Peter Minde – FasterSkier.com https://fasterskier.com FasterSkier — All Things Nordic Fri, 30 Sep 2022 14:43:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Climb to the Castle Weekend—Climb, Sprint, and Biathlon https://fasterskier.com/2022/09/climb-to-the-castle-weekend-climb-sprint-and-biathlon/ https://fasterskier.com/2022/09/climb-to-the-castle-weekend-climb-sprint-and-biathlon/#respond Tue, 27 Sep 2022 17:12:06 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?p=203394 On an overcast Sunday, Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier and Emma Page were the men’s and women’s winners of the Climb to the Castle roller ski race. Both were first-time victors.

Izquierdo-Bernier, of the club Fondeurs-Laurentides north of Montreal, won in 39:06.5.  Aidan Ripp, of Paul Smith’s College, finished second for the men in 41:17.0.  Behind him, Parke Chapin of Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) took third in his first Climb to the Castle, in 42:41.7.

In the women’s event, Emma Page of Mansfield Nordic (MNC) finished in 52:42.7, Dolcie Tanguay came second in 55:06.2, and Master skier Kathy Schwenk finished third in 57:52.2.

Climb to the Castle, 2022.

The Climb to the Castle follows the auto road on Whiteface Mountain in New York’s Adirondacks. At 4,867 feet, Whiteface is the fifth highest Adirondack peak. The toll road snakes upward for five miles at an eight percent average grade, gaining about 2300 vertical feet.  Unlike the wet racers experienced in 2021, today the weather was dry, with a start time temperature around 50 degrees, and only a light breeze. Every two minutes, athletes went off in waves of 15.

Ripp led from the start, gradually dropping the rest of the first wave.  Starting in the second wave, Izquierdo-Bernier bridged the gap up to the first wave around the halfway mark.  “I stayed with [Ripp] all out to the top,” Izquierdo-Berniuer said. “In the last (kilometer) and a half, I put in a gap.  That was fun to have someone to ski with.”

Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier takes the win at Climb to the Castle, 2022.

Not only was this Izquierdo-Bernier’s first win, it was his first trip to the Climb. “I had wanted to come a couple times, but it never fit in my training,” he said. He added that he didn’t have a specific race plan. “Try not to start too fast, that was the only plan. I didn’t the course and where I was going, so it was more controlled, and try to have fun.”

In this his second Climb to the Castle, Ripp applied lessons learned from last year’s race. “Last year, we got drawn out really quickly, and a lot of guys went out hard,” Rip said. “Last year, Jake Brown went really hard off the gate so you were trying to chase him down. But this year it was just me off the front. It was a little bit odd to have to lead and have to pace myself to try and figure out what felt like a good pace. But it was nice because Ricardo caught me about halfway through and then it was really fun racing with him. Around the last corner [Windy Corner]  was where he dropped me.”

For Parke Chapin, it was also his first attempt at the Climb, finishing with a solid third place.  “I didn’t know what the course was like, I just knew it was five miles,” he said. “So I started out with two other dudes in my wave. They were similar pace, and I pushed with one of them. Towards the top, I felt like there was more in me and I turned the dial a little more. A positive day out there.”

 

Women’s Climb

On the women’s side, Emma Page gapped the field at the start and never looked back. She admitted to having a tough point, mid-race: “There was definitely a hard part in the middle where I was getting bogged down, but one of the master skiers, he was really helpful and he was pushing me through it,” she said.

Emma Page for the win, finishing well clear of the field on the summit of Whiteface Mountain.

Like several other skiers, Page competed in (and won, as we shall see) the previous day’s sprint races at Mount van Hoevenberg. Was she fully recovered from the previous day’s effort? “I could definitely feel my legs, but I think that once I got through the warmup I was recovered and ready to go,” Page said.

“I wanted to not start out too hard because last year I started too hard and I ended up dying a bit,” she continued. “So I wanted to make sure that I eased my way into it. I went kind of hard in the start, to the first corner, and then I reeled it in a little because I realized I might need a little extra [energy]. But I did feel good the whole time, I never had to stop or slow down.”

Dolcie Tanguay also raced not only the previous day’s sprints, sprints, but also the biathlon race at the end of the day. She said that at the start of the Climb, she didn’t feel 100% recovered. “I did it last year for the first time, so I knew what to expect. This time, I paced it pretty consistently, which is an improvement. At the start, Emma Page went out way ahead, and I couldn’t hold on to her. That’s pretty much how it stayed. I caught a couple of people along the way. I just tried to keep it consistent.”

Master skier Kathy Schwenk commented on her finish: I just appreciate the opportunity to race. I thank the race director and everyone who put it on. I started in a group of six, and I wanted to go just a little bit faster. So I got out of that and pretty much skied by myself the whole way.”

The Whiteface Toll Road climbs to the castle.

Once again this year, racers could sign up to ski classic technique in a separate category. New this year was a short course: Athletes could choose to start further up the mountain in a three-mile race. New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) Competition Director Justin Beckwith wrote, “We’ve always talked about a junior race that was a more appropriate distance and time – but why limit that to just juniors? Hopefully it boosts participation and gives folks a way to participate and get the experience without having to ski for an hour.”

Results:  Climb to the Castle

 

Keys to the Castle (Saturday)

Rollerski Sprints and Rollerski Biathlon took place on Saturday, with action on the paved rollerski trails at Mount van Hoevenberg.

Men’s Freestyle Sprint

Sprints were contested on the 1500-meter sprint course that had seen use last winter. Instead of a typical “knockout” format, races were organized in a “king’s court” format. Individual start qualifiers determined athletes’ start positions with competitors racing four to a heat. Winners of each round moved up a bracket; second and third places remained in their bracket; fourth place finishers dropped to a lower bracket.

The action was fast and furious on the race course, as athletes accelerated to establish a lead before the first hill under the bridge. Some groups were incredibly tight—even in high-speed corners—while other heats saw athletes more spread out. There was less recovery time between rounds than in a normal sprint, and athletes approached recovery in a number of different ways. Most skied easy around the biathlon penalty loop, some did speeds, others changed into sneakers for a jog.

Eventual winner, Fin Bailey, leads the first quarterfinal ahead of Elvis McIntosh, Sam Gallaudet, and Wyatt Teaford.

Fin Bailey of Stratton Mountain School (SMS) won the men’s sprint in dominating fashion, winning the prologue and every subsequent round.  Through the morning, he never appeared fatigued. On the decisive climb to the high point of the course, he jump skated to build a gap from other skiers.

“I pretty much worked as hard as I can,” Bailey said. “Worked with Elvis [McIntosh] in our heats, had a little strategy that when we got to the big hill, we just hammered.  That’s about it.”

The final climb on the sprint course leads to a sweeping downhill past the lodge, to a hard turn and an uphill finish. Owning that climb was key to Bailey’s strategy: “That was a pretty important part of the course,” Bailey said. “You come over the top of the hill, right at the big swooping downhill to the finish, you can get ahead… you’ll be set for the finishing straight.”

Elvis McIntosh, of GMVS, was hunting for a podium before he broke a pole in the final round. “First couple of rounds went pretty well,” McIntosh said. “I was working with Fin to keep it controlled and keep the pace good and we’d hammer up and over the final hill and sweep around the [downhill] corner into the finish. It was working pretty well and then in the final, my pole broke.  Final didn’t go as well as I would have liked. It was a good, fun, race.”

Wyatt Teaford of SMS described his day: “I qualified fourth today. I moved up and down throughout the heats; I narrowly missed out on the final (getting) narrowly out-cornered on the last corner there. I think races like this are really great for preparing for winter.”

When everyone’s in a tight group on a small piece of real estate, do you get nervous? “I think it’s faster than a normal ski race, but I don’t think it’s scarier,” Teaford said. “Because everyone knows the etiquette of the course. No one’s gonna cut people off on corners where it could be dangerous. I think in skiing in the winter, everyone can get more physical in sprint races.”

Aidan Ripp of Paul Smith’s and Charles Martell of SMC-MNC came second and third in the men’s sprint.

Women’s Freestyle Sprint

Emma Page was first in the women’s sprint, followed by Dolcie Tanguay and Margot Nightingale in second and third respectively.

It was great! I fell in the warmup, but other than that, it was great,” Page said.

Emma Page was the top qualifier—and eventual winner—of the Women’s Sprints.

Asked how she manages her efforts to keep a consistent pace, Page said, “I’m usually really excited, so that’s actually my worst thing. I generally have worse energy towards the end. That’s what I worked on this summer. I’ve been working on doing speeds at the end of training, no matter what the training was. To try and get myself to push all the way to the end.”

Dolcie Tanguay took second place in the sprints before moving to the biathlon race later in the afternoon. “Usually, the point is to go pretty hard in the qualifier,” Tanguay said. “And then go from there. The high schoolers put on some pretty good competition today, so I just took each heat one at a time, went as hard as I could. The last one, I definitely slowed down a bit. But it was fun overall.”

Did she hold anything back for the biathlon? “Maybe a little. But the biathlon race is fairly short. I’m treating today more like a regular workout day, like two interval sessions.”

Results: Men’s and Women’s Sprints

Biathlon

After the sprints, the biathlon race was contested: five laps of a 940-meter loop (with 140-meter penalty loop) with the high point of the course occurring near the lodge. There were two prone and two standing rounds of shooting. NYSEF head biathlon coach observed Maddie Phaneuf explained the challenging conditions that Mount van Hoevenberg is known to serve up:

“Here at the new van Ho range, it’s a bit more challenging wind,” Phaneuf explained. “You might zero with a consistent wind from left to right, like we have right now, then it keeps shifting from dead wind or wind from right to left. The athletes really have to pay attention to the wind flags and know what their zeroing wind was and then make corrections throughout the race.”

Paul Smith’s College grabbed five of the six podium positions in the biathlon. Kaisa Bosek of Paul Smith’s won the women’s event, getting shouts from spectators as one shot clean in the first standing round. What went through her mind when she shot clean, then had a couple of misses on the final shooting? “First, you get excited, I think you leave the range a little faster,” Bosek said. “Then after not doing as well in the next round, it’s a mental game so you have to try to forget about that. At least mine [multi-miss standing] was on the last round so I didn’t have to think about it any longer. Then leave the range, try to finish the race strong and keep going.”

Dolcie Tanguay took second place in the women’s biathlon with Taylor Landrum, also of Paul Smith’s, finishing third.

Logan Jensen of Paul Smith’s was the men’s biathlon winner. He said of his race, “It was all right; it’s early in the season. [I’m] using it as a benchmark to hopefully keep working, and get better, faster, shoot better as the season goes on.”

On his race plan, Jensen said, “Today the course was super interesting. Super flat. I was working on getting my heart rate up, seeing how high I could shoot and stay accurate.”

Diego Shillaci of Paul Smith’s finished second among the men’s biathlon competitors, while Frazier Patterson of Mansfield Nordic finished third.

Results:  Biathlon

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Rollerskiers in the Mist: Patterson, Brown Win Foggy Climb to the Castle https://fasterskier.com/2021/10/rollerskiers-in-the-mist-patterson-brown-win-foggy-climb-to-the-castle/ https://fasterskier.com/2021/10/rollerskiers-in-the-mist-patterson-brown-win-foggy-climb-to-the-castle/#respond Tue, 05 Oct 2021 13:12:16 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?p=199482
Racers climb the Whiteface Veteran’s Memorial Highway during the 2021 Climb to the Castle. (Photo: Nancie Battaglia/NYSEF)

The rain stopped just long enough for Caitlin Patterson and Jake Brown to savor their wins at the 2021 edition of the Climb to the Castle last Saturday in Wilmington, NY, near Lake Placid. 

Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) swept the women’s podium; Caitlin Patterson edged Margie Freed for the win in 46:48.8, with her teammate just .7 second back in 46:49.5. Tara Geraghty-Moats placed third in 47:35.0.

Brown, skiing for US Biathlon / CGRP, took the men’s win in a time of 38:04:00. CGRP teammate Akeo Maifeld-Carucci came second in 39:34:9, and Junior athlete Tabor Greenberg, a U16 athlete out of the Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS), interrupted CGRP’s command of the podium in third place at 41:24.7.

After taking 2020 off due to the pandemic, the Climb to the Castle returned to the Northeast roller ski calendar, co-hosted by NENSA and NYSEF. The race leads skiers five miles up the Whiteface Veteran’s Memorial Highway at an average eight percent grade. Whiteface is the fifth highest mountain in New York’s Adirondacks; start too hard, and you’ll never recover. This author can attest. 

The author completes his Climb to the Castle. (Photo: NENSA)

As is often the case, weather made the race…. interesting. Light overnight rain tailed off about an hour before the start. Although the temperature hovered in the low 50s, the humidity made it feel warmer.  Clouds and fog obscured vision throughout the day.  In some places, one was lucky to see a hundred feet. For a change, there was little wind, even at the infamous Windy Corner and chute, 800 meters or so from the finish.

