his advantage through the finish to stop the clock in a time of 26:02.0, which would also be the third fastest time of day.

Johnny Hagenbuch (SVSEF) pulls away for the win in the men’s 10 k freestyle pursuit, while Adam Martin (CGRP) and Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) fight for second and third. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

Dead even through the finish, Martin and Ketterson both crossed 1.2 seconds behind Hagenbuch, with second place going to Martin and third to Ketterson. O’Connell was next to the line for fourth (+3.3), with Schulz skiing the fastest time of day to take fifth (+13.0).

“It was a really fun weekend of racing in Craftsbury!” Hagenbuch wrote in a post-race email. “This was the first time I’ve competed here since I was a junior in high school in 2019, and happily the courses are much less intimidating now than they were then… The conditions for the classic race were just about as perfect as it gets; we may have raced on Blue Extra kickwax.”

Hagenbuch also provided a detailed look inside the men’s race, adding his own approach to the day, recognizing his time deficit and strengths.

“Being only 24 seconds back from Adam Martin at the start of the pursuit, I was pretty confident that I could at least catch him. I started with some intent, and I was able to reel in Zak Ketterson and Adam as Finn O’Connell and Karl Schulz reeled me in. The level of exertion dropped a lot once I caught the leaders, and I just tried to ski as smoothly as I could for the remainder of the first lap and the first half of the second five-kilometer lap. I picked up the pace at the start of the long climb from the low-point of the course – the one that includes ‘Screaming Mimi’ – and tried to hold high power through the climb. I established a decent gap – something that I didn’t necessarily expect – but had to keep pushing to hold off the chase group. Fortunately, I was able to maintain the lead and relax a little bit into the finish.”

The men’s podium after the 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit in Craftsbury, VT. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

This is Hagenbuch’s third consecutive 10 k freestyle win of the season; he also stood atop the podium after racing on his home trails in Sun Valley, then again following the 10 k free in Lake Placid two weeks later. Putting together a solid weekend in Craftsbury, the 20-year-old was also third in the sprint qualifier on Friday, which he described as “one of his bests”. A member of the 2022 Junior World Championships team, and a soon-to-be Dartmouth College student, Hagenbuch concluded with insight into what lies ahead for him over the next few months.

“I’ll stay in Craftsbury this week, and then I’ll go directly to the pre-camp for World Juniors/U23s in Norway, which will actually be my first time to the country. Post-World Juniors, I’d like to remain in Europe for whatever competitions are offered to me. I would then go directly to SuperTour Finals in Whistler. From Canada, I would leave on March 28th to miss the first day of school and start classes on Tuesday in Hanover. It will be a whirlwind, but I’m really looking forward to it!”

As only Friday and Saturday’s events were part of the UVM carnival, collegiate race numbers dwindled on Sunday. The top EISA skier for the second day in a row was Finn Sweet (UVM) with a winning time of 27:44.6. Going one-two for UVM, teammate Bjørn Westervelt was the second collegiate skier across the line (+3:04.4), while Bowdoin’s Carson Williams finished third (+3:59).

Katharine Ogden leads the women’s 7.5 k freestyle pursuit in Craftsbury. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

In the women’s 7.5 k pursuit, Katherine Ogden (SMS T2) was first on course with a sizable gap to the next racer. Her teammate, Alayna Sonnesyn, and APU’s Rosie Frankowski of APU Nordic headed out at 26 and 27 seconds back, respectively. Becca Rorabaugh of APU was next out of the start gate at 30 seconds back, with Alexandra Lawson of Craftsbury beginning 42 seconds back as the fifth starter.

Working to close the gap to Ogden during the first lap, Frankowski skied the fastest split through the 3.75k checkpoint with a time of 9:27.0 with Sonnesyn skiing the second fastest split (+1.9). Their work proved effective, as they caught the leader and lapped through the stadium as a group.

Rorabaugh had the third fastest 3.75 k split at the half (+14.7), while Lina Sutro (SMS T2) of SMS T2 skied the fourth fastest (+16.7) and Lawson the fifth (+15.9).

In Craftsbury’s Day 3 recap video (embedded below), produced by Mountain X Media, Frankowski described the second lap as “cat and mouse” as each of the athletes took advantage of her individual strengths to push different sections of the course. Eventually, Ogden began to fall off the pace, while Sonnesyn and Frankowski stayed tight through the final kilometer.

Rosie Frankowski (APU) leads Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) and Becca Rorabaugh (APU) up a climb during the women’s 7.5 k freestyle pursuit in Craftsbury. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

In the end, Sonnesyn found the advantage, heading into the finish lanes with a gap over the other two women to take the win in 19:40.5. Frankowski crossed 3.5 seconds back for second place, with Ogden taking third after a 23.5 second gap. Rorabaugh was fourth (+31.3), with Lawson fifth (+57.5). U18 standout Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic Club) skied her way from 9th to 6th (+1:31.8).

“I felt really good today and am excited about that!” Sonnesyn wrote to FasterSkier after the race. “It’s been a lot of racing the last 10 days and I was feeling the fatigue start to accumulate, but I’m also feeling confident in my distance skate skiing right now, so I was pretty excited to work hard out there.”

Over those ten days of racing, Sonnesyn has raced in five events and only missed the podium once in Friday’s freestyle sprint. She also won the 10 k mass start freestyle last weekend in Lake Placid.

“It was really fun to do a pursuit race today! We don’t typically do pursuits in the U.S. and the last few years I’ve only competed in World Cup pursuits where I started in the wave, so it was a unique and exciting day. I knew Rosie, Becca and I would want to work pretty hard in the beginning to chase down Katharine and that’s exactly what we did (although we never outwardly spoke about this plan with each other). We charged pretty hard from the start and once we became a full pack we started playing a little more cat and mouse on the second lap. We were all trying to conserve energy for the final few kilometers while also keeping up the pace, which made for some tactical racing.

“The last 1.5k are pretty much all uphill. From the bottom Rosie started charging again and I hung on. Prior to reaching the super steep pitch on Screaming Mimi, I put in a surge so I could take the most direct route around the corner. From there, I put my head down and gave it everything I had left up the last bit of the climb and into the finish.”

The women’s podium after the 7.5 k freestyle pursuit in Craftsbury, VT. (Photo: Craftsbury Outdoor Center/John Lazenby)

A graduate of UVM and now a member of the Stratton Mountain School T2 team, Sonnesyn has perhaps spent more of her competitive ski career based in the Northeast than near her childhood home in Plymouth, MN.

“The Midwest will always be my home but Vermont has become my second home the past eight years. It was pretty incredible hearing so many people cheering my name this weekend and definitely kept me charging up those hills. Really fun to be around such a great ski community and feel the love for the sport. Makes me appreciate this sport and all of the people in it!”

Wrapping up with her next steps, the two-time American Birkebeiner champion (2019 and 2021) has her eyes set on the Midwest’s marquee event.

“I’m currently en route back to the Midwest to spend a few weeks at home training for the Birkie. I’m excited to be back and the fever is definitely setting in!”

In the collegiate standings, UVM’s Annie McColgan took the win as the Catamounts topped both the men’s and women’s EISA podiums. McColgan’s time of 22:57.0 put her in 14th overall in the women’s standings. The second collegiate athlete was Emma Strack of St. Lawrence University (+2:20.9), with teammate Charlotte Browne in third (+6:15.5).

*****

As Period III draws to a close, the SuperTour race calendar breaks for the remainder of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The next race event will be the 50 k American Birkie, kicking off on February 26 in Hayward, WI.