For COVID safety, organizers started five waves of skiers, each two minutes apart. Competitors wore masks at bib pickup and on the summit after finishing their race.

Visibility low, energy high: a wet start for the men’s wave in the 2021 Climb to the Castle. (Photo: NENSA)

The women’s race was high drama as Patterson, Freed, and Geraghty-Moats worked together up the road.

“Tara and Margie and I knew we wanted to work together, especially with the way the Climb can be pretty windy at the top. It was just gonna be: ski smooth, work together, and shuffle around the leads, which is what we did. I definitely wanted to make sure not to start too fast.  I did that well, though I certainly had some rough moments in the middle.”

From the start, Patterson said that she and Geraghty-Moats took turns in the lead, trading off about every kilometer.  “Towards the upper part, Margie was taking some really strong leads. I was suffering a bit,” Patterson added.

With two kilometers left, Freed opened a gap from Patterson and Geraghty-Moats. Patterson said it took a few minutes for her to regain contact.  At that point, Patterson and Freed pulled away from Geraghty-Moats, skiing to the finish.  

“Maybe 30 seconds out, I passed [Margie],” Patterson said. “It was really strong work by both of them. It was great to ski with people because it was as tough a course as ever.”

Of her finishing kick, Patterson said, “I know that I can tap into a late surge. We were working together for most of it, and as the finish line was drawing near, it was definitely every person for themselves.”

Craftsbury women clean up at the 2021 Climb to the Castle. Caitlin Patterson took the win ahead of Margie Freed (left) and Tara Geraghty-Moats (right). (Photo: Nancie Battaglia/NYSEF)

“It went pretty well today,” said Freed of her race. “It was awesome to ski with Tara and Caitlin for so long. I don’t think I could have kept up that pace if I was alone.

“I’ve never done this race before, so it was exciting to have every step be something new for me,” Freed continued. “Even though I didn’t quite know where the finish was, or when it was coming.  I couldn’t quite see it because it was so foggy.  It was an awesome day out there, and I was glad it wasn’t as windy or rainy or cold as I was thinking it was going to be.”

This past winter, Geraghty-Moats won the first ever crystal globe for FIS Women’s Nordic Combined.  She also won the Climb in 2018. After the race, she wrote, “It was really nice to go all out with my teammates. We skied together really well. We all had moments of fading and then climbed back on. I dropped back about half a k after the Lake Placid turn — I just kind of ran out of  gas. I’m pretty happy with how I felt and it was a really fun race.”

Jake Brown wins the 2021 Climb to the Castle in a long solo effort. (Photo: Nancie Battaglia/NYSEF)

For Brown, this was his third win at Climb to the Castle, his previous two coming in 2017 and 2018.

“I wanted it to be a good, solid effort,” Brown said. “I knew that I couldn’t sprint too hard off the line, but I wanted to get into that high heart rate zone and stay there as long as I could.”

Asked about race strategy, Brown said, “I was with Akeo [Maifeld-Carucci], my Craftsbury Green Racing Project teammate. He led for the first 3 minutes or so.”

At that point, Brown said, he took a turn pulling and developed a gap. “I was hoping we could work together a little bit more, but we ended up with an awkward 20-meter gap between us that we  held for maybe half the race. Then I slowly pulled away and was by myself.”

Jake Brown wears the moose-antler crown after winning the 2021 Climb to the Castle. (Photo: NENSA)

Asked if he could use this as a fitness benchmark, Brown said, “This was my fourth time doing the race. This was a bit of a slower year; I’m hoping it was just because of the weather. Maybe a little later in the year and a little colder pavement. It was kind of warm today, but maybe the pavement was a little colder.  Maybe my fitness isn’t where it was.  We’ll find out when the winter comes — that’s what matters.” 

For Maifeld-Carucci, “It was a sweet day. I wanted to do this race for a long time, since early in college. So it was great to actually be here and do it.  The weather was way better than we expected. It was a little wet and a little cloudy at the top, but there were moments when it opened up and it was super pretty. Constant great climb, hard skiing — it was definitely a hard race and a really good effort.”

Commenting on the men’s pacing and tactics, Maifeld-Carucci echoed Brown’s explanation of the duo’s ability to collaborate. 

“Jake and I were hoping to ski together and trade leads,” Maifeld-Carucci explained. “He was feeling a little stronger than I was so I fell off early and we were dangling 20 meters apart for a long time. Then he started to open it up.”

Akeo Maifeld-Carucci skis to second place at the 2021 Climb to the Castle. (Photo: Nancie Battaglia/NYSEF)

In addition to Greenberg nabbing third place overall, the GMVS boys swept the junior podium. 

Responding to an email, GMVS head coach Colin Rodgers said that his skiers didn’t taper for the race. “Tabor actually trained a lot in the past week including a 120 mile bike ride to raise money for the Kelly Brush Foundation.”

Commenting on the preparation for this event, and how it fits into the season preparation, Rodgers explained:

“We spent some time recently working on climbing technique. When we were recently on snow on the Stelvio glacier we were working on standing well (balanced and forward) on our skis. We did not discuss any mass start race tactics for today — I really just wanted the crew to focus on pacing the effort properly and being consistent throughout the duration of the climb. [Having] a dialed warm up and trying to keep good form when tired were also a few other things we were honed in on today.”

The men’s podium at the 2021 Climb to the Castle. Jake Brown (CGRP) took the win ahead of Akeo Maifeld-Carucci (CGRP) and Tabor Greenberg (GMVS). (Photo: NYSEF)

Did Rodgers have an inkling that Greenberg might podium? 

“We were not focused on the podium, we were just focused on executing a solid race effort. We are primarily focused on competitions in March, so all of this is just trying to build momentum towards the end of the race season.”

Although COVID border closures prevented Canadian clubs from driving across the border, many clubs and colleges still showed up to throw down.  

According to Sara Falconer, a coach at Mansfield Nordic (MNC) in Vermont, “It’s a good opportunity for [MNC junior athletes] to race other high school athletes and college athletes that are here.  It’s also a chance for them to compare their times to last year and see the results of all the work they put in over the summer.  They can see a lot of dramatic improvement.  It’s a really motivating thing for them.  And it’s also a good workout.”

From juniors to collegiate to masters, racers ascended Whiteface during the 2021 Climb to the Castle. (Photo: Nancie Battaglia/NYSEF)

Ethan Townsend, Saint Lawrence University’s (SLU) head nordic ski coach, planned a training weekend for his team. SLU athletes also roller skied the new loop at Mount van Hoevenberg on Friday.

“Saturday morning, we got up early and did a run/hike” said Townsend. “They had the option of going up Algonquin or Wright or Marcy. A lot of them took the option of going up Marcy. A few of them went up Phelps and Tabletop. Probably an average of five hours.” 

Mount Marcy is the highest Adirondack mountain at 5,344 feet and Algonquin, the second highest, stands at 5,114 feet. The remaining peaks named are also among the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, which are all above 4000 feet. 

After coming out of the woods, the SLU team reconvened for an afternoon double pole roller ski session.

“We weren’t concerned about performance, necessarily, in this race,” Townsend said. “It’s a training race. Something to do as a group. I told them, ‘Don’t worry about the results so much.  It’s great that we can come here and do this. If you just stay in level three the whole time and you’re not feeling it to go super hard, I think that alone would be worthwhile.’”

You can find more footage of the 2021 Climb to the Castle on NENSA’s YouTube channel.

From Juniors to Collegiate to Masters; a broad scope of rollerskiers ascended Whiteface during the 2021 Climb to the Castle. (Photo: Nancie Battaglia)

Women’s complete results

Men’s complete results

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US Biathlon Prepares for a New Look 2020-2021 Season https://fasterskier.com/2020/11/us-biathlon-prepares-for-a-new-look-2020-2021-season/ https://fasterskier.com/2020/11/us-biathlon-prepares-for-a-new-look-2020-2021-season/#respond Mon, 02 Nov 2020 16:26:13 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?p=195699
Susan Dunklee (USA), Lisa Theresa Hauser (AUT), Marte Olsbu Roeiseland (NOR), (l-r), racing at the 2020 IBU World Championships mixed relay in , Antholz, Italy.

As coronavirus cases spike worldwide, biathletes are preparing for a modified start to the 2020-2021 World Cup season. The schedule emphasizes less travel than would be the norm on the IBU World Cup circuit. At the end of September, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced that the first four races of the winter would be held at two venues. Kontiolahti, Finland, will host the first two events on consecutive weekends, starting 27 November. Hochfilzen, Austria will have two race meets on succeeding weekends, starting 7 December.

In normal times, the schedule would have migrated to three different race sites over the same period of time. Last season, the IBU World Cup held events in Östersund, Sweden, Hochfilzen, Austria, and Annecy-Le Grand Bornard, France during the first trimester.   

To continue limiting travel this year, the IBU subsequently revised their schedule to hold events on consecutive weekends at Oberhof in Germany, followed by the regularly scheduled event in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy. The Biathlon World Championships will continue to be held from 9 to 21 February in Pokljuka, Slovenia. The IBU will announce any changes to the third-trimester schedule by the end of November.

When the IBU first announced scheduling modifications in September, it disclosed that the second-tier IBU Cup races, which were to begin in November, were postponed until January. The IBU Junior Cup and Junior Open European Championships were cancelled outright.   

We know about the ever-changing nature of Covid-19 trends. For now, Finland is seeing 274.8 covid-19 cases per 100,000 persons, Austria is tallying 990.5 cases per 100,000. Germany, where the IBU World Cup features from 4 January to 17 January, is reporting 559 cases per 100,000; Italy is reporting 935 cases per 100,000 persons. Both France and Germany have reinstituted lockdown measures to slow the spread of disease.  

Data aggregated by U.S. states are easier to find than cases per capita for the U.S. as a whole. As an example, New Jersey, where this reporter lives, has 2604 cases per 100,000 persons. This provides some context to how some European governments are mitigated community spread. It also remains uncertain how lockdowns in places where IBU World Cups are scheduled would impact those events.

Lowell Bailey (USA) celebrates with Max Cobb after winning the gold in the 20 k individual at the 2017 IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria.. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Speaking to FasterSkier earlier in October, Max Cobb, President and CEO of US Biathlon and Executive Board Member of the IBU, reflected on steps the IBU is taking to hold races this winter.

Cobb prefaced the conversation by stating that he was part of the working group that developed the changes. “I’m really satisfied with them,” said Cobb. “It was a sensible decision to make sure we’ve got our procedures down in the first race series before we try and implement it in more than one series at a time. I think it also gives every national federation the opportunity to have their athletes racing closer to home.”

Cobb stressed the IBU’s commitment to a safe racing environment. “If we’re uncomfortable with [covid infection levels], and if our medical advisory group is uncomfortable, then we’ll definitely change plans and cancel if need be.” He added that the IBU has asked their other calendared venues to be prepared in case events need to be relocated.

“Our hope is to be able to, as some other sports have done already, provide an environment in which we’re confident the risk of transmission is very low,” Cobb said. “That testing is robust, and athletes will have a chance to compete. [We are ] really sensitive to regional outbreaks, and obviously we’ll comply 100% with any local requirements.”  

In a follow-up email, Cobb detailed the regimen the U.S. team would follow. Team members and staff will be tested for coronavirus before traveling to Europe, and then again 72 hours after arriving in Europe. During the race season, they’ll be tested at least twice per week.

Cobb estimated the cost of coronavirus testing to be approximately $30,000. Some of the testing costs for athletes, however, would be covered by the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) elite athletes’ health insurance.

It’s not just testing though: “Testing is one part of the budget impact but there are a lot more mitigation efforts,” Cobb wrote. “More single rooms, extra rooms, more transportation capacity to allow for distancing, it all adds up to more than $100,000 for the season.”

In an email, biathlon veteran Clare Egan responded to questions about the revised schedule. North American teams are used to long and taxing stints away from home when based in Europe.  

“The obvious benefits of reduced travel are reduced fatigue and lower risk of exposure to COVID and other illnesses,” she wrote when asked if less travel would be an advantage for the U.S. squad. “These are the same advantages for everyone. I don’t think it offers me or my team any unique advantages over other teams. Perhaps the Finns and Austrians will feel an advantage being 2 weeks at home.”

Of travel arrangements, Egan wrote, “We will all travel on a charter flight from one venue to the next in order to reduce our exposure even further.” 