7.5 / 10 k Freestyle Pursuit Results

Men | Women

It’s Ogden and Ketterson Again in the Craftsbury SuperTour Freestyle Sprint

Rachel Perkins — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 02:15:42 +0000

SuperTour racing continued on Friday in Craftsbury, Vermont, as part of the Henchey Memorial Carnival, which also included Eastern Cup and collegiate racing. The three-day event is presented by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, NENSA, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, and the University of Vermont (UVM), the EISA carnival host school.

Racers were faced with snowy conditions for the opening 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint as a winter storm made its way across the Northeast. Friday morning’s grooming report mentioned 6 inches of fresh snow, as more continued to fall throughout the morning.

On the women’s side, last weekend’s 10k freestyle winner, Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2), won the qualifier in 3:58.27, ahead of BSF Pro Team’s Lauren Jortberg in second and APU’s Rosie Frankowski in third. Perhaps a nod to the wintery conditions, these top three finishers were separated by over six seconds.

Sonnesyn advanced from the first heat of the quarterfinals into the semis, where she finished third in the first heat behind Katharine Ogden (SMS T2) and Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic Club), who crossed the line together, roughly 0.4 seconds ahead of Sonnesyn. As the second semi, which was won by Jortberg, was roughly four seconds faster on average, Sonnesyn did not earn a lucky loser spot in the final. Instead, Jortberg advanced with Anna Bizyukova of UVM, Frankowski, and Craftsbury’s own Margie Freed.

Despite the trend seen in the qualifier, the final featured tight racing, with the top five athletes finishing within two seconds of one another. Just 0.6 seconds separated second from fifth.

A scene from the women’s final of the 1.4k freestyle sprint in Craftsbury. (Photo: Instagram @nensa_nordic)

Coming out on top was Ogden, who won the final in 3:59.08. After racing on the World Cup from the opening races in Ruka through the midway point of the Tour de Ski, Ogden has gone three-for-three in SuperTour sprints since returning stateside, winning classic sprints in Soldier Hollow and Lake Placid before checking off a skate win today.

Just behind, Jortberg took second place (+1.30) with U18 athlete Thurston closing in third (+1.78). Bizyukova was next to the line in fourth (+1.86), with Frankowski less than a meter behind in fifth (+1.91). Freed rounded out the women’s final in sixth (+4.51).

“I think that the biggest thing to note about today was that it was blizzarding!” wrote Ogden in a post-race email. “The heavy falling snow made the heat racing very tactical and rewarded being very quick off of the line. There was one lane on the course that was packed down by traffic and the other areas were pretty soft!”

Ogden was just 11 points behind Caitlin Patterson on the Olympic qualification distance list, based on the athletes’ best two distance races on the SuperTour or at the U.S. Cross Country Championships, during which Ogden competed in only one race – the 10k individual start classic where she was second to Patterson. The following weekend in Sun Valley, she was second in one distance race and fourth in the other, behind three Olympians and ahead of Patterson in each. As the races at U.S. Nationals were scored at a higher point value, Patterson took the final Olympic spot, leaving Ogden on the wrong side of the cusp.

Nevertheless, Ogden has found silver linings in the additional time back east.

“It was a blast to be able to race with the EISA. I miss skiing for Dartmouth (Ogden graduated in 2021), so it was fun getting to ski with some of my old teammates and some new Dartmouth skiers. It was also pretty great to ski in lots of natural snow, we rarely get a snowstorm this big anymore and it was undeniably very fun.”

The women’s podium after the opening freestyle sprint race which kicked off a weekend of SuperTour, Eastern Cup, and EISA racing. (Photo: APU Nordic Ski Center / Instagram)

As Thurston is, remarkably, still in high school, Bizyukova was the top collegiate racer to earn today’s EISA sprint title. The second and third placed collegiate racers both hailed from Dartmouth College, with Callie Young finishing fifth in the first semifinal and 10th overall, and Jasmine Drolet taking sixth in the second semi for 11th overall.

The men of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) Gold Team swept the top-three spots in the men’s qualifier, with Karl Schulz leading the way in 3:23.48. Peter Holmes was 0.33 behind in second, with Johnny Hagenbuch in third (+1.21).

Schulz carried momentum from the qualifier win into the first quarterfinal, which he won by half a second, but his day ended soon after in the semifinal. Racing in a fast first heat that contained two eventual podium winners and found both lucky losers, Schulz was fifth in the heat, +1.72 behind winner Matias Øvrum of UVM. Sam Wood (SVSEF) was second in the heat, ahead of last weekend’s sprint winner Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) and Gregory Burt (UVM).

In the second semi, which was nearly three seconds slower, Canada’s Étienne Hébert (CNEPH) edged out Holmes by 0.1 seconds to go 1-2 and advance to the final round.

Zak Ketterson leads up the final climb in the men’s freestyle sprint final in Craftsbury. (Photo courtesy Zak Ketterson)

The top two spots in the final were decided by a close finish between Ketterson and Øvrum, with Ketterson crossing 0.28 ahead in a time of 3:22.57 to earn his third SuperTour sprint title of the season. Øvrum was second, though he was named the collegiate race winner for UVM, with Hébert crossing the line a few meters behind on his own in third (+2.17).

“I’ve always really liked racing at Craftsbury,” Ketterson wrote to FasterSkier after the race. “It’s an awesome place and this year Team Birkie has been lucky enough to stay right at the Outdoor Center. The race course is right out our back door!”

Ketterson also provided insights to the final round for those following from afar.

“The final was really close! I gave it everything I had at the top of the last hill but I definitely started to get tired and bogged down a bit into the finish. Matias skied a smart race and gave me a really good challenge in the last few meters but luckily I was able to fend him off. It was a tricky day with super soft fresh snow and I’m happy I was able to execute.”

Zak Ketterson races a snowy freestyle sprint qualifier in Craftsbury. (Photo courtesy Zak Ketterson)

Wood was fourth in the men’s final (+6.9), with Burt fifth (+7.17), and Holmes sixth (+10.82).

The men’s freestyle sprint podium after the opening day of SuperTour racing in Craftsbury. (Photo: Instagram @nensa_nordic)

As mentioned, Øvrum was the top collegiate racer, with Burt second, going one–two for UVM. Third place among college athletes was Allan Luke of Dartmouth, who finished sixth in the first semifinal and 12th overall.

Craftsbury’s Day 1 coverage of the the 2022 Henchey Memorial Carnival: SuperTour, NENSA Eastern Cup and UVM EISA carnival.

Results:

Women’s Qualifier | Heats | Collegiate

Men’s Qualifier | Heats | Collegiate

Full Heat Brackets

2022 Tour of Meissner – Community, Friends and Fun

FasterSkier — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 13:29:22 +0000

By Karen Jenkins

On Saturday, January 29, 2022, a field of 77 classic skiers toed the line to stride and glide 30km in the annual Tour of Meissner just outside Bend, OR. While Bend is known as host to the US Ski Team spring training camp on the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center ski trails there are other groomed Nordic ski trails in the greater Bend area. The Meissner Nordic Community Ski Trails are located entirely within the Deschutes National Forest and operate under a grooming agreement with the United States Forest Service (USFS). Partnering together for over 20 years, Meissner Nordic Ski Club and the USFS provide winter recreation to cross-country skiers and snowshoers. The 47 km of groomed ski trails and snowshoe trails start at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park, located west of Bend on Cascade Lakes Highway near mile marker 14.