Clare Egan of the U.S. during the 2020 women’s 15 k individual in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Egan placed 6th. (Photo: NordicFocus)

Egan is prepared for the challenges this season presents. “I feel comfortable traveling,” she said. “In the past few weeks, Europe’s cases have been double those in the U.S. But the worst outbreaks are in places where I will not be traveling. I understand the risks and also the easy ways I can lower my risk of exposure: wearing a mask, social distancing and washing my hands. Elite winter sport athletes like me have been doing this for years so I don’t think my behavior this winter will be that different from the past! I’ve been wearing a mask on planes for a decade.”

Cobb stressed the interdependence of athletes, support staff, and race organizations to ensure the season’s success. “The behavior of everyone matters for the success of the season,” he said. “I think that’s a really interesting sociological state to be in. I’m very optimistic that the athletes and everyone on the teams will behave in a way that lets us have a season. But it will be demanding to do that.”

Martin Fourcade racing last season at the 2020 IBU World Championships. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

 

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Evi Sachenbacher: Sacrificial Lamb on the Doping Altar https://fasterskier.com/2020/08/evi-sachenbacher-sacrificial-lamb-on-the-doping-altar/ https://fasterskier.com/2020/08/evi-sachenbacher-sacrificial-lamb-on-the-doping-altar/#respond Tue, 11 Aug 2020 18:25:20 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=194717
Germany’s Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle (bib-27) in the quaterfinals of the 2007 Tour de Ski in Prague. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

 

A career ended prematurely, for no reason.

During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, German biathlete Evi Sachenbacher failed a doping test. Although the ensuing ban was subsequently reduced from two years to six months, it effectively ended her career.

New information seems to confirm that Sachenbacher’s positive drugs test at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi had nothing to do with deliberate doping. Rather, she was used as a sacrificial pawn by Russian doping authorities, according to an article on rtl.de.

In his recently published autobiography, doping meister turned whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov wrote that with no positive doping tests in the first week of the Sochi Olympics, the Russian doping machine needed to expose someone in order to prove that they were doing good work. 

From 2006 to 2015, Rodchenkov headed Russia’s Anti-Doping Center, the only laboratory in Russia accredited by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). At the 2014 Winter Olympics, Rodchenkov managed the anti-doping testing. While he concocted a recipe of three banned substances to administer to Russian athletes, he and others developed a sophisticated system to replace Russian athletes’ drug-contaminated urine samples with clean samples.

The July 25 issue of The Daily Mail published extensive excerpts from The Rodchenkov Affair, Rodchenkov’s new tell-all detailing his decades-long involvement with the Russian doping system both as an athlete and an administrator. Rodchenkov was initially exposed to doping as a college distance runner, taking steroids. While a successful collegiate runner – with chemical help – Rodchenkov didn’t turn into an elite athlete. His “enhanced” college running success did spur his study of chemistry.

In November 2015, WADA identified Rodchenkov as the ringmaster in the Sochi doping scandal. He was compelled to resign. Within days, fearing for his life, Rodchenkov left Russia for the United States. His paranoia may not have been irrational, as two other officials died suddenly in February 2016. In May 2016, Rodchenkov gave an extensive interview to the New York Times about the rigged testing process in Sochi.

This brings us back to Sachenbacher, the German biathlete who tested positive in Sochi. In one of her two urine samples Sachenbacher submitted during the Olympics, the testing lab claimed it discovered traces of the banned substance methylhexanamine.

Developed by Eli Lilly & Co in 1948, methylhexanamine was marketed as a nasal decongestant. Although it was withdrawn from sales in the 1970s, methylhexanamine began appearing as an ingredient in various dietary supplements in the early 2000s. Supplements incorporating this drug are generally promoted as fat loss products or for extra energy during workouts.

In his book, Rodchenkov asserted that methylhexanamine “usually occurred in huge concentrations.” 

Rodchenkov also characterized Sachenbacher’s result as a “borderline case,” adding “If I had already logged five real violations, I might not have reported her. But we needed blood. She became withdrawn from circulation and the punishment did not really match the violation.”

When she learned of the positive finding, Sachenbacher protested, saying that she must have unknowingly ingested it in a tea powder. In the summer of 2014, she received a two-year competition ban.

Sachenbacher appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which determined that she didn’t deliberately ingest methylhexanamine. Her ban was commuted to six months from the date of the test

The Munich, Germany, public prosecutor’s office investigated Sachenbacher following the Olympics. According to Der Spiegel, the prosecutor later deemed that Sachenbacher hadn’t actually taken the drug “because the active ingredient content is too low.”

After the CAS ruling, Sachenbacher was allowed to immediately resume training and competition. However, the positive finding and subsequent battle to clear her name exhausted her, and she opted to retire.

 

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The Virtual Eastern REG https://fasterskier.com/2020/07/the-virtual-eastern-reg-2/ https://fasterskier.com/2020/07/the-virtual-eastern-reg-2/#respond Tue, 07 Jul 2020 14:58:00 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=193901
Cormac Leahy of Craftsbury finishes his 3000 m time trial. (Photo: @craftsburycoachsquad)

Skiers are made in the summer, and one of the hallmarks of summer training is periodic training camps. But as with racing, the coronavirus pandemic has upended summer group training.

In April, the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) opted to turn their June regional elite group (REG) training camp into a virtual event. Part of the US Ski and Snowboard development program, REGs have a standardized format that helps evaluate athlete development.

“[The virtual REG] is a work in progress,” NENSA Competition Director Justin Beckwith wrote to FasterSkier.  

In normal times, the Eastern REG brings together junior athletes from New England and New York. Beckwith generally gathers 40 to 46 athletes, evenly divided between men and women, together for an intense week of training, testing, and education. This year, 34 campers participated in the virtual REG. However, NENSA shared the REG program template as part of its #juneterm program. Clubs across the northeast integrated the template into their June training

“Athletes are ranked by World Cup points for the 3 tests and along with NRL ranking allows a second route to National Training Group (NTG) camps,” Beckwith wrote.

“The virtual setting will also allow us to gather more data throughout clubs as many will be performing a similar training schedule this week and next.”

Beckwith shared the REG schedule with FS. With eight workouts over seven days, – and the option of two additional easy sessions – it’s not for the faint of heart. The schedule includes classic and skate technique days, and an over distance day.

Each session comes with a video link demonstrating the workout goals. There were also evening education sessions with Andy Newell and US Ski and Snowboard coaches Bryan Fish and Kate Barton.

Typically, Beckwith explained, the camp includes three tests: a double pole uphill test, an uphill run, and an agility test.  This year, in an effort to standardize workouts in the virtual world, he’s programmed a 3000-meter track run, a double pole test using a Ski Erg, and the Canadian Strength test.

Virtual REG for the East. A Ford Sayre athlete completes part of their Canadian strength test. (Photo: Ford Sayre Nordic)

The Canadian strength test is as follows: one minute of pull-ups; one minute of sit-ups; one minute of push-ups; one minute of box jumps on to a 16-inch / 40-centimeter box; and one minute of dips.  There’s one minute of rest between each exercise and guidelines for correct technique.

“I think we are lucky in the East because we have high buy-in from athletes and coaches – this gives us the best chance for good data and to be able to do something with it,” Beckwith wrote.

What about the stoke that comes when skiers gather from all corners of the northeast to push each other?  “What kid wouldn’t be psyched to log in [to Zoom] and have Andy Newell talk to you about training and technique!” Beckwith wrote.

Beckwith focused on workouts that felt would keep athletes engaged, even though they weren’t training in a traditional camp setting. While some organizations are planning to run brick-and-mortar summer camps, Beckwith is planning for a ski season out of the ordinary for the coming year.

“Realistically, we will be operating under different guidelines for what I like to think of as a year – which brings us right to the end of this season March 2021. The key is adapting and creating motivating and competitive events for skiers of all ages,” Beckwith wrote.

He added that as of this writing, Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) and Stratton Mountain School (SMS) are close to deciding whether to hold their August camps.  An internet search showed that CXC’s REG, scheduled for early August, includes a COVID-19 waiver as well as a regular liability waiver.  

“Well get through it but we need to be nimble and think outside the box for what camps and competitions will look like,” Beckwith concluded.

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Pivot Point: Imagining Skiing During the Pandemic https://fasterskier.com/2020/05/pivot-point-imagining-skiing-during-the-pandemic/ https://fasterskier.com/2020/05/pivot-point-imagining-skiing-during-the-pandemic/#respond Fri, 15 May 2020 13:30:07 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=192590
Stadium in Ruka, Finland. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

Over two days in March, the North American World Cup races were cancelled. Amid rising health concerns, NCAA Championships also shut down after one race; Junior Nationals after two races. Canadian National Championships never got off the ground. After the abrupt end of winter, people are trying to assess how the pandemic will affect the coming winter.

In The Atlantic, Juliette Kayyem posits that “From a public health perspective, the pandemic will not end for another 18 months.”  She speculates that it may take 18 months to develop a suitable vaccine, which must then be distributed. How will this affect ski racing as we have come to know it?

While this metric pertains to alpine resorts, it’s stark any way you slice it: with spring break looming or in full swing, alpine lodging occupancy dropped 54% from March 2019 when alpine resorts began closing.

“The timing of it couldn’t be better for the ski industry,” said Zach Caldwell, proprietor of Caldwell Sport. “We lost the tail end of the season. That was a big bummer. We had most of the season and it was a good one.  We in the industry have the luxury of being able to sit back, observe, and see what happens, and wait to finalize plans.”

If one can extrapolate from one retailer’s experience, sales cratered in March after a strong start to the year. Matt Liebsch, a co-owner of Pioneer Midwest in Minnesota, concurs.  Pioneer did very well at the beginning of the year, but saw March sales fall off as social distancing set in.

“We had really good growth in January and February,” Liebsch said. Pioneer finished March down thirty percent in revenue compared to last year. Prior to coronavirus, Liebsch said, Pioneer would sell two to six pairs of race skis each day. “We’re at zero right now. When you shelter in place, I think that means you park your money in place. The virus has thrown things off.”

Federico Pellegrino of Italy testing skis in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: NordicFocus)

According to Jeff Courter, Rossignol North America’s nordic category manager, the bulk of its sales to retailers were complete by the time social distancing became the new normal.

“For any major ski brand industry-wide, [the pandemic] hit at a time where the majority of sales had really happened already. We missed out on a lot of opportunities to capitalize on spring sales and spring break. We’re trying to help our retailers in North America to try and get through the times,” Courter said. He added that spring break sales can help retailers clear out inventory so they can prepare for the coming year.

Typically, Liebsch makes two trips a year to Europe for custom ski picking as well as pre-ordering skis to sell off the rack. He said that bulk pre-season orders from manufacturers were generally due to vendors between late February and late March. They’re shipped to arrive in the U.S. between mid August and mid October. “That’s all in the books. It’s kind of a shot in the dark.”

“We try to [work with] our discerning, race-oriented customers that want a wet ski or a better ski than what they have in September, October,” said Liebsch. “That clears my plate for [recreational skiers] and the start of [Minnesota’s] high school race season in November and December. I don’t get to talk about grinds, race wax, or camber construction. I’m explaining to mom and dad the difference between a classic ski and a skate ski.”

“The majority of our orders [for the coming year] have already come in by mid-March,” Rossignol’s Courter said. “But anyone – not just us – any ski company in general, once we get a little farther into this, and kind of see how things lay out for the fall, some of the smaller retailers may have to make some adjustments to what they thought about bringing in.”

While most retailers have ordered skis for the coming season, it’s not known how the pandemic will affect manufacturing schedules. Citing the safety of its staff and their families, Courter said that one of Rossignol’s main factories, located in Spain, had closed down for safety reasons in early April. It’s scheduled to reopen on May 4.

Looking for ways to get back on schedule, Courter said that Rossi facilities would be running three shifts. Normally, their ski production is done by July. At present, this year they plan on making skis through August.

“The majority of the factories that we work with have been able to stay open,” Courter said. He added that one factory had experienced a slowdown as some raw materials haven’t been delivered.

Bryan Cook, Madshus USA sales manager, wrote in an email, “Generally, we are constantly producing skis with the majority happening between the months of December and April. This means that we are just about wrapping up all of our preseason orders for the coming season. We then look to ship the skis, via ocean, between the months of June and September, as most dealers request their product to be in store between September and November.”

Krista Pärmäkoski of Finland testing skis in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Nordic Focus)

Zach Caldwell, proprietor of Vermont’s Caldwell Sport, also travels to Europe to pick skis. Speaking on April 13, he said the Austrian companies he works with underwent a mandatory shutdown, but are opening back up. According to Caldwell, they’re ready to schedule ski picking. While the ski companies seemed optimistic, Caldwell is waiting to see what happens when social distancing is relaxed.

“I can get to a ski factory and interact with about three people and pick the skis I need. What I do need to be able to do is travel. And that’s not something I’m willing to do right now, even if it was wide open. Once the international travel piece looks OK, there’s nothing standing between me and picking skis for people,” Caldwell said.