The Tour of Meissner follows a meandering 30 km loop of rolling terrain between 5,000 feet and topping out at almost 6,000’. The longest climb was just over 3 km long, and purportedly one of the hills used by Canadian Olympic gold medalist Beckie Scott during her training for the Salt Lake City Olympics. With both steep-n-punchy and gentle-n-gradual climbs totaling 2,000 vertical feet, the uphill efforts were rewarded with fast and flowing descents.

Racers started in waves, with the first wave reserved for wooden skis. Tour of Meissner event organizer and volunteer extraordinaire David Smullin raced in this category and had exceptionally good grip by using start grip tape as a binder covered with Guru Extreme Klister. Well-known local Bend racer and World Masters competitor Mary Wellington raced to first place in the women’s division. Overall winner Peter Tiernan divulged his training success, “I just ski as hard as I can for as long as I can as often as I can”. He works winters at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center just up the road from the Meissner Sno-Park and guides raft trips in Alaska in the summer.

Supported by a strong team of dedicated volunteers and local Bend based businesses the Tour of Meissner is an event worth heading to Bend for. Many thanks to the volunteers of the Meissner Nordic Ski Club for organizing this 30 km classic race.

Results: https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=266315

About the author: Karen Jenkins teaches skiing at the Mt Hood Meadows Nordic Center. She says, “My suggestion for a future Tour of Meissner is to add another 10 -20km option and make the event a Birkie qualifier.”

Sonnesyn and Hagenbuch Top the Podium in Frigid 10k Mass Start Free

Rachel Perkins — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 13:28:22 +0000

Find coverage of Saturday’s classic sprint, day one of racing in the Lake Placid SuperTour weekend, here.

As a Nor’easter made its way up the eastern seaboard, the Adirondack Park in northeastern New York saw a biting cold snap, with overnight lows well below zero and highs barely increasing beyond the single digits. A sunrise Instagram story posted by Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) showed a temperature of -18 Fahrenheit, only two hours before the start of the women’s race at 10 a.m.

Nevertheless, the show went on, with senior men and women racing a three-lap 10-kilometer mass start freestyle race on the new World Cup trails at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.

Women’s 10k Mass Start Free

If you’ve been following our domestic race coverage, you may have noticed a theme in races where APU’s Rosie Frankowski has been amongst the favorites. She likes to put her boundless energy and high level fitness to use, setting a hot pace from the start rather than leaving it up to tactics and final sprint speed. It has so far served her well; Frankowski won two of the first three distance races, placing third in the 10k individual start classic in Cable, WI. At the U.S. Cross Country Championships, Rosie Brennan was off the front in a league of her own in the 20k mass start skate, however, Frankowski co-lead the chase pack with Caitlin Patterson, eventually pulling away in the final climb to take second.

Frankowski struggled in the 10k individual start classic a few days later, where a perfect storm of just-above-freezing temperatures and mixed precipitation led to significant discrepancies among athletes’ skis. In the subsequent distance races in Sun Valley, Frankowski was fifth in the skate and fourth in the classic, with Katharine Ogden (SMS T2) the only athlete ahead of her who is not on the 2022 Olympic Team.

Today followed the trend. Wearing a baggy bright yellow SuperTour leader bib, Frankowski got out with a fast start, creating a gap of over 20 seconds within the first lap.

“I don’t really race with a race plan, so I just thought I’d see how things panned out…” Frankowski explained after the race. “As was probably expected by my competitors, I went to the front right from the gun, mostly to just be able to ski the transition-y part of the sprint course not in a crowd, and then I was surprised to slightly pull away from the pack on the flat before the uphill working section. My only goal was to V2 as much of the course as possible since we’re at sea level again and you can’t attrition people as well on uphills as my beloved altitude racing.

“I felt good and surprisingly had quite a gap after the first lap, so I decided to just run with it and ski hard. However, skiing alone and getting hunted sometimes is fun, and sometimes is just stressful and not fun. Today happened to be more of the second option.”

Through the end of the second lap, it looked as if Frankowski would be unopposed, however, as she foreshadowed, another woman was racing on her own 17 seconds back. And she had a new gear she was about to engage.

Having raced the first lap near the front of a large group of roughly ten women, Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) had pulled away over the second lap. She made up eight seconds from her 17 second deficit in the second lap, and continued to gain ground on Frankowski in the final 3.3k.

With 1k to go, Sonnesyn was still 11 seconds behind Frankowski, but Sonnesyn had juice left to work the climbs, while Frankowski was about to hit lap traffic. With Frankowski now in her sights, Sonnesyn caught Frankowski on the final climb, working the downhill to enter the stadium with the advantage. She powered to the line for the win in 28:57.1, with Frankowski a few meters behind in second (+3.7).

Though she has been on the podium in both events this weekend, the last month has not been a smooth month of race preparation for Sonnesyn. With two wins, two second place finishes, and one third from the first two weekends of Period I SuperTour racing, she stood at the top of the leaderboard and earned starts at the Tour de Ski.

Heading to Europe with big aspirations, Sonnesyn wrote on Instagram that her performances in the Tour were “far from [her] hopes and expectations.” Her top results were 42nd in the classic sprint qualifier and 36th in the final hill climb, though only 46 women remained in the field at that point. Though the subsequent World Cups, in Les Rousses and Planica were canceled, which would have perhaps been another crack at a Top-30, Sonnesyn remained in Europe. A little over a week after the Tour, she tested positive for COVID.

This string of events could have shaken any athlete’s confidence, but this weekend has proven to be a morale re-builder.

“Going into today’s race I was cautiously optimistic,” Sonnesyn told FasterSkier after the race. “I was really pleased with my sprint performance Saturday and knew I had good energy, but was also wary of what type of fitness would be present after a crazy month battling COVID, international travel, canceled races… I didn’t know what to expect so I decided to take a more conservative approach to the day.”

Sonnesyn also took us inside the race, sharing both her strategy through the laps and her mindset.

“Rosie went out at an impressive pace and I thought for sure the rest of the race was going to be a battle for second place. Her tempo was super impressive on the climbs and only 1k into the race I didn’t have the confidence to stay with her. So I stayed with the pack to ski a bit more efficiently – drafting behind other racers, not pushing the pace too much, and conserving as much energy as I could. I was expecting the super cold snow and lack of fluoros to feel dead slow, but my skis actually felt pretty good and so did I, so on the second lap up the big climb I decided to go for it a bit more. I was able to make a gap on the rest of the field but for the next 3.3k of skiing I was mostly worried about them catching me again.

“I kept the pace pretty hot, but so did Rosie and I didn’t really think I had a chance to gain on her until I reached the top of the big climb on the final lap and realized it just might be possible. I skied the downhills and transitions as well as I possibly could and tried to get every inch of glide my skis would give me. The cheering on the final climb is what helped me believe in myself. It really got me up that hill and into Rosie’s draft on the final descent so I could make one final move in the last 200 meters. It was so fun to have such a big crowd back out there racing and cheering!”

After a month in Europe which, from the outside, could have looked like a skiers dream vacation full of mountain vistas, delicious food, and even more mouth watering ski trails, Sonnesyn wrote an honest and heart-wrenching blog posted titled “Rollin with the Punches” that walked her readers through the many challenges she faced over the course of her stay. Today, she concluded with how grateful she is for the win – both on the results sheet, and metaphorically, as she takes a much needed step forward to put disappointment in the rearview mirror.

“Overall, I’m very pleased with the weekend and not taking any of it for granted! It’s been a tough month for me health wise (both mentally and physically) so I’m really happy to be back in the U.S. racing and enjoying it again!”