For both Caldwell and Liebsch, races next winter pose a bigger question than shipping schedules. How will the possibility, even the likelihood, of continued social distancing affect racing next winter?

“But both the competitive aspect and social aspect of competition is what drives a lot of our sport,” Caldwell said. “We’re going to lose a lot of people if we shut that off for a year. I think there are ways to prepare for a season of distancing measures, and that’s a bigger story from my perspective than what does the industry look like.”

“The biggest issue that I have is the prospect for racing next season,” he added. He’s concerned about the feasibility of having several hundred competitors, plus coaches and family, at Eastern Cups. [The Eastern Cup races are the New England qualifying races for Junior Nationals.]

Concerned about the impact social distancing may have on racing, Caldwell wrote to the New England Nordic Ski Association [NENSA], urging them to consider alternatives to traditional races.

“We should be making plans to ensure that there are competitive and social outlets for racers absent the ability to run [traditional race formats],” Caldwell said. “NENSA could put together a combination between Strava and NASTAR where they put standardized courses at touring centers and drop off chip timing. Develop an app that people can subscribe to and pay an entry fee with a head tax to check out a chip and go ski a course.  Have the touring center handicap the snow speed with a ski trap and generate a score, generate a region wide points list and share it on social media.”

“There are a lot of models that can perpetuate that, absent an Eastern Cup circuit or a Craftsbury Marathon or whatever,” he added. “We as a sport need to be thinking about this because we’ve got a lot of lead time to prepare for this. We need to be thinking about that. One thing we can’t do is Zwift. We don’t have that technology in skiing.”

The wheels have been turning in New England when it comes to developing contingency plans. “This year is not going to look like anything we’ve ever had.” Amie Smith, Executive Director of NENSA, told FasterSkier.

“We’re saying, ‘what can it look like? What opportunities can we give our membership? How can we keep everyone connected during this time of sheltering at home?’” Smith acknowledged Caldwell’s email to NENSA, but didn’t touch on it directly.

Normally, NENSA conducts a regional elite group (REG) camp for juniors at Stratton Mountain School at the end of June.  That’s been postponed to the end of August. Meanwhile, NENSA is devising ways to have a virtual camp instead. They are also planning virtual coaching clinics.

As for the coming winter, Smith asked, “Can we even gather? If crowds are limited to 50, we are going to have to totally change how we do Eastern Cups. It won’t be business as usual.”

Insofar as recreational skiing goes, Smith posited, “Would ski centers be able to open their lodges? How could they safely collect trail fees?” (Faster Skier contacted several ski centers for this article, but none responded.)

Some of the young skiers at the NENSA Eastern Cup in Craftsbury, Vermont. Young and old are welcome at the NENSA Eastern Cups. (Photo: John Lazenby)

“It’s not going to look like our normal race season, but hopefully we can have some great training, coaching education, race opportunities,” she said. “But we totally don’t know what that will look like. We need to have alternatives and ideas of how that would look. Will race starts be a minute apart?  Will they be two minutes?

“Our staff is in a good place, we’re excited to see what we can put together and keep everyone engaged and feeling like there’s still a community,” Smith said. “Because I do hope we come out the other side, and that there will be a day when we don’t have to keep 6 or 9 or 15 feet apart, and that we can go back to doing our normal racing. But I don’t think that’s going to be next season.”

For the near term, it appears that business as usual on the race front and storefront is over.

The investment of early-season dollars and time as it relates to inventory will have to wait a bit longer to determine how the pandemic evolves and the gradual release of social distancing requirements. “I’m thinking we can still rebound and have a great winter next year, if we’ve got snow,” Liebsch said. “I’m confident that I’ll be ski picking in September,” Liebsch concluded. “If I’m not, the whole world has big issues.”

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The Sun Has Set: Norway’s National Cross-Country Team Experiences Deep Financial Cuts https://fasterskier.com/2020/03/the-sun-has-set-norways-national-cross-country-team-experiences-deep-financial-cuts/ https://fasterskier.com/2020/03/the-sun-has-set-norways-national-cross-country-team-experiences-deep-financial-cuts/#respond Tue, 31 Mar 2020 21:26:00 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=191239
Athlete training in Lillehammer, Norway
prior to the FIS World cup. (Photo: NordicFocus)

 

On Tuesday morning, the Norwegian Ski Federation (NSF) and announced a new sponsorship agreement, set to begin on 1 May. Sparebank will remain the federation’s title sponsor for 10 million kroner, approximately US $950,000. It’s a two-year agreement with an option for a three-year extension.

The amount is a reduction from the 15 million kroner (US $1,416,750) in the previous contract.

Norwegian Ski Federation Logo

The new deal comes at a time of uncertainty as global economies sputter due to the coronavirus pandemic. In part because of the economic crisis and partly due to sponsorship losses, the NSF slashed its 2020 budget by 50 million Norwegian kroner, approximately $4,800,000. On Friday, the federation issued a press release published by langrenn.com announcing a layoff of 96 employees, two-thirds of its workforce. The remaining workers have taken pay cuts as they cope with a changed financial landscape.

Before Christmas, Sparebank and the federation had ceased sponsorship discussions. According to langrenn.com, “a few weeks ago” negotiations resumed. 

With reduced funding, the national team athletes will lose their annual training stipends of 120,000 kroner. Stars such as Johannes Hosflot Klæbo and Therese Johaug may not be affected by this loss, but it could be significant for other athletes.

In the new agreement, Sparebank retains prime space on athletes’ headgear, but little else. Previously, sponsorships were organized top-down: Norwegian athletes had to sign a non-compete agreement covering around 80 different brands, with only minor opportunities to procure their own sponsorships.

With the loss of the stipend, athletes are free to find their own sponsorships. Marketing themselves may enter into the work-life-training balance.

“They have the opportunity to [recoup the lost stipend] by going out and selling themselves,” said Espen Bjervig, the federation’s cross-country manager. “It may not be the best timing the way the market is now. But I think the athletes have a strong foundation especially locally. In addition, the clubs of the athletes may also have the opportunity to use their sponsorship on the athletes,” said Bjervig to NRK. “But if there are athletes who are struggling to get sponsors, then we will see what we in the Ski Association can help with.”

Veidekke, a prominent civil engineering company, also ended its sponsorship of the ski federation. In an article on the Finnish outlet is.fi, Helge Dieset, Veidekke’s communications director, said that the company had decided to cease sponsorship at the end of the year, before coronavirus.

Along with 13 other businesses, Veidekke had been a co-sponsor, a tier below the title sponsor. They sponsored not only the national sprint team: some of their money supported the federation’s five regional development teams.

Even before the current budget crisis, team management had already intended to reduce the size of the national team, due to reduced quotas on the World Cup and in the Olympics. 

In the linked article, former Norwegian skier and current cross-country analyst on Norwegian television, Petter Soleng Skinstad speculated that veteran athletes might be the first to feel the axe: “Probably it is first and foremost established top runners who will disappear out of the A team.”  

As the federation sorts out its future, athletes are training individually. According to Ski-Nordique.net, national team training camps had already been postponed until July at the earliest.

Before the new deal with Sparebank, Håvard Solås Taugbøl, of Lillehammeer SK, told Ski-Nordique, “This is a very critical situation. We hope that another sponsor can come and help [the] regional teams, which are so important for the development and motivation of young people.” In 2020, Taugbøl earned three World Cup sprint starts.

With the layoffs announced last Friday, “The goal now is to take quick enough measures to secure jobs so that we can resume normal operations and continue as normal as possible when this is over,” said NSF secretary general Ingvild Bretten Berg. “We have talented and committed employees in [NSF]. In a difficult time not only for us, but also for many around us, it is important to take care of each other as best we can.”

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A Full Weekend of Rollerski Races in Upstate New York https://fasterskier.com/2019/09/a-full-weekend-of-rollerski-races-in-upstate-new-york/ https://fasterskier.com/2019/09/a-full-weekend-of-rollerski-races-in-upstate-new-york/#respond Mon, 16 Sep 2019 20:15:17 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=187006
Linden Nideck of CSU navigating the agility features. (Photo: Peter Minde)

The NENSA rollerski series ramped up this past weekend outside Lake Placid, New York. As part of the drive to draw more skiers to the rollerski series, Saturday included a two race format known as a doubleday event: event 1 consisted of a 3-kilometer skate prologue followed by a 1.5-k cross-country cross (XCX) featuring several agility segments. Athletes earned a reward for performances in each event. Both events were individual start and their aggregate times were used to form a pursuit start for the first wave of the Climb to the Castle (C2C) on Sunday.

For those who raced both events on Saturday, the C2C was a pursuit style event – with the overall leaders from the first two races heading out first.  

Saturday’s Doubleday 

Both races were located at the Olympic Jumping Complex while between races, NENSA’s Justin Beckwith and NYSEF’s Shane McDowell assembled the undulating ramps that constituted the agility segments for the sprint prologue. At each agility segment, if an athlete couldn’t ski the obstacle, there was a safe alternate route that penalized skiers- not unlike a penalty loop in biathlon. 

It was cloudy all day; the uppermost section of the loop was damp from overnight rain.

Individual results for each respective race can be found here:

Event 1: 3 k Prologue Results 

Event 2: Full 1.5-k CXC Results

Saturday’s overall results dictated the pursuit start times for Sunday’s C2C. For the senior women, Zoe Williams (ENRG/Nakkertok/Carleton College) was atop Saturday’s combined standings. Nina Armstrong (NYSEF) was second, and Jessica Roach (Team Hardwood) third. For the men, Luke Brown (Bridger Biathlon), Zane Fields (US Biathlon), and Erikson Moore (Fondeurs Laurentides) were first through third respectively heading into Sunday’s event. 

Combined Times after Two Events

Kyle Bratrud on his way to the 2019 Climb to the Castle win. (Photo: of Kel Rose)

Climb to the Castle

Sunny skies greeted racers on Sunday as did blustery winds. Although it was dry, the weather was noticeably cooler than the 80 degrees racers endured at least year’s C2C. An hour before the start, it was 55 degrees at the toll gate, with the wind blowing steadily between 16 and 26 miles per hour. 

Kyle Bratrud (SMS T2) and Williams won Sunday’s Climb to the Castle (C2C) rollerski race in Wilmington, New York. It was the first win here for both skiers. The race ascended the Whiteface Mountain toll road for five miles at an average grade of eight percent. At 4867 feet, Whiteface is the fifth highest peak in the Adirondack Mountains.

Bratrud, who did not contest either race on Saturday, broke Robert Duncan Douglas’ long-standing men’s record by 1.1 seconds, finishing in 34:55.5 minutes. Jake Brown, of US Biathlon and Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) placed second at 36:25.8. Luke Brown raced to third in 37:30.1.

For the women, Williams finished in 48:54.6 after placing third last year. Kathy Maddock, age 54, of Wilton, NH., was second overall in 51:12.0, followed by a junior skier from Mansfield Nordic, Ava Thurston, in 51:20.1.

Skiers who competed in Saturday’s doubleday races went out first, starting in a pursuit format based on their aggregate times. Doubleday finishers started at 8 AM sharp and were all on course by 8:05.  Open athletes started in a mass start wave at 8:06, with masters following two minutes behind. 

Bratrud told FasterSkier he’d raced C2C once before in 2015. Since he did not race the sprints the day before, he started at 8:06, gradually reeling in the pursuit starters. 

“It’s been a while since I’ve been up here but I really like this climb,” Bratrud said. “It’s always a really sweet atmosphere and it was a pretty solid effort. We started in a group of maybe five or six. I was at the front and set a decent pace. It didn’t seem like anyone wanted to come around me so I just kind of slowly ramped it up without destroying myself and it worked out.

“We had done the App Gap roller ski race a little earlier in the year,” Bratrud continued. “There, I tried to send it as fast as I could off the line, and ultimately I blew myself up. Here, I wanted to be a little more controlled and I knew it was a long race. I wanted to ski a nice controlled V2 the whole way.”

While both races are purely uphill, each has a distinct set of challenges. The App Gap challenge features a transition from skate to classic and climbs about 1,500 vertical feet over the 7.5-kilometer course, while the C2C climbs 2,300 feet in one unbroken grind.

“I think [C2C] is definitely harder,” Bratrud said when asked about comparing the two. “There are steep pitches on the App Gap but there are also some flat parts. There really isn’t anywhere to hide on this climb once you start going up, which is basically right at the start.  And then you get the wind.”

2019 Climb to the Castle men’s podium. From left to right: In second Jake Brown, first Kyle Bratrud, and third Luke Brown. (Photo: Kel Rose)

Like Bratrud, Jake Brown started in the wave following the doubleday athletes. “It went pretty well,” he said of his race. “I was able to hang on to Kyle for a couple of miles and then it was a little too much. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to lead so I could tuck in a little bit, which I was able to do. Otherwise, I didn’t have much of a plan.  Something like this is so physically demanding, you can’t really have a plan until you get out there and understand how your shape matches the challenge.”

Luke Brown felt that the doubleday was good preparation for the C2C. “I think the efforts [in the doubleday] opened up my legs, kind of a pre-race,” he said. “I felt pretty strong, it’s a super fun road to ski up. Pretty nice weather at the bottom, and windy at the top. Zane Fields started six seconds behind me and caught up to me. We worked together for a little bit and then I pulled away from him, probably about halfway up the mountain. Then I just tried to go hard.”

With the best women’s aggregate time from the doubleday, Williams was the rabbit out of the start. Shilo Rousseau of Ontario’s Barrie XC, a junior skier, was the second woman starter as she followed 32 seconds after Williams. 

2019 Climb to the Castle junior women’s podium. From left to right: in second Rose Clayton, first Ava Thurston, and third Shilo Rousseau. (Photo: Kel Rose)

“The pursuit start meant that I skied a lot of it alone, which was different from previous years,” Williams said. “I was happy that I kept the pace going up the hill, kept trying to keep the tempo up. So it was good. My legs were for sure tired after yesterday, and I felt that probably a kilometer in. I thought that it would be my legs holding me back instead of my cardio. But I still felt like I was able to put a good effort in.”

Maddock said she benefited from working amongst a group of fast skiers. 

“I was part of a train of men and hung with them until it was just the guy leading and me,” wrote Katherine Maddock, head coach of Dublin (NH) XC. “It was super helpful having him to ski with. On the flat(ish) section maybe a mile or less from the top, we could see a group of skiers in front of us. He turned around and said to me, ‘Let’s go fishing. And then he just started picking people off. It was great. Ultimately he made a move around a skier and I couldn’t match the effort so I was on my own in the wind tunnel, but I survived, which was no small feat with that headwind!”

Climb to the Castle Time of Day Results by Junior and Senior Categories

 

The Mini-Tour Overall

For racers competing in all three events, the overall mini-tour results are as follows.

Overall Men: Luke Brown placed first (48:47), Fields was second (49:50), and Finn Dodgson of Ontario’s Barrie Cross Country was third (51:32).

Overall Women: Williams was the women’s mini-tour winner (1:02:19), Ava Thurston placed second (1:05:24), and Shilo Rousseau third (1:06:18).

Mini Tour (3 races) Overall Results by Junior and Senior Catagories

Catching up with C2C Finishers

Lucy Hochschartner (St. Lawrence University) has raced C2C multiple times. “It was really fun! I’ve done this race a lot of times and it’s always really hard,” she said. “But it was great to have nice weather and lots of good people to race against. I didn’t do so great [in the doubleday] so I got to move up a little bit. And not dying at the very end was fun. The wind definitely made for a slow finish.”

Nina Armstrong during the first day of racing at the three race mini-tour. (Photo: Peter Minde)

Nina Armstrong (NYSEF) had the weekend’s races written into her training plan. “I haven’t done [C2C] in quite a few years,” she said. “It was fun. My plan was to work into it and hopefully not die before the finish line. It was really fun having people all around you.”

Sheila Kealey, the head coach at uOttawa Nordiq was excited to place a bib on after coaching skiers at the Doubleday. 

“The race was a good effort,” she wrote in an email. “Starting in the mass start I had some people to ski with about half of the time, and I was catching some athletes from the pursuit start waves ahead – so it was a quite different experience than other years with a women’s only start. My plan from the start was to try to ski with people — it was a reasonable effort. No problems switching from coach-mode Saturday to race mode Sunday!”

Before the racing on Saturday, FS interviewed Jessica Roach and Robbie Raikou from Team Hardwood in Ontario. 

“The past three years, Team Hardwood has made it a point to come [to Lake Placid] for about a week in August to take advantage of what Lake Placid has to offer for skiing and for training,” Raikou said. Roach described her race plan: “I come from an alpine skiing background, so hopefully, I get to use that on the hills and the corners to my advantage. We’ve never done this course at speed before, so it should be interesting. Just going to survive it and have fun.”

Finn Dodgson, another visiting skier, noted this was his second year in the doubleday. “Today went all right. I was sick at the beginning of this week so I’ve been getting over the last bit of the illness and getting back to racing feelings,” he said. “Last year, I definitely noticed that I felt a lot better in the second race. I was warmed up and knew the course better, so this time around, I tried to get a better warmup in and get some good laps, just to see how it is and remember all the corners. The obstacles weren’t as daunting as I thought. They went well and I was able to do all of them.”

Four skiers from Montreal’s Fondeurs Laurentides had their first doubleday this year. Speaking of the race loop, Aiden Raynor said, “It’s got some twists and bends to it, that’s for sure. Quite extreme but super fun.”

His teammate Erikson Moore added, “[The course] was great.  It works almost every technical ability a skier could have, and it has a good mix of flats to climbs.”

“The second race with the ramps [agility features] was really fun and, sketchy downhill, but it was worth it,” said Mathis Desbaumes.

The Doubleday / C2C weekend suits Shilo Rousseau. She was C2C’s third-place junior female finisher and second place on aggregate time in the doubleday. After the doubleday, she said, “It went really good this year! I noticed some big improvements [in fitness] from last year and felt a lot stronger. Last year, I noticed going from the bottom all the way to the top in the second loop I felt a lot more tired.  This year I was able to be strong the whole way.”

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Mount Van Hoevenberg to Receive First Major Makeover Since 1980 Winter Olympics https://fasterskier.com/2019/09/mount-van-hoevenberg-to-receive-first-major-makeover-since-1980-winter-olympics/ https://fasterskier.com/2019/09/mount-van-hoevenberg-to-receive-first-major-makeover-since-1980-winter-olympics/#respond Thu, 05 Sep 2019 16:29:40 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=186885
New infrastrucutre and ongoing renovations at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg  winter sports complex (Photo: ORDA/Whiteface Lake Placid)

In March 2018, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) awarded the 2023 Universiade, or World University Games, to Lake Placid. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pledge of financial support helped seal the deal. That event will bring approximately 2500 athletes and support staff to compete in cross-country and alpine skiing, ski jumping, hockey, speed skating, figure skating, and other events. Lake Placid last hosted the Universiade in 1972.

In its current fiscal year, New York State budgeted $80 million to the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) for improvements. The year prior, ORDA received $60 million from the state

Asked when they got involved in the bidding process for the Universiade, ORDA President and CEO Mike Pratt wrote in an email, “ORDA was included in the process to host the [World University Games] from the onset. The biggest limitation to hosting the event was regional. As it was determined that these limitations could be overcome, the process to secure the games progressed.”

Improvements to Mount Van Hoevenberg will include a new lodge, an eight million gallon snowmaking reservoir, and a traditional snowmaking system covering five kilometers of trail, augmenting what is already known as the Snow Factory. Four kilometers of new trails will be developed and paved to accommodate rollerskiing in the summer. A new start house is in the works for Van Ho’s sliding track. 

After the 1980 Winter Olympics, the state of New York founded ORDA to manage the various Olympic venues. In addition to Mount Van Hoevenberg, and the Olympic Jumping Complex, ORDA manages Whiteface Mountain, the Olympic Center (site of hockey events), the Olympic Speed Skating Oval, and the Olympic Training Center. In 1984, ORDA assumed management of the Gore alpine mountain in the southern Adirondacks; and in 2011, took over the Belleayre alpine center in the Catskills, which had been managed by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

Mount Van Hoevenberg’s new lodge will house 30,000 square feet over three stories. The lodge will be used by the sliding athletes and hikers and is scheduled for a 2021 completion date. New trailheads to the popular Cascade and Porter mountains will start from the lodge area in an effort to ease overcrowding at existing trailheads during summer hiking season. To promote non-winter visitations, a mountain coaster will be developed to leverage the area for summer visitors.

The total costs for upgrading Mount Van Hoevenberg were originally estimated to be $40-$50 million. However, in a June issue of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Pratt revised the redevelopment estimate to “upward of $60 million.”  The cost of the new lodge alone is estimated to be approximately $32 million.  Asked about the cost increases by FasterSkier, Pratt responded “The project scope grew to include additional components that could have been separate projects. We are managing our budget as efficiently as possible.”

While ORDA will install a traditional snowmaking system, Pratt said that it would keep and continue to maintain the Snow Factory. At the time of writing, none of the existing ski trails are expected to be closed during construction. However, Pratt wrote, “We are obviously going to experience some inconveniences with the construction continuing through the winter. We are prepared to operate differently and need the guests to understand that the facility is changing and some things will be different.”

Lake Placid ski jumps receiving an overhaul. (Photo: ORDA/Whiteface Lake Placid)

According to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, the biathlon range will be relocated and enlarged to accommodate World Cup cross-country and biathlon events.  Pratt wrote that the new range would be adjacent to the new lodge.

At the ski jumps, frost rails (that cool the ski ramp surface) will be installed on both the 90-meter and 120-meter to ensure a consistent gliding surface. ORDA also plans to re-grade the landing hill, but the current sole bid of $12 million for this work was more than double what ORDA had anticipated.  At present, re-grading the hill is tabled, and ORDA will solicit new bids for the following year.  Despite the re-grading issue, the ski jumps will be usable this winter. In addition, the Olympic Jumping Center will see the landing hill regraded to modern standards.

Of interest to dedicated World Cup fans, Pratt expressed that bidding on and hosting a World Cup cross-country event remains a possibility. “We are always considering what events are appropriate to host and feel confident that the new trails will be desired by the athletes and their governing bodies,” he wrote.

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Hamilton, Ogden win 2019 NENSA App Gap Challenge https://fasterskier.com/2019/08/hamilton-ogden-win-2019-nensa-app-gap-challenge/ https://fasterskier.com/2019/08/hamilton-ogden-win-2019-nensa-app-gap-challenge/#respond Mon, 05 Aug 2019 15:46:26 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=186503
From right to left: Caitlin Patterson, Sophie Caldwell, Evelina Sutro, and Katharine Ogden during the skate portion of the 2019 App Gap Challenge. (Photo: Reese Brown – xcski.org)

On a bright, hot Saturday, Simi Hamilton (SMS T2/USST) and Katharine Ogden (Dartmouth/SMS T2) won the NENSA App Gap Challenge in Fayston, VT. Hamilton finished the race in 26:10 minutes, 26 seconds shy of Kyle Bratrud’s record-setting win last year. Ben Lustgarten of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) raced to second, 12 seconds back at 26:22. CGRP teammate Adam Martin followed in third place at 26:37.

Ogden won in 32:15, with Sophie Caldwell (SMS T2/USST) finishing 21 seconds back in 32:36. CGRP’s Caitlin Patterson was third at 32:48.

The App Gap is a rollerski skiathlon with a twist. Instead of beginning with a classic leg, the race starts with freestyle. At the Mad River Glen alpine area, approximately 5 k from the long course start, athletes change over to classic gear for the push to the finish.  

NENSA App Gap Challenge course. The finish is marked by the red pin.

In the past, the race distance was set at 7.25 k for men and 5 k for women. According to Justin Beckwith, the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) competition director, coaches requested a longer course for their athletes. Thus, 17 women, including all the racers above, raced the longer 7.25 k course. Ogden’s time is the new women’s course record for the long course. Junior women skied the 5 k distance. 

Working with local municipalities, Beckwith was able to get the westbound lane of Vermont State Route 17 closed for the race. The early kilometers have a fairly relaxed profile. As the skiers approach Mad River Glen, the road pitches up, with sections at thirteen and fifteen percent grade.

“This was my first time skiing up App Gap,” Hamilton said after the race. “I’ve been up a few times on my bike, so I know the road a little bit. I wanted to conserve energy down on the flats, kind of see how hard everyone else was going to ski, and just stay relaxed on the climb.  These kinds of races tend to be either really good for me or really bad. I just wanted to see what I could do, and it turned out OK.”

The skate to classic format suited Hamilton. 

“Today it was pretty nice to be able to classic the upper section of the hill,” Hamilton said. “It gets so steep at the top that if you classic skied the bottom and then skated, it would really work your legs. It’s pretty nice today that we got to skate first and then classic.”

With his European race schedule many months away, Hamilton was able to use the App Gap race as a low consequence fitness barometer. 

Simi Hamilton bib 312 followed by fourth place finisher Akeo Maifeld-Carucci. (Photo: Reese Brown – xcski.org)

“You never know how your body’s going to feel at this time of year because we haven’t really been doing a lot of hard intervals to get ready for this kind of effort,” said Hamilton. “At the same time, it’s really good to put a race bib on and revisit those feelings of really trying to go hard.  It’s a race in August, it’s awesome to feel great, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.” The world of online betting is becoming more and more popular every day, not only in Poland but also all over the world. Sports betting is especially current during big championships, tournaments or matches of famous football teams! Bookmaker bets – soccer or other sports really give a lot of fun, because thanks to them you can not only increase your interest in the sport or football team, but also to win big money! Yes, yes, modern sports betting for many players is not just a pleasant hobby, but the whole art, thanks to which they successfully earn millions of zlotys a month watching their favorite matches!