Frankowski and Sonnesyn have gone back and forth in distance races all season. In the first distance race, Frankowski won and Sonnesyn was third, then it was one-two in the first race in Cable, before Sonnesyn flipped the order and won their third distance matchup, while Frankowski was third. Both women’s post race comments demonstrated the respect they have for one another as competitors.

“I tried to ski smoothly through the second and third lap,” Frankowski explained as she took FasterSkier through the race. “I’d have loved to have someone to work with a bit more, but “asi es la vida”. In the end, Alayna put in an impressive effort to catch me during the second half of the race. When I went down the big downhill into the sprint climb, I had to slalom some lapped skiers and lost enough seconds that I just didn’t have enough time at the top of the sprint hill for the final downhill finish to hold her off. Congrats to Alayna on a very strong race.”

After a gap, a chase pack surged toward the stadium in a tight race for the third podium spot. Pulling ahead over the final kilometer, Becca Rorabaugh headed to the line with an advantage to take third (+36.6), just ahead of Erika Flowers (BSF Pro) in fourth (+38.5). Yesterday’s winner, Katharine Ogden, took fifth (+40.3), just ahead of U18 athlete Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic Club) in sixth (+41.4).

Frankowski praised her teammate in the conclusion of her email.

“Shout out to my teammate, Becca, who skied really smart and won the sprint of her pack to finish third. Also, a huge thank you to our APU wax tech, Jack, and Mt. Van Hoevenberg. I was impressed by the race courses and amazing tourist trails here, and the organizers and volunteers did a fantastic job, especially with absolutely frigid conditions all weekend.”

Men’s 10k Mass Start Free

The men’s field saw a different style of racing. After the first lap, the top-14 were within five seconds of one another, and only two fell off pace during the second lap. There, the racing truly began.

SVSEF Gold Team member Johnny Hagenbuch powered off the front, with a move that proved more effective than even he had imagined. At the 9k checkpoint, Hagenbuch had put nearly 20 seconds on his chasers. Laying off the gas only slightly, he cruised to the stadium to finish unopposed in 24:35.3.

“This season has been strikes and gutters, ups and downs through and through for me, and this weekend continued that theme,” Hagenbuch reflected in a post-race email. “I’m all for the movement towards having more equality in the distances of men’s and women’s races, but I would also say that a 10-kilometer mass-start is decidedly chaotic. For the first two 3.3-kilometer laps, I was literally just trying to avoid breaking poles or falling, which was a tall order with some fairly close calls. Besides trying to avoid trouble, I felt really good despite the cold temperatures, which I know was not the case for everyone.

“The pace felt fairly controlled and relaxed through the first two laps, and I hit the main climb on the course pretty hard on the last lap. I wasn’t really expecting my move to be that decisive, but I had a fairly big gap when I looked back midway up the climb. It was nice to have some time to look back and watch the finish to see my teammate Peter Wolter continue his upward trend and hit his first top-six position and podium of the season.”

This is Hagenbuch’s second consecutive 10k skate win, having won the individual start race on his home tracks in Sun Valley during the last SuperTour weekend. Having celebrated his 20th birthday earlier this month, Hagenbuch is preparing for his first U23 World Championships which will take place in Lygna, Norway at the end of February. He was a member of the last three World Junior Championship teams and helped earn the U.S. two gold medals in the men’s relay, back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.

Hagenbuch weighed in on the recently updated course in Mt. Van Hoevenberg, providing insights into how it affected the race strategy and outcome, ending with a comment on future racing he looks forward to in the future.

“The new course is super fun! It definitely is a course that I like; it’s characterized by a principle large climb to the high point and then a ripping downhill with banked corners. There was a large drafting effect on the long downhill, so I was happy with sitting in fifth or sixth for the first two laps – tactics that I have not always shown to be effective this season. I’m very excited for the NCAA Championships to be here next year when I’ll be competing for Dartmouth.”

With 1k to go, a pack of five men remained in contention for the podium. At the 9k checkpoint, the front runners were Finn O’Connell (BSF Pro), Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie), and Adam Martin (CGRP). Over the final kilometer, this group shook up their order and began to string out, arriving at the finish separated by a few seconds each.

For the podium, it was SuperTour leader Adam Martin (CGRP) in second (+11.6), roughly two seconds ahead of Peter Wolter (SVSEF) in third (+13.8). O’Connell hung on for fourth (+14.9), with Akeo Maifeld-Carucci (CGRP) fifth (+18.4), and Ketterson sixth (+20.1).

“Particularly after falling in the sprint yesterday, I was quite relieved to make it through the first chaotic kilometer on my feet and with both poles intact,” Martin wrote to FasterSkier after the race. “Finn O’Connell led an honest pace for the majority of the first two laps. Then, John Hagenbuch made a strong, successful move on the loop’s longest climb at the beginning of the third lap. This strung out the field, and Finn and I caught up to Zak Ketterson (second position at the time) before we descended towards the finish. After the descent, I was able to create a small separation on the sprint hill. I maintained that through the finish, just ahead of a big pack sprint.”

Across the board, athletes have had positive remarks on the renovations that have happened at VanHo, and Martin added to the compliment jar to end his email.

“This was my first time at the redone Lake Placid venue, and it’s an amazing complex. Both courses were challenging, the trails were very wide, and there was plentiful man made snow cover. Finally, I was super excited to have my teammate Akeo also in the top 6 today!”

The men’s 10k mass start freestyle podium in Lake Placid. Johnny Hagenbuch (SVSEF) took the win ahead of Adam Martin (CGRP) in second and Peter Wolter (SVSEF) in third. Finn O’Connell (BSF Pro) was fourth, with Akeo Maifeld-Carucci (CGRP) fifth, and Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) sixth. (Photo: © 2022 Nancie Battaglia)

Racing continues on Friday February 4th at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. The three-day race weekend will begin with a freestyle sprint, followed by a 10k interval start classic on Saturday, and a 7.5/10k freestyle pursuit on Sunday. The weekend will again serve as a SuperTour event, an Eastern Cup junior national qualifier, and an EISA carnival. A 10k skate “Zak Cup” popular race will cap off the weekend as the final event.

Results:

Men | Women

Race Rundown: Lake Placid SuperTour Continues with 10k Mass Start Free

Rachel Perkins — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:09:21 +0000

Here’s a quick results recap from today’s SuperTour 10-kilometer mass start freestyle race in Lake Placid, NY. Stay tuned tomorrow for detailed coverage including comments from athletes.

Racing continued at Mt. Van Hoevenberg this morning in what Weather.com called “bitterly cold” conditions. Near-zero temperatures and skate skiing can be a challenging combination for a distance race on a World Cup–level course, but racers nonetheless put together strong performances on the three-lap 10-kilometer course.

In the women’s race, Rosie Frankowski (APU) set the pace with a fast start, leading through the 9k checkpoint. Having steadily reeled her in, Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) caught Frankowski in the final kilometer, pushing ahead in the final meters to take the win in 28:57.1. Frankowski crossed the line in second (+3.7), with APU Teammate Becca Rorabaugh leading a chase pack to the finish to cross third (+36.6).

The men raced second today, with BSF Pro Team’s Finn O’Connell leading a sizable group through 6.6k. From there, SVSEF Gold Team member Johnny Hagenbuch turned up the pace, creating a gap over the final lap to finish unopposed in 24:35.3. Duking it out to the final stretch, Adam Martin (CGRP) took second (+11.6), roughly two seconds ahead of Peter Wolter (SVSEF) in third (+13.8).