For Lustgarten, App Gap came at the end of the first week of a two-week block of hard training. 

It went pretty well today!” Lustgarten emailed. “I didn’t feel amazing during the warm up from the hard week of training, so I wanted to draft the leaders and just see what happened. The skate leg got tough near the transition with all the climbing. My V2 wasn’t as strong as it usually feels so I switched to V1 earlier and more often than I would have liked. But I managed to maintain contact with Adam and Simi through the exchange. I felt like I could relax in my kick double pole and tried to ski smooth and long. I felt ok and took the lead for a bit but then Simi pulled up next to me and I knew I was in trouble. We had maybe 500m to go and he picked up the pace and at the 200 m to go sign he did a nice little acceleration and dropped me. I didn’t have any other gears left. It was a solid effort

The men’s front group on the skate leg. From Right to left: Kyle Bratrud, Ian Torchia, Ben Lustgarten, Adam martin, Simi Hamilton, Akeo Maifrld Carucci, and Ben Saxton. (Photo: Reese Brown – xcski.org)

“We have had [App Gap] on the schedule for a while. It fits in well to our schedule to add a nice hard effort that is more maximal instead of longer L3 that we do during the summer. I have a mountain bike race tomorrow as well so this weekend is pretty challenging but it’s a nice mix to the standard training routine.”

Asked about her day, Ogden said, “I’ve just been doing some solid training this summer, and it’s fun to get out and train and race and hang out with all the people I don’t see in the summer. It’s cool to hang out with [CGRP] a little bit, see my SMS T2 teammates – I don’t see them too much because I’m in Hanover, New Hampshire. I didn’t have a plan [for the race], I wanted to have some fun. … I tend to do well on a lot of race efforts,” Ogden added. “It’s always good for me to get out there and get going a little bit. I’ve been doing some bike racing this summer. Definitely not the last intensity of the year.”

Katharine Ogden (bib 328) and Evelina Sutro (bib 325) during the 2019 App Gap Challenge. (Photo: Reese Brown – xcski.org)

Caldwell’s App Gap experience provided an opportunity to synch her top gear efforts with the terrain best suiting her. The Vermont based skier was the fourth ranked sprinter on last season’s World Cup.

“Uphill races are generally not my strength,” Caldwell emailed. “My goal was to hang on for as long as possible and to try to conserve energy. I quickly realized that my strengths relative to the pack were the more gradual sections where I could double pole kick or V2, so I tried to save a little energy there and then match KO and Caitlin on the uphills. Caitlin led the entire skate section and then KO put in a surge on the classic that I tried to match and we took some turns leading there before she pulled away. It was a very hard effort and a nice test of fitness. I don’t read into rollerski races too much in the summer, but I was psyched with how today went!”

Sophie Caldwell during the 2019 App Gap Challenge. (Photo: Reese Brown – xcski.org)

Hilary McNamee, the third-place finisher in the women’s open division is also the head coach at Ford Sayre. She said that about half of her racers came to App Gap. She sees the day as an opportunity for her athletes to remain connected to race day sensations and environment. 

“It’s a hard effort that we train through,”  McNamee said. “It’s more about putting on a bib. In the summer, if you’re not hopping into local races, you lose that feeling of putting on a bib, and getting nervous, and going through the warm-up process, and finding the race zone. For us, it’s about staying in touch with racing. To have it be our nordic community hosting the race is an added bonus. These are the people we’re going to see in a couple of months on snow, and it’s that excitement around our sport, that’s the biggest piece for me.”

The organizational guru, NENSA’s Justin Beckwith (yellow vest). (Photo: Reese Brown – xcski.org)

Years ago, the App Gap was the low-key culmination of a summer camp at Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) when Beckwith coached at there. After a hiatus when the App Gap race lapsed, it returned when Beckwith became New England Nordic Ski Association’s (NENSA) competition director.

In 2017, the first year that NENSA organized the App Gap event, there were 57 finishers. That total bumped to 119 last year. This year’s App Gap featured 167 finishers. 

“It all comes down to the action we have in our clubs right now,” Beckwith said. “It’s the vision we’re trying to promote.” 

Beckwith credited clubs from beyond the local area buying into the event, saying that this was the first year Stratton Mountain School junior athletes had competed. 

“The elite skiers love it,” Beckwith said.  “We had four of the top-10 overall ranked male and female skiers in the U.S. here this year. That’s really inspiring for the kids.”

Full 2019 App Gap Results

 

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Sverre Caldwell: The Soul of Nordic Programs at SMS, Set to Retire https://fasterskier.com/2019/05/sverre-caldwell-the-soul-of-nordic-programs-at-sms-set-to-retire/ https://fasterskier.com/2019/05/sverre-caldwell-the-soul-of-nordic-programs-at-sms-set-to-retire/#respond Mon, 13 May 2019 15:19:46 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=184756
Sverre Caldwell instructing SMS athletes. (Photo: George Forbes)

“I am not making them great. They are making themselves great.” – Sverre Caldwell

Long-time Stratton Mountain School (SMS) coach Sverre Caldwell will step down at the end of this school year. According to an article in the Bennington Banner, during Caldwell’s tenure, SMS sent 15 cross-country skiers to the Winter Olympics. SMS also had at least one Junior National champion and one World Junior team member for 24 consecutive years. Caldwell was U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s  Coach of the Year in 2001, 2003, and 2009.

Caldwell’s name became synonymous with SMS as the cross-country ski program has evolved over the years. He began his career at SMS in 1980 with a small core of athletes. Along with his coaching duties, Caldwell initially taught Math and took on the role of headmaster for four years beginning in 1992.

In the matter-of-fact tone of someone understanding where their strengths lay, Caldwell deadpanned, “so I was headmaster for four years and did not enjoy that, so I went back to coaching. I have worn a lot of different hats, but mainly ski coach except for those four years as headmaster. So I have been ski coach with occasional teaching, those are the different roles I have played at SMS.”

The academic and outdoor sports focus of SMS calls for two parallel staffs: one dedicated to academic classroom work, the other focused on developing athletes on the alpine slopes, cross-country trails, and halfpipes.

“Because the coaches travel so much in the winter and everyone is on different schedules,” Caldwell said. “You can envision that nordic skiers don’t travel as much. But a lot of the alpine races are midweek because the alpine mountains don’t want to close their trails on the weekends. So it would be hard for me who is off to senior nationals for ten days and off to junior nationals for ten days to be teaching a bunch of alpine kids the little bit of time when they are around.”

Due to those time constraints, Caldwell’s work with younger athletes revolved around his cross-country coaching. Along the way, he also helped establish an elite team. Initially known as the SMS Elite Team, that training and racing group is currently called SMS T2. Current and former SMS T2 athletes include Jessie Diggins, Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton, and Sophie Caldwell.

Sverre Caldwell encouraging SMS skier Clarissa Pollard in Lake Placid. (Photo: George Forbes)

 

The following is a conversation between Jason Albert and Caldwell on April 30, during which Caldwell reflected on his career.

FasterSkier: Much has changed in sport since you began in 1980 at Stratton. Can you reflect a bit on what you personally have changed when it comes to your craft?

Sverre Caldwell: What I have done really hasn’t changed that much. Having had your average of 10 to 15 kids a year for almost 40 years, it is always a variation on the theme. But you are training year-round for skiing. So I might go ‘this year we are really going to work on this’ and it turns out to be one workout a week different. Everyone is going to [train] a lot of distance and some intensity and it depends on when or how hard you want to go and when you want to introduce the intensity.

From my perspective, I have always tried to think of myself as a teacher of cross-country skiing. You just kind of help reach the kids as much as you can so that they can learn what makes them click. And it is really important that they take ownership. So I am trying to help them make decisions that are going to help them.

I am not making them great. They are making themselves great and I am going to help them figure out how to do that.

I know it has changed because I used to be young and athletic and lead all the workouts. Now I can’t keep up with anyone so I’m watching. You know the educational piece and teaching them a sport has evolved, but that has not really changed dramatically. When I started coaching here, no one trained year round for skiing. If anyone joined the program, it was pretty much instant success because they were training year-round for skiing and very few other people were doing that. Now, a lot of people are training year-round for skiing. It has gotten more competitive and you look at international results and it shows. It is pretty cool. We have had three different skiers in the last three years get medals at World Juniors. And twenty years ago we were not getting medals at World Juniors. Competition is improving because a lot of people are doing a better job and the clubs are really helping that.

Another piece of that change that I think has also helped the Stratton program is having started an elite club. We have our SMS T2 people training here and the kids can see Jessie and Sophie and Simi and Andy Newell, some of the best skiers in the world. They did what we did. So here is a pathway.

FS: What is one key take away from having your younger athletes in close proximity to SMS T2 skiers?

SC: My goal is always to have people to go into their biggest races expecting to do well because they have confidence. They know ‘when I do this I can ski well.’ So then you do whatever ‘this’ is before your big races. You go in with confidence versus hoping to do well. It really helps when you have that pathway of success and you can see that and you can say ‘oh, ok I can see why we are doing this and I can see why we are not doing a lot of hard intensity here in the spring and summer. Because those guys don’t do it either’. They are just building up patience and keeping a long term approach. The SMS T2 skiers tend to be good athletes and are as efficient as possible and all that sort of stuff that we preach to the younger skiers.

FS: It comes with the territory with an environment like SMS — parents with high expectations and demands when it comes to performance. That’s a dicey road to navigate.

SC: That has definitely evolved. Recently, it has become easier because I am older than all the parents. I remember when I started, parents were these scary people. Back then, I was just very enthusiastic and the team was doing well and everyone was going ‘oh this is great’.  At this point, this is a major way that relationship has evolved. When people come in to interview if they are deciding if they want to come here next year, we say, ‘this is the way our program works and this is the way we do it’. And so they’re coming in and they are choosing this program because we have had great success and they are trusting that we know what we are doing. For the most part that has worked very well. That really hasn’t been much of an issue.

FS: In many ways, you are the East Coast sage of junior coaching. Do you field lots of calls from other coaches seeking advice?

 SC: I enjoy talking to people and some people do. I can always talk skiing. Since I’m sure they will think, ‘why did I even ask him because he won’t shut up or something?’.

It is fun talking to different people and discussing issues that different programs have and helping them figure out how to do a different angle or something. It is not like I know everything. But I do enjoy talking about stuff and I think that our success has been because we have been really focused on helping each individual athlete, being patient, and looking at the big picture.

FS: One thing you have going on at SMS is resources. SMS life is not cheap. Does that play into the success?

SC: I think a lot of it is resources and a lot of it is education. I feel the educational part is really important. The kids understand why we are having them do different things. Education and ownership. I’ll see people come into our T2 team and it is like ‘Jesus, these guys just think if hard is good, harder is better’. It is like, ‘where in the hell have they been?’ They need to know how it all fits together. So the educational piece I think is very important. I would like to think that we train smarter than most people and I know some people train harder then we do. It is not like we are not training hard, but we don’t want to train too hard and burn out in February for example.

FS: I forgot to ask, how old are you?

SC: I am 64 years old.

FS: I consider that to be pretty young.

SC: Nobody in my family says that.

FS: Have you been thinking of retiring for a while?

SC: I actually decided, probably two or three years ago. And it was a combination of a bunch of things. One is, (laughter), I was inspired by Big Poppy… that’s my baseball reference. I thought it was pretty cool that when he went out, people were kind of going ‘why don’t you stay?’ I didn’t want to be here so long that people were going, ‘I cannot wait for him to leave.’ That was a piece of it.

I had a winter term sabbatical three years ago and Lily, my wife, and I traveled in Europe for something like 10 to 12 weeks and that was really fun. And so part of the plan was to be able to travel a little more and spend time with my wife. I still love coaching, but I am getting tired of all the administrative parts. I just want if I can spend more time with my wife and travel a little more and just back off that is going to be awesome and I believe you only go around once and so I didn’t want to … I don’t want to turn into this guy who is working for pay instead of working for passion. I wanted to leave on a good note. Leave on top. (Laughter.

A combination of all that. With Lily getting cancer, it was this is a good decision and I need to spend time with her and hopefully do stuff like that.

FS: Do you plan to stay involved with the school in some capacity?

SC: I will. I am definitely planning on helping with SMS T2 the same way I have the last whatever many years the SMS T2 team has been in existence. It is hard when you get old, you start to forget. That is another reason I am retiring.

While I have been coaching at Stratton, I have been administering the T2 team so the coaches can coach and don’t have to be out running around raising money and finding housing and stuff like that. I am going to continue in that role, making sure that Patrick [O’brien] doesn’t have to do too much of that grunt work and I can make sure the program is viable and we can run and keep thinking about what we need to do to be better.

That is the part that was not paid for through the school, but it was obviously a benefit to the school. So I am going to keep doing that. I have not talked to the school about what my role is with them. Matt Boobar will be taking over my job which is great and he has been here for ten years. We have been sharing an office and we can complete each other’s sentences. And so that is going to be a very smooth transition. I will be around. I will be available. At this point, I don’t have any job or contracted affiliation. I will be there, to chat with them and help however needed. But he needs to be able to run the program himself without me sitting here. I need to give him the distance. I will help however I can. What I foresee, if I am doing more coaching it will be going out more with the T2 team and talking to Pat more about what I am seeing. But, once again, without trying to tread on him.

It is always a tricky balance when you have been around and someone thinks they know a lot so they come in and dictate. It has to be this thing like where am I going to be useful and going to be helpful.

I still love working with kids. I am ready not to do it full time.

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Brown, Geraghty-Moats Win 2018 Climb to the Castle; Doubleday Race Format Unveiled https://fasterskier.com/2018/09/brown-geraghty-moats-win-2018-climb-castle-rollerski-race/ https://fasterskier.com/2018/09/brown-geraghty-moats-win-2018-climb-castle-rollerski-race/#respond Mon, 17 Sep 2018 15:05:21 +0000 https://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=173979
Jake Brown (Craftsbury Green Racing Project/US Biathlon) racing to a sizable win at the 2018 Climb to the Castle on Saturday, Sept. 15 in Wilmington, N.Y. (Photo: Heloise Rolland)

On a humid fall Sunday in northern New York where temperatures reached an uncharacteristic 80 degrees, Jake Brown of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project and US Biathlon Development Team and Tara Geraghty-Moats of USA Nordic won the 2018 Climb to the Castle.

Brown’s time was 35:40.7, while Geraghty-Moats finished in 45:03.

Big Gaps and Clear Wins

On the men’s side, Brown’s Craftsbury teammate Raleigh Goessling finished second in 38:16.6, and Erikson Moore of the Fondeurs-Laurentides team in Quebec was third in 39:00.3.

Among women, Jackie Garso of Saint Lawrence University was second, in 49:24.1, and Nakkertok’s Zoe Williams third in 49:40.6.

This year was a high water mark for attendance, with 102 athletes finishing.

The overall women’s podium at the 2018 Climb to the Castle at the top of Whiteface on Sept. 15 in Wilmington, N.Y., with winner Tara Geraghty-Moats (c) of USA Nordic, Jackie Garso (l) of St. Lawrence University in second, and Zoe Williams (r) of Nakkertok in third. (Photo: Colin Delaney)

While a few degrees cooler than last year, dank humidity settled like a blanket over the five-mile climb, with athletes moving through a couple of patches of dense fog on the higher reaches of the mountain.

“It was a hard one today,” Brown said following the race. “Last year, I felt like I went a little too hard off the line, and kind of buried myself early. So I wanted to be a little more conservative and finish strong today. I tried doing that and it felt a lot better, and I skied a little faster. I was on different rollerskis, so it’s hard to be able to compare it to last year. I was happy with my effort and it was a good push today.”

This year was Brown’s second consecutive win, and he beat his 2017 time of 39:01.9.

“It’s always a tough race, but I’m happy with how my summer training has paid off,” Geraghty-Moats said. “I felt strong and I had a good race.”

Asked if the race was part of her training plan, she replied, “I just finished competing in the Ski Jumping Grand Prix in Russia, so I’m still pretty jet-lagged. I love this race, NYSEF puts a lot of energy into putting it on every year, so I figured I’d make the trip over. It’s really fun and I enjoy racing with a good crew.”

A ski jumper winning a cross-country ski competition? For those not in the know, Geraghty-Moats is one of the pioneers of the developing women’s nordic combined.

The overall men’s podium at the 2018 Climb to the Castle at the top of Whiteface on Sept. 15 in Wilmington, N.Y., with winner Jake Brown (c) of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP)/USBA Development Team in first, Raleigh Goessling (r) of the CGRP in second, and Erikson Moore (l) of Fondeurs-Laurentides in third. (Photo: Colin Delaney)

“I’m on the women’s ski jumping team and I’ve been to a World Championship in 2015 and on the World Cup team for the past 4 years,” she explained. “Before that, I was a biathlete, so nordic combined was sort of a natural step for me. FIS has put in a lot of resources to developing women’s nordic combined. This year, they’ll have a Continental Cup circuit; next year, there’ll be a World Cup circuit; and the following year after that, there’ll be a World Championship. I’m starting to learn how to compete in nordic combined and I’m really enjoying it.”

Zoe Williams, along about 60 other athletes, had participated in the previous day’s Doubleday events at the Intervale Ski Jump. (for more on the Doubleday, keep reading!)

“I felt a bit tired in my warmup,” Williams said. “By the time I got to the start line and the race started, I didn’t feel as bad as I could have. My legs for sure felt tired in the first kilometer, but after the first k, I started settling into that rhythm and I ended up feeling pretty good for the rest of the race. Climb to the Castle, you just have to find that gear and grind away.”

 In 2017 she was fourth overall, five seconds behind biathlete Deedra Irwin.

Meredith Stetter (88) leads her Mansfield Nordic Club teammate Jennifer Wilbraham during a foggy Climb to the Castle rollerski race on Sept. 15 in Wilmington, N.Y. They finished 19th and 20th, respectively. (Photo: Heloise Rolland)

“This year, I ended up leading the group that I was with, which was kind of a fun change,” Williams said. “But the whole time I was thinking ‘what did Deedra do here? We one-skated [V2’ed] here. I can one-skate here!’”

Asked if Climb to the Castle was a good fitness benchmark, Williams said, “Because the next couple of months are where you start getting the really high intensity zone four, this is a really  good indicator of the base level fitness that you have, because of the endurance focus of the race.  But I’m for sure looking to find my top end gear in the next couple of months.”

Full Climb to the Castle Results

Doubleday Takes Off: New Events Added to the Climb to the Castle weekend

On Saturday, the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) and the New York Ski Education Foundation (NYSEF) collaborated on a new event held on the rollerski loop at the Intervale Ski jumps.

Quincy Massey-Bierman won the junior women’s 3 k prologue. (Photo: Heloise Rolland)

The Lake Placid Doubleday started with a three-kilometer prologue; after a break, there was a 1.5 kilometer sprint time trial. The results of the two races were aggregated to determine winners.

Nicholas Clifford of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, was the open men’s winner, while Nakkertok’s Williams was the open women’s winner before going on to be the runner-up in the Climb to the Castle.

We’ve had the  Climb to the Castle for 11 years, and this year we wanted to expand it to a full weekend,” NYSEF head coach Shane McDowell said. “We started talking with Justin [Beckwith, NENSA Competitive Program Director] ] in the spring and he proposed the idea of trying [NENSA’s] new format of the doubleday, which will be used at the Eastern Cup scheduled for 23 February at the Dublin School.”

“The format came out of discussions this spring,” Beckwith said. “Three kilometers is a national junior relay distance and we were valuing shorter, sprinting efforts in the results because we were usually a little heavy on the distance qualifications for our Junior National team in New England. When partnering with Shane and ORDA [the Olympic Regional Development Authority] to make it a reality, for us to test out the event which has a physiological effect of doing the 3k prologue in the morning and do a prelim in the sprint, the 1.5, would be the timing of a typical quarter final.”

The roller ski loop at Intervale is serpentine and narrow, with fast downhills. In the pre-race meeting, Beckwith admonished the athletes to be conservative as they warmed up. As they warmed up, the rollerskiers gradually became more aggressive in their approach to the course.

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Taking a corner on the Intervale Ski Jump loop during Doubleday. (Photo: Heloise Rolland)

The race started and finished at the biathlon range located midway through the long climb from the lowest to the highest sections of the course.

Clifford is the coach of the Carleton University ski team, located in Ottawa, Ontario.

“It was really exciting,” he said. “It was the first time I’ve skied at [Intervale]. I’ve heard a lot about some of the sketchier downhills but it was actually really well done. It was just like ski racing.”

Asked how he planned his races, Clifford said, “Not so much. I’m not a shorter distance guy, so the Climb to the Castle tomorrow is the real show and this was just a bit of a tuneup to get some speed in the legs.”

Of the Doubleday format, the consensus was that it was tough.

“The course here… It’s pretty much straight up and then you go down and come back up,” CSU’s Alex Burt said. “For the 3 k, you do it twice. It’s a lot more brutal. I had to actually pace it. For the1.5 k, my strategy was to go out as hard as I can and just keep it up.”

But it was also fun, many participants agreed.

Racers lined up at the start for a Doubleday competition. (Photo: Heloise Rolland)

“It was fun,” said Williams of the Doubleday. “The course here was super awesome, because it was like actually skiing, whereas a lot of roller ski races are on roads. It’s so twisty and turns up and down, it’s a lot like actually ski racing.”

On getting used to the downhills, Williams said, “It took me through mid warm up, to get used to the corners. In the race itself, I didn’t even think about it. It was super nice. I worried about it in the warmup, because there are some really gnarly corners, but when you’re racing, all your focus is on going fast.”

Amy Duclos of Saint Michael’s College in Burlington VT, was the third overall female finisher at the Doubleday.

“I wasn’t really sure about the course going into it, because of the turns, the hills, but it was a lot of fun,” she said. “I thought today was a good warmup to get the legs moving for tomorrow. It’s definitely a different type of race.”

Laura Appleby, of Cambridge Sports Union (CSU), won the junior women’s division at Doubleday and was the fifth junior woman finisher at Climb to the Castle.

“They went really well,” she said of the Doubleday races. “It was super fun. I liked the downhills… The first race was a little bit longer, so I was definitely pacing it a little bit slower. But generally just go out and ski the course, ski the transitions.”

Shilo Rousseau, Chandra Rousseau, and Zoe Pekos, all of Barrie [Ontario] Cross-Country, sat for an interview in a downtown Lake Placid coffee shop following the Doubleday.

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“It was a little scary at first with the safety meeting,” said Shilo, who finished third junior woman both at the Doubleday and C2C. “After skiing the lap a few times, you realize it’s not that bad.  As you go on, your laps get faster. You really have commit on roller skis.”

Did she save energy for the C2C?

“Full send every day,” Shilo replied. “I’m not leaving anything in the tank.”

Chandra Rousseau said, “The last downhill was bad. The prologue wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be.  I probably could have pushed a little harder on the downhills. On the sprint, I was more used to the course.”

Recovering in a bench outside the Castle, a reporter asked the Rousseaus and Pekos, so, did you go full send?

In unison, they replied, “Full send!”

Full Doubleday results

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Logan Hanneman on Balancing Life and Skiing, and Enjoying It, in Olympic Quest https://fasterskier.com/2018/01/logan-hanneman-balancing-life-skiing-enjoying-olympic-quest/ https://fasterskier.com/2018/01/logan-hanneman-balancing-life-skiing-enjoying-olympic-quest/#respond Wed, 03 Jan 2018 02:48:56 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=161786
Logan Hanneman of Alaska Pacific University getting some early-season training in this past fall at Hatcher Pass above Palmer, Alaska. (Photo: Ophira Group)

Earlier this season, Logan Hanneman talked with FasterSkier about his laser-like focus on the 2018 Winter Olympics, which start on Feb. 10 in PyeongChang, South Korea. The 24-year-old Fairbanks native, who now lives and trains 300 miles south in Anchorage with Alaska Pacific University (APU), was specifically eyeing the men’s individual classic sprint on Feb. 13. Although first he has to qualify to get there.

Entering this season, Hanneman was fresh off a freestyle-sprint title from 2017 SuperTour Finals at home in Fairbanks last March. It was his second SuperTour win after topping a skate sprint in West Yellowstone in November 2015.

Logan Hanneman (Alaska Pacific University) leads Canadian Evan Palmer-Charrette (13) en route to the victory in the men’s 1.6-kilometer freestyle sprint final at the 2017 SuperTour Finals in Fairbanks, Alaska. (Photo: Max Kaufman)

“That race was the absolute highlight so far of my career,” Hanneman said of the SuperTour Finals win during a phone interview in September. “Not just because it was a national title but because it was in my home town. It was very special to be able to win that at home.”

He ended last season ranked sixth in the men’s SuperTour sprint rankings and 24th overall. So far this season, an Olympic season, Hanneman is seventh in the sprint standings and 11th overall for SuperTour points through two weekends of racing (see 2017-18 SuperTour Points link on right side of page).