Results:

Men | Women

Ketterson and Ogden Take Classic Sprint Win on New Tracks at Mt Van Hoevenberg

FasterSkier — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 13:42:35 +0000

By Rachel Bachman Perkins and Ben Theyerl

After a brief break, the SuperTour picked up in Lake Placid this weekend, with a fluoro-free Period III kicking off with a 1.5-kilometer classic sprint. The frigid forecast called for overnight lows of -5 Fahrenheit, with a wind chill as low as -23F. Highs during the day were only predicted to climb into the low single digits. Qualifiers were scheduled for 10/10:45 am, with quarterfinals for the open men beginning at noon – hopefully, enough time for a few degrees of warmth to reach the trails.

The weekend competitions would be hosted on Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s new World Cup trails, which are paved for rollerski use in the summer, and played host to NENSA’s “Keys to the Castle” sprint event in September. For those familiar with the venue, the new courses are tucked into the north-facing hillside, just south of the 1980 Olympic stadium and biathlon range. The new serpentine loop intersects with the final Ks of the classic “Ladies 5” outer loop, but overall remains closer to the stadium to allow access to the recently improved snowmaking system.

Jessie Diggins (SMS T2/USST) pushes over the climb during the final round of the Keys to the Castle sprint. (Photo: Matt Whitcomb)

With a large reservoir and advanced technology, this new World Cup loop can be made winter competition ready within four days, though Van Hoevenberg’s nearly 50k of open trail might suggest that coverage is not currently an issue.

There was praise for the course from many athletes, including those that have seen both Lake Placid, and everywhere in the world beyond Lake Placid.

“It raced much more like a world cup course!” said Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS), in an email to FasterSkier. Katharine Ogden (SMS) too, said of the course, “it was WAY more fun than the old one…[which] was pretty flat.”

The course designers at Lake Placid seem to have carefully been taking notes on what makes sprint racing exciting over the course of its evolution as a discipline in the sport. An historic venue for American skiing, these developments may be a long-time coming for Mt. Van Hoevenberg, but it’s clear that they were executed with mastery so VanHo can continue to expand upon its legacy in the decades to come.

This course featured a long, final uphill climb to test a skier’s mettle, then a short, technical downhill into the finish to test their tactical brains. And in between; transitions, transitions, and more transitions.

Becca Rorabaugh (APU) said of this : “The final climb always turned into a drag race, and I liked the pitch because it favored a bit of a stride over an all-out run. Skiers still had to be alert through the downhill and finish, though; positions often changed in the stadium.”

The weekend, hosted by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) in Lake Placid, also served as the second NENSA Eastern Cup weekend. Thus, senior athletes from American elite clubs lined up alongside regional junior racers, eastern collegiate racers, and Canadian athletes who traveled from Quebec, Ontario, and beyond. 382 athletes, 176 women and 206 men, on the start lists for the qualifier, and separate heats were run for the U18/U20 and U16 categories.

Without livestream, FasterSkier has relied on live timing and athlete interviews to shed light on how the sprint races unfolded.

Men’s 1.5-kilometer Classic Sprint

After returning from a stint in Europe where he raced the Tour de Ski, Team Birkie’s Zak Ketterson set the mark in the men’s qualifier, stopping the clock at 3:04.79. Sun Valley’s Peter Holmes skied the next fastest time in qualification (+0.72), while Étienne Hébert was just behind in third (+1.41). Hébert hails from Quebec and currently trains at the Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre-Harvey (CNEPH), based at Mont Ste Anne.

Each of these men moved smoothly through the rounds, with Ketterson getting edged out by Bill Harmeyer (SMS T2) in the first semi, and Homes and Hébert going 1-2 in the second. Racing in the second semi saw a tighter spread and faster times, bringing Julien Locke (Black Jack Ski Club) and Logan Diekmann (BSF Pro) who had finished a close third and fourth, respectively, along to the final as lucky losers.

The final featured a tight finish among the top four men, with Ketterson off the front to finish in 3:04.71, earning his second consecutive classic sprint victory. Ketterson had dominated the classic sprint in Cable, WI, and stood at the top of the SuperTour leaderboard, thereby earning start spots for the Tour de Ski. The timing of the Tour caused him to miss the subsequent classic sprint in Soldier Hollow, UT.

During the Tour, his first World Cup starts, Ketterson was less than a second shy of qualifying for the classic sprint heats in Oberstdorf, Germany, and had been roughly five second out of the Top-30 the day prior in a 15k skate. He was the only American on the men’s team to finish the Tour. After the Tour, Ketterson made a quick turnaround to attend the weekend of distance racing in Sun Valley, Idaho, where his results (15th in the 15k classic and 34th in the 10k free) were far below what might be expected from him.

Zak Ketterson races the freestyle sprint qualifier in Lenzerheide, SUI, the first event of the 2021/22 Tour de Ski. (Photo: NordicFocus)

In a post-race email to FasterSkier, Ketterson shared how he felt about the Tour and what the recovery process has been like for him.

“The Tour de Ski was a fantastic learning experience with lots of ups and downs. I am pretty happy with my performance on the Tour given it was my first time on the World Cup, but I definitely think I will be faster next time around now that I have had the experience. Post Tour I was incredibly empty, both physically and mentally. To have to change gears pretty much immediately after the last stage of the Tour and head straight to Sun Valley for some super competitive SuperTour races at high altitude was definitely a recipe for disaster on my body. I felt like I was just going through the motions and my body wanted nothing to do with those races.

“These last few weeks at home in Minneapolis provided me with some long-overdue recovery. My hunch after some really lackluster racing in Sun Valley was that there was no need to overthink anything and that the issue was probably just that I was tired. I took time at home to mentally and physically reset and started to feel a lot more like myself as the Placid races approached. Today, it all came together and I felt a lot more race-ready.”

Ketterson also commented on the improvements that have been made at the Mt Van Hoevenberg venue, explaining how it supports the growth and elevation of domestic skiing.

“I am blown away with the venue at Mt. Van Hoevenberg! The venue truly feels like it’s ready for World Cups, or even another Olympics. It’s really inspiring to see big investments into nordic skiing venues in the United States, and I can’t stress enough how big it is for us athletes. I can’t wait to come back to Lake Placid sometime later to really experience this place because I think it’s so awesome here.”

Behind Ketterson, just 0.26 seconds separated second through fourth in the men’s final. Holmes won the boot slide to snag second (+0.72), while Harmeyer took the final podium spot in third (+0.92). Hébert was just 0.06 seconds shy of the podium, ending the day in fourth (+0.98).

Harmeyer provided insights into his approach to the day, along with insights into the moves that contributed to the excitement at the finish line.

“I felt really good in the heats today,” he wrote via email. “The course was certainly difficult and tactical. Placement in the group was really important and that was especially apparent in the final. We had a group of four dudes going over the top of the final climb into the long descent before the finish. It was an absolute scramble trying to get into the tracks on that final downhill. At one point, I had my left ski in the right part of the track and Étienne had his right ski in the left side of the track. Not easy to squeeze two guys going 30+ mph into a single track but somehow, I came out ahead which was just enough to lunge at the finish for third.”

During Period I, Harmeyer took third in the classic sprint final in Cable, and was just off the podium in fourth the weekend prior after the freestyle sprint in Duluth, MN. After qualifying in fifth, a crash in the quarterfinal left him 24th in the freestyle sprint in Soldier Hollow during the U.S. Cross Country Championships. A few days later, he was 51st in the 15k classic. In the Soldier Hollow SuperTour classic sprint, Harmeyer qualified in fourth, and just missed the final to end his day in eighth.

Reflecting on the season as a whole, Harmeyer wrote, “I had a really good start to the season with some strong races in the Midwest. But overall, things have been frustrating. I’ve been struggling with some cold weather triggered exercise induced asthma that got really bad after the first supertours in the Midwest. I continued to struggle with it through a disappointing Senior nationals and decided to take a bit of time off to reset, recover and do some testing. I’m hopeful the worst is behind me and that I’ve got some good protocols lined up to prevent anything from happening in the future. My primary goal for the remainder of the season is to win the Stowe Derby, specifically the derby meister.”

Wrapping up with a comment on the venue, Harmeyer added, “The new courses at Lake Placid are sweet! The sprint course is incredibly tactical but also rewards tough, explosive skiing. I had an absolute blast out there in the heats. The distance courses are hard but I’m excited to be doing a mass start on those for this Sunday. Overall, Van Ho has done a great job with course management and their snowmaking to put together some killer courses.”

After a gap, Diekmann crossed the line in fifth (+5.81), while Locke rounded out the men’s final in sixth (+9.11).

Women’s 1.5-kilometer Classic Sprint

The women’s field began right where it left off in SuperTour classic sprints, with the winner of the last race at Soldier Hollow, Katharine Ogden, (SMS) finishing the qualifier in first place (3:40.49). She was followed by Lauren Jortberg (BSF Pro Team) in second (+2.2), and Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic Club) in third (+6.1). The qualifier indicated, again, the overall strength of the field that has characterized this year’s SuperTour, with the heat qualifiers all within 30-seconds of each other (26.0 seconds to be exact).

That field remained tight in the quarterfinals as well. All five quarterfinals saw winning times within a mere five seconds of one other, with Katharine Ogden turning in the fastest time of the round at 3:42.77, and Alayna Sonnesyn winning her heat in 3:46.12.

Ogden commented to FasterSkier that she “didn’t really have any strategy in particular. I find that it is better for me to make strategy in the moment during sprint heats because you never know what’s going to happen out there… I just tried to conserve as much energy as possible in the quarter and semi.” It would pay off later on.

Meanwhile, also progressing to the semifinals was the APU one-two punch of Rosie Frankowski and Becca Rorabaugh out of quarterfinal 2. Despite being primarily known as a distance racer, Frankowski, came into today leading the SuperTour sprint classification and “set a blistering pace,” according to teammate Rorabaugh. With it, she pulled the duo into the semifinals together.

After all the quarterfinals were through, the semifinals were set with a who’s-who at the top of the SuperTour sprint standings, rounded out by Canadian Katie Weaver (Hollyburn XC Ski Club) and Minnesotan Margie Freed (Craftsbury).

The first semifinal featured a battle between two SMS T2 teammates, Katharine Ogden and Alayna Sonnesyn, and two APU teammates, Rosie Frankowski and Becca Rorabaugh. Frankowski again set the pace for the heat, with teammate Rorabaugh commenting that “[Rosie] is so strong on the uphills that she pulls the whole heat to a faster time.” Frankowski, however, couldn’t quite outlast Ogden and Sonnesyn, who used the downhill after the final climb to launch into the first two positions. Ogden won the heat in a time of 3:39.23, with Sonnesyn and Frankowski in second and third, respectively, by less than a second. Rorabaugh finished fourth, but along with Frankowski won the lucky loser spots into the finals – setting up another round of the SMS-APU duel.

In the other semifinal, a close battle throughout yielded a win for Lauren Jortberg (3:45.15) and a second place for Erika Flowers (+0.90). The result sent another teammate pairing into the finals, with both skiers coming from Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF).

At Lake Placid – a place that has over the past century proved to be able to gather the entire world around skiing – it was perhaps appropriate that the women’s final would bring together three teams from across the American continent. Two from Vermont (SMS), two from Montana, two from Alaska (APU), and away they went!

Katharine Ogden commented that the field didn’t waste any time: “It was pretty hard from the gun, as per usual.”

Rorabaugh, meanwhile, made a change in strategy, deciding to follow her teammate Frankowski more closely in the early part of the race. “I was trying to stay closer to the front of the pack since I had let a large gap form in the semifinal that I couldn’t make up,” she explained.

That adjustment was one that helped create a pack that was tight throughout the race, and that was a bit harder to find a position in.

Sonnesyn commented that this led to her having to adjust. “I had great energy but got tangled up a few times on the second hill, so I really had to ski from behind in the second half of the race,” she wrote. “Luckily, I had great skis and remained calm and was able to push through the final stretch.”

In that final stretch, on the final hill, a “drag race,” as Rorabaugh described it, ensued. It was instigated by Ogden, who saw the final climb as the place to make her move, and made it. She came over the top in first place.

“[I] got lucky,” she told FasterSkier. “Pat [O’Brien, SMS T2 head coach] had provided me with some really fast skis that allowed my move to stick going back down the hill.”

Perhaps it wasn’t all luck though. Ogden came across the finish line in first place (3:40.13) after winning the qualifier, her quarterfinal, and her semifinal. It was an all-around dominant performance for one of the U.S. brightest stars in the classic sprint.

Meanwhile, Becca Rorabaugh had powered through the transition into the final downhill and came up with the reward of second place (+3.40), She was followed by Alayna Sonnesyn, who remained cool, calm, and collected as she skied her way through the pack to third place (+4.29).

The final was rounded out by fourth place Rosie Frankowski (+4.74), fifth place Lauren Jortberg (+5.63) and sixth place Erika Flowers (+17.77).

The result was reached at the end of an exciting day that encapsulated the beauty of ski racing – with excitement and energy perfectly juxtaposed against the extreme absence of that energy in the air. Preparing for cold temperatures that are forecasted again for the 10k freestyle mass start tomorrow, the top finishers today all expressed that the temps are part of the appeal in the northeast this weekend.

From Rorabaugh, “I don’t mind cold temperatures – I grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska!”

From Sonnesyn, “I like to think the Midwesterner in me prepared well!”

And from Ogden, the perfect Vermont tip: “As Sverre [Caldwell] told us last night, tricky race conditions can work to your advantage if you prepare better than anyone else. Wise man :)”

Results

Qualification: Men | Women

Sprint Brackets

Race Rundown: Ketterson and Ogden Win SuperTour Classic Sprint in Lake Placid

Rachel Perkins — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 22:51:54 +0000

Here’s a quick results recap from today’s SuperTour classic sprint in Lake Placid, NY. Stay tuned tomorrow for detailed coverage including comments from athletes.

Period III of SuperTour racing kicked off in Lake Placid this morning with a frigid classic sprint. Recent improvements at Mt Hoevenberg included a new 5-kilometer World Cup and 1.5k sprint course, where athletes faced off today.

On the men’s race, Zak Ketterson (Team Birkie) skied the fastest time in the men’s qualifier, stopping the clock at 3:04.79. Sun Valley’s Peter Holmes skied the next fastest time in qualification (+0.72), while Étienne Hébert (CNEPH) was just behind in third (+1.41).

In a tightly spread final, Ketterson found the advantage to take the win in 3:04.71. The second and third podium spots were decided by a boot slide, which included the fourth place skier who just missed the mark. These men were Holmes (+0.72) in second, with Bill Harmeyer (SMS T2) in third (+0.92), and Hébert in fourth (+0.98). Logan Diekman (BSF Pro) skied to fifth in the men’s final, with (+5.81), with Julien Locke (Black Jack Ski Club) in sixth (+9.11).

Following her dominant performance in the most recent SuperTour classic sprint, Katharine Ogden (USST/SMS T2) swept the women’s race. Ogden was the top qualifier in 3:40.49, with Lauren Jortberg in second (+2.13) and U18 racer Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic Club) in third (+6.04).

Ogden won her way through the rounds, taking the first quarterfinal and semi by narrow margins before smashing the final round to win by over three seconds in 3:40.13. Becca Rorabaugh (APU) was second in the women’s final (+3.40), with Alayna Sonnesyn (SMS T2) in third (+4.29), just ahead of Rosie Frankowski (APU) in fourth (+4.74). Jortberg was fifth in the final (+5.63), with BSF teammate Erika Flowers in sixth (+17.77).

Results

Qualification: Men | Women

Sprint Brackets

Norris and Brennan Lead a Strong Showing for APU with Wins at the SuperTour 15k Mass Start Classic

FasterSkier — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 13:32:01 +0000

By Rachel Bachman Perkins and Ella Hall

The 2022 Sun Valley Nordic Invitational continued Sunday with 10/15-kilometer mass start classic races, featuring SuperTour, RMISA collegiate, and Intermountain junior national qualifier divisions. With overnight temperatures in the low teens which rose to roughly 20 degrees Fahrenheit by start time, tracks looked ideal for kicking and gliding on the meticulously groomed trails at the Lake Creek Ski Center in Ketchum, ID.

The opening meters of the women’s 10k mass start classic, with Rosie Brennan setting the pace in her blue APU race suit. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Today’s races featured four laps each, with men starting the morning off on a 3.75k loop that featured three progressively larger climbs, totaling roughly 417 feet of climbing per lap. The women raced next on a 2.5k loop, which truncated the third and most significant climb of the men’s loop to reduce the lap length.

Men’s 15k Mass Start Classic:

After his victory in Saturday’s 10k individual start skate, local Johnny Hagenbuch (USST/SVSEF) moved into second place in the overall SuperTour rankings, still led by Adam Martin of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. Martin won the 15k individual start classic at the U.S. Cross Country Championships just ten days ago, taking his first national title. With fellow national championship podium finishers Scott Patterson and JC Schoonmaker also taking part in today’s classic mass start, along with a number of other accomplished competitors in a field of 122 athletes, the stage was set for an exciting race.

Ian Torchia pulls the lead group around a bend early in the men’s 15k mass start classic in Sun Valley. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

In the end, it was another strong day for APU as they put together yet another podium sweep. Today, the APU men were led by David Norris, who took the win in a time of 36:50.5. Hunter Wonders finished second (+8.0), after outsprinting his teammate, Scott Patterson, in the final meters, leaving Patterson in third (+8.5).

“Lake Creek and all the Sun Valley trails are in such good condition right now,” wrote Norris in a post-race email to FasterSkier. “Earlier in the week I skied with the team at four different trailheads, and they were all so nice.”

Given the field size, level of competition, and relatively short lap length, one might expect congestion on the course, or the dreaded accordion that can sometimes occur as the pack repeatedly stretches out and compresses, making it hard for athletes in the later half of the pack to ski consistently. Norris explained that this was not an issue during today’s mass start.

“The course today is one of the harder courses in the U.S. and because of that the pack wasn’t overly crowded. I was surprised by how large of a group we had for the first three laps. I felt really relaxed skiing within the pack. Until Scott started pulling away from the lead group at the end of the third lap, I don’t think I had been in the top five. I bridged up to Scott on the last uphill of the third lap and then he, Hunter and I skied together until the last 1km of the race.”

David Norris leads the way through a corner on his way to a win in the SuperTour 15k mass start classic in Sun Valley. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

“Approaching the last hill, I went to the front and right away felt a small gap open up so I pushed it to the top of the course where I had a solid gap that stayed to the finish. It’s really nice to put this race together after a really slow start to the season. The APU coaches have been working super hard and it was super cool to be a part of such a great day for the team.”

Norris concluded by sharing his upcoming objectives, perhaps foreshadowing tomorrow’s release of the 2022 Olympic team. Today’s result moved Norris into third place in the SuperTour overall standings, behind Adam Martin in first and Scott Patterson in second. In the Olympic qualification standings for distance racing, Norris is also third, with Patterson first and Martin second.

“From here I’m likely racing the Boulder Mountain Tour and the Birkie, which I’m excited about.”

Scott Patterson races to third place in the SuperTour 15k mass start classic in Sun Valley. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

In Patterson’s post-race comment to FasterSkier, he echoed Norris’ statement that congestion was not an issue, particularly as they had started at the front-edge of the pack. Patterson did add, however, that some obstacles arose as they began to lap some of the skiers finishing near the back.

“Many were great about stepping over to the side,” Patterson explained. “But there were a few who were very focused on their own race and didn’t recognize our group charging through.”

Patterson also shared his version of the race narrative, including the final move that moved Wonders one step up the podium.

“The race started pretty hot. I was surprised to end up in about 15th off the line even from the tip of the chevron. However, by about a kilometer in, the pace had settled and I was back up near the front. Johnny Hagenbuch and Hunter (Wonders) did a lot of the work on the early two laps. I mostly stayed near the front, but was keeping it relatively casual and felt ready for some hard pushes later.

On the third lap up Torin’s Tucker or the South Bench climb, I decided it was time to make it a real race. My move quickly split the lead pack. I had some space behind, but David and Hunter were able to rejoin after the long descent down to the stadium. I continued to lead for most of the fourth lap before David put in a good charge up the final large climb. He got a little space from me, while I slightly distanced Hunter on the climb. However, Hunter’s finish came into play as he chased me down and out sprinted me into the finish.”

Scott Patterson makes his move, leading APU teammates David Norris and Hunter Wonders. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Giving another nod to the coaches, Patterson celebrated his team’s success, despite finishing below where he would have liked.

“It was another sweet day for APU with the sweep. I am a little disappointed to have made most of the animating moves myself and only end up on the bottom step of the podium, but it is cool to see David and Hunter put together good ones. Our coaches put in a lot of hard work this week on top of a hard nationals to make it possible.”

Though perhaps more vague than Norris, Patterson also concluded with what is next on deck for him.

“I’m heading to my parent’s in Bozeman now,” Patterson said. “My plan is to put together a good training block there at somewhat altitude and get ready for the next races.”

As mentioned, Patterson put himself on top of the Olympic qualification rankings with the combined points of his win in the 30k skate and second place finish in the 15k classic; both events are on the Olympic schedule. While the five guaranteed spots of the men’s quota have likely been filled by those with stronger early-season World Cup results (note that Patterson had wrist surgery in October, which set him back performance-wise until recently), this indicates that Patterson would likely snag the sixth spot should one be added to the U.S. quota after reallocation, happening later this week. (Find more information on quotas and selection here.)

The top six men surround the podium following the 15-kilometer mass start classic in Sun Valley. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Lacking a livestream video and intermediate splits in the live timing, it is difficult to make many observations about the race other than those apparent in the finish times. Breaking up the string of four APU men who finished in the top-five, Ian Torchia (SMS T2) finished fourth again (+28.1), on the heels of a fourth place finish in the 10k skate on Saturday. In another finish-line sprint, Torchia crossed just ahead of APU’s Zanden McMullen (+28.2) with University of Denver’s Bernhard Flaschberger just behind in sixth (+28.4).

In the collegiate standings, Flaschberger skied his way to a double victory in Sun Valley. Sam Hendry (U of Utah) also earned a double podium, taking second place today after yesterday’s third, just one second behind Flaschberger and in eighth overall. Rounding out the collegiate podium, Andreas Kirkeng of University of Denver came in third (+24.1) for RMISA and tenth overall.

The RMISA men’s podium after the 15k mass start skate in Sun Valley. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Women’s 10k Mass Start Classic:

While there was no official livestream, APU’s Forrest Mahlen did record an Instagram live of the women’s race on the APU account, which offers some insights into the action. The footage and commentary are perhaps a significant step down from that offered in Soldier Hollow, but the primary storyline was nevertheless clear from the start. By the time Rosie Brennan (USST/APU) passed Mahlen, just over a minute into the race, she had created a five second gap over the remainder of the women’s field.

Unmatched, Rosie Brennan wins the women’s 10k mass start classic by nearly a minute. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Gun to tape, Brennan put on a clinic. Unmatched, she time-trialed her way around each of the four laps to finish in 29:35.3, nearly a minute ahead of the next racer. Brennan explained after the race that she was not totally prepared for classic races, as her original plans for her U.S. altitude block changed with the cancellation of the Les Rousses and Planica World Cups. Despite the time away from the main hub of the likely U.S. Olympic squad who are now training in Livigno, Italy, Brennan has seemingly thrived as she continues to hone her mental and physical sharpness before heading to China.

“I was honestly quite nervous for the race because I was never planning to do a classic race while I was home,” Brennan shared after the race. “I only brought home two pairs of training classic skis, so I wasn’t sure if it would be enough in this very strong field of women. Luckily, they were both cold skis and we did have cold, hardpack conditions today. APU did a great job preparing them and turning them into good race skis so it was alright in the end.”

More of a time trial than mass start, Rosie Brennan gaps the women’s field early, eventually winning the race by nearly a minute. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Speaking to her race strategy, Brennan continued, “I started hard to try to simulate what I will encounter in Beijing. I wasn’t sure what the other girls would do so I just really tried to focus in on strong skiing. This is only my 3rd classic race of the year so I really wanted the practice of holding my technique together, finding a relaxed stride, and all while at altitude. I felt really strong on the long climb and was able to find a good groove, so I pulled away on that climb and then had to just keep pushing. It was a good mental challenge with a four lap race at altitude. I was definitely feeling tired on lap 3 and had to turn my mind around and find a way to push hard again that last lap in preparation for the Olympics. All in all, it was a good weekend to get some hard efforts in before we start to taper and focus in on Beijing.”

Leading the chase pack in the final lap, Katharine Ogden (USST/SMS T2) skied to second place for the women (+55.4). Ogden was second in the 10k classic during the U.S. Cross Country Championships, the only event she contested, and finished fourth in yesterday’s 5k free.

Rosie Brennan has a medal placed around her neck by SVSEF youth athlete after winning the women’s 10k mass start classic. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Next to the line was Novie McCabe (USST/U of Utah) in third (+1:07.6), her second third place finish of the weekend.

“It was fun for sure!” McCabe wrote in a post-race email. “I’ve always liked racing in Sun Valley and haven’t done too many mass starts this season so I was stoked for this one! We had a good group for the first three laps and it was kind of nice to just try and settle in and find a good pace. Overall, I felt good and am super happy with how things ended up. My skis were also amazing, which for sure didn’t hurt!!”

Rosie Frankowski skis to fourth in the SuperTour 10k mass start classic in Sun Valley. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Rosie Frankowski (APU) was fourth to the line (+1:17.1), with Sydney Palmer-Leger (USST/U of Utah) behind in fifth (+1:26.4), leading her teammate Sophia Laukli who finished roughly a second behind her in sixth (+1:27.2). Improving on yesterday’s result, Caitlin Patterson (CGRP) was next to the line in seventh (+1:35.7).

Going 3-5-6 in the overall standings set the women of Utah up nicely for a back-to-back podium sweep, the first time any RMISA team has done so within the same meet since 2013, according to the team’s press release. A look at the roster shows the Utes as the U.S. Ski Team-lite. A force to be reckoned with, the Utah women’s team has now won each of the five RMISA races this season.

Sydney Palmer-Leger skis to third overall and rakes the RMISA collegiate win in Sun Valley’s 10k mass start classic. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Beginning a northeast swing, the SuperTour circuit moves to Lake Placid, NY for Period III, resuming in two weeks on January 29th. This two-day race weekend will include a classic sprint, followed by a 10k mass start skate.

A big thank you to Tobias Albrigtsen, who generously shared his outstanding photos with us throughout the weekend.

Full Results:

Men’s 15k | Women’s 10k

Sun Valley SuperTour Rundown: Brennan and Norris Lead the 10/15k Mass Start Classic

Rachel Perkins — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 22:15:40 +0000

The prepping of the boards: University of Alaska Fairbanks coaches prepare skis for their athletes at the 10/15k mass start classic races in Sun Valley. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

Quick Recap: We’ll have a full race report up tomorrow, including athlete comments and photos, but here is a quick recap of the action in the men’s 15k and women’s 10k mass start classic, which took place this morning in Ketchum, Idaho.

The 2022 Sun Valley Nordic Invitational continued this morning with 10/15-kilometer classic races at the Lake Creek Ski Center in Ketchum, Idaho. While temperatures were warmer than at the start of yesterday’s skate races, it was still a brisk morning in Sun Valley, making for excellent classic racing conditions in the dry high-altitude natural snow.

The men kicked off the morning’s races, taking off in a mass start at 9:30am. Rebounding from sixth place in yesterday’s skate, David Norris (APU) took the win in 35:50.5, leading a train of teammates for an APU podium sweep. Hunter Wonders doubled up on his second place performance, finishing 8 seconds behind Norris. Wonders edged out Scott Patterson (USST/APU) at the line by 0.5 seconds, leaving Patterson in third. Ian Torchia (SMS T2) was next for his second fourth place finish of the weekend (+28.1), finishing in a three-way sprint with APU’s Zanden McMullen who took fifth (+28.2) and University of Denver’s Bernhard Flaschberger in sixth (+28.4).

Flaschberger was again the top RMISA collegiate racer, with Sam Hendry of the University of Utah in second place (8th overall), and fellow Denver athlete Andreas Kirkeng in third (10th overall).

The opening meters of the women’s 10k mass start classic, with Rosie Brennan setting the pace in her blue APU race suit. (Photo: Tobias Albrigtsen / @untraceableg)

From the looks of an SVSEF Gold Team Instagram story, Rosie Brennan (USST/APU) took the women’s race out hot. Following the theme of her domestic racing over the last two weeks, Brennan steadily grew her lead over the field, crossing the finish line in 29:35.3, nearly a minute ahead of her chasers. Katharine Ogden (USST/SMS T2) led the chase back to the finish to take second place (+55.4), with Novie McCabe (USST/U of Utah) close behind, again in third (+1:07.6). Rosie Frankowski (APU) was fourth for the women (+1:17.1), with Sydney Palmer Leger (USST/U of Utah) behind in fifth (+1:26.4), leading her teammate Sophia Laukli who finished roughly a second behind her in sixth (+1:27.2).

This time with McCabe on the top-step, these three University of Utah women again swept the RMISA collegiate podium for the second day in a row.

Full Results:

Men’s 15k | Women’s 10k