Perhaps more notably, he’s placed second and third in two SuperTour sprint qualifiers: he was second in the skate-sprint qualifier Dec. 2 in West Yellowstone and third in the classic-sprint qualifier Dec. 9 at Sovereign Lake in British Columbia.

Hanneman went on to finish seventh in the West Yellowstone sprint and ninth overall in the B-final at Sovereign Lake.

What’s the significance of fast qualifiers? Everything, if you’re a sprinter trying to make the U.S. Olympic team.

According to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard athlete-selection procedures for the 2018 Winter Games, “Individual sprint events to be scored for the purpose of the [Olympic Winter Games] Selection List will only consider qualification-round finish placing.”

That means an athlete will be considered for the U.S. Olympic team based on Selection Criterion 3 (bottom of page 3 of this PDF document):

“Should there be any remaining positions after Selection Criteria 1 [World Cup results and standings] and 2 [discretion] have been applied, those positions may be filled by considering the athlete with the highest rank on the 2018 Olympic Winter Games Selection List,” the criteria states, “Which is an accumulation of SuperTour points scored during the selection period using the athlete’s best 2 finishes in a single discipline (sprint or distance) and using the OWG Selection List outlined in Attachment 1.”

“From a very literal view, I need to be one of the top (most likely The top), sprint qualifiers in the country after U.S. Nationals in January in order to make the 2018 Olympic Team,” Hanneman wrote in an email in September. “The qualification races are comprised of four sprints, where only the qualifier is scored for points towards the Olympic team (West Yellowstone SuperTour, Silver Star SuperTour, and U.S. Nationals (2 sprints)). On a more broadened view, I just need to improve my sprint qualification ability slightly. … I was close to qualifying for World Championships last year, which used the same qualification criteria. So that has been my focus this summer and will continue to be what I focus on in my training.”

Logan Hanneman on a trail run near Anchorage, Alaska, this past training season. (Photo: Reese Hanneman)

Heading into U.S. Cross Country Championships, which begin Wednesday in Anchorage (the first sprint is the skate sprint on Friday), Hanneman has put himself in “podium” contention for a top qualifying result (although no actual podiums exist for those results at the SuperTour or U.S. nationals level this season — only the finalists get to stand on an actual podium).

He’s joined by top male SuperTour sprinters Nick Michaud of the Bridger Ski Foundation (who won the West Yellowstone skate-sprint qualifier as well as the final early last month, and qualified second in the Sovereign classic sprint before placing 12th overall), Cole Morgan of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (who won the Sovereign qualifier and placed third in the final, and was fifth in the West Yellowstone qualifier and sixth in the final), and Ben Saxton of the Stratton Mountain School Elite Team (who was third in the West Yellowstone qualifier and fifth in the final, and eighth in the Sovereign qualifier and second in the final). And there are several others who are contenders for the upcoming nationals classic-sprint qualifier in Anchorage on Monday, Jan. 8.

Hanneman’s older brother, Reese, made it to the finals in both West Yellowstone and Sovereign, placing third in West’s skate sprint and fifth in the Sovereign classic sprint, after qualifying in seventh in West and fifth at Sovereign.

Reese, who turned 28 on Christmas, has two sprint national titles to his name (he won the 2016 skate sprint in Houghton, Michigan, and the 2014 classic sprint at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah.) In all, Reese has seven U.S. nationals podiums, according to the International Ski Federation (FIS) database.

Logan qualified second in the skate sprint at 2015 nationals in Houghton.

Last winter was Logan’s first season as a senior athlete. After missing out on qualifying for 2017 World Championships, he focused mostly on the domestic SuperTour circuit, but also ventured to Seefeld, Austria, for three days of Alpen Cup racing. There he finished 15th in the 3.3-kilometer freestyle prologue, 40th in the 15 k classic, and 37th in the 15 k freestyle pursuit.

“They were great races to do because they’re very stiff competition,” Logan reflected. “There’s a lot of Europeans there that are on and off the World Cup circuit.”

Two seasons ago, he competed at 2016 U23 World Championships in Rasnov, Romania, where he finished 15th in the skate sprint and 55th in the 15 k classic. He followed that trip with Alpen Cup races in Germany and Italy, and notably placed seventh in the 3.3 k freestyle prologue in Toblach, Italy.

After graduating from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2015, Logan has yet to race at the World Cup level. But after transitioning to life as a professional ski racer, who balances two training sessions a day with an engineering job, that remains one of his big goals. That and the Olympics.

Alaska Airframes’s three-seater Piper PA-18 Super Cub outside company headquarters in Chugiak, Alaska. (Photo: Logan Hanneman)

“I do a lot of computer design work, and you get to watch what you design on the computer be made right downstairs in our machine shop,” he said of his part-time work with Airframes Alaska, a company that makes after-market upgrades for small aircraft, specializing in the Piper PA-18 Super Cub. “Working in the aircraft industry, there’s a lot of FAA compliance. I also help with facilities support projects. You never know what you’re going to be working on a week-to-week basis.

“They’ve been outrageously flexible with my skiing, which is unbelievably helpful for my first job as an engineer,” he continued. “I was able to set my work schedule around my training schedule. I train in the morning, drive out to work, then come home and do my second workout. When it comes into racing season, if I need to be gone, I’m able to leave for racing or training. It’s been a blessing. It’s awesome.”

Logan spoke with FasterSkier this fall as he was driving to work at an airstrip in Chugiak, about 20 miles northeast of Anchorage.

“I like being busy,” Logan said. “Work is not stressful at all because it’s outrageously fun. It’s what I really like doing. I never find myself too stressed with all this [work, training, life]. I think I’ve found a pretty good balance.”

Asked about what Logan brings to the APU program, Erik Flora, director of the APU Nordic Ski Center, wrote in an email: “We were excited to have Logan officially join our program [in 2015]. His skills and ability to move in a sprint make him one of the top developing sprinters in our country. He is extremely thoughtful about his training and his approach to skiing fast. He strengthens our team, both with results and as a strong teammate.

“His speed in the finish is one of the best I have ever seen,” Flora added.

The Hanneman brothers after placing first and second in the men’s SuperTour freestyle sprint in November 2015 in West Yellowstone, Montana. Younger brother Logan Hanneman (r) won the final for his first SuperTour victory and Reese (l) placed second. (Photo: Travis Jones)

Logan characterized himself as “one of a bunch of guys at APU that are pushing to try to make the 2018 Olympics this season. I tend to do better in sprints, so that’s going to be my primary focus.”

Late this summer, he experienced a back-pain flareup from an old injury. In 2013, Logan broke his back in a trampoline accident.

“I do a lot of core strength exercises to get stronger where I need it the most,” he explained. “For a few days I have to be really cautious until I get everything relaxed again.”

He added that swimming is a good alternative workout when his back bothers him. Other than the occasional back pain, he feels that he’s on track for this winter.

“My training’s been good. The group of guys here at APU are a pretty stellar training group,” he said. Logan is part of a training group of 14 men on the APU Elite Team, including U.S. Ski Team members Erik Bjornsen and Scott Patterson.

One of his teammates is his brother Reese.

“We’ve raced together for so many years, there’s not a whole lot of sibling rivalry,” Logan said of Reese. “In a race, he’s just another competitor. Sometimes it can be hard if things don’t go well for one of us. This year is gonna be tough because both of us are pushing for one of those sprint spots for the 2018 Olympics.”

“He’s really confident in his training plan, what it takes to do your best,” Reese said in a September interview. “It’s hard, there’s a lot of different ways to do it. Logan’s always very confident – he helps me in that way, too.

“He’s one of the best qualifiers,” Reese added.

— Alex Kochon contributed

Logan Hanneman unwinding after last year’s race season. (Photo: George Ferree)
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Bender, Brown Top Balmy Climb to the Castle https://fasterskier.com/2017/09/bender-brown-top-balmy-2017-climb-castle/ https://fasterskier.com/2017/09/bender-brown-top-balmy-2017-climb-castle/#respond Mon, 25 Sep 2017 18:10:01 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=157800
The men’s top three finishers at NYSEF’s 2017 Climb to the Castle on Sunday, Sept. 24, at the top of Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, N.Y., with winner Jake Brown (c) of US Biathlon, runner-up Aidan Kirkham (r) of Nakkertok Nordic, and Mansfield Nordic Club Head Coach Adam Terko (l) in third.

(Note: This article has been updated with comments from Adam Terko in regards to rollerski safety.)

WILMINGTON, N.Y. — On what may be the hottest day in memory for the annual Climb to the Castle (C2C) rollerski race, hosted by the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF) up Whiteface Mountain, Jake Brown and Jennie Bender were fastest to the top. Both have spent at least part of their summer training with the US Biathlon Association (USBA) in nearby Lake Placid, N.Y.

Brown, a 25-year-old USBA X-Team member, finished the five-mile climb up Whiteface’s toll road on Sunday in 39:01.9 minutes, more than five minutes clear of runner-up Aidan Kirkham, a Canadian racer with Nakkertok Nordic, who finished in 44:16. Adam Terko, Mansfield Nordic’s head coach and executive director, placed third in 45:35.7.

Bender, 29, racing under the team name of “The Dark Side”, which she later explained was a joke, topped the women’s race in 48:59.4. She finished 21.5 seconds ahead of 51-year-old (no, that’s not a typo) Sheila Kealey, who skis for XC Ottawa and coaches for Nakkertok. Deedra Irwin of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) was third woman in 51:13.5.

“I had put my name in the registration as ‘Darth Vader’, but they changed it on the other end,” Bender wrote in an email. “When I am in Bozeman MT I train with Bridger Ski Foundation, and when I am in Lake Placid, I train with USBA.”

At the tollgate at 7 a.m., the temperature was already 66 degrees Fahrenheit with clear skies. With mild weather the previous two days, the pavement was dry for 83 skiers who rolled to the start line. At the castle at the summit an hour later, temperatures were upwards of 70, making an already grueling race even more fatiguing.

The men’s and women’s races played out quite differently. According to Kirkham, Brown led “off the start and gapped the whole field.”

Familiar with the territory in and around Lake Placid, which has become an annual training camp for Nakkertok, based out of Ottawa, Kirkham said it was one thing to ski the toll road in Zone 1 and another to race it.

“I wanted to pace it well, and I think I did that,” he added. “I didn’t want to go too hard off the start because there’s no chance to recover on a course like this. … Once I got to the last mile I knew I could try to pick it up a little bit. But I was pretty tired. Just getting to the finish felt good.”

Having completed five or six C2Cs, Terko said experience was his advantage. But he didn’t exactly have a race plan.

“The field can vary wildly,” Terko said of the level of competition. “You’re never really sure how the start’s going to play out. I found myself near the front and there wasn’t a ton of US Ski Team or US Biathlon folks.”

Looking down at the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway, a five-mile toll road to the top of Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, N.Y., as seen on Sunday, Sept. 24, for the 2017 NYSEF Climb to the Castle rollerski race. (Photo: NYSEF)

As recently as a few years ago, the U.S. Ski Team held annual dryland training camps in Lake Placid and competed at the C2C. But that camp has been replaced by an on-snow camp in New Zealand. This year, US Biathlon’s top athletes recently spent several weeks training in Germany.

“Jake Brown was right off the front so I realized that this could be a good day and I might as well try and hang in there,” Terko added.

While Terko skis and rollerskis plenty with his athletes, he says it’s not always adequate training for a race like this.

“As a coach, it’s more about generally making sure the workout is going well for the athletes,” he explained. “I’ve made an effort the last few weeks to get out after practice and ski around in the dark myself.”

(Terko later clarified in an email that he was referring to Mansfield Nordic’s primary training venue, a paved and lit rollerski loop at Camp Ethan Allen in Jericho, Vermont. “Rollerskiing in the dark there is pretty standard as opposed to being in a dangerous road situation which I of course do not advocate!” he wrote.)

As for Brown, a Northern Michigan University graduate student who is currently living and training with US Biathlon in Lake Placid, he had a slightly different recollection of the start on Sunday.

“It wasn’t so much I dropped everyone. It was more like I just slowly pulled away,” Brown said. “Within the first 400 meters, I had a small gap. The gap got bigger and bigger as we went along. Maybe by the first mile, I couldn’t hear anyone behind me.”

Sticking to his own race, he resisted the temptation to look behind.

“I was trying to get a good effort today on the skis,” he continued. “I was hoping that some of the faster junior skiers would have some fast rollerskis and be able to push me, but pretty much right from the get-go I was on my own, so I was just trying to keep the pedal to the metal and make it a good effort, which gets tough at the end. It definitely helps to know the course.”

The women’s top three finishers at NYSEF’s 2017 Climb to the Castle on Sunday, Sept. 24, at the top of Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, N.Y. (From left to right) Jennie Bender in first, Sheila Kealey (XC Ottawa) in second, and Deedra Irwin (SVSEF) in third.

In contrast, the women’s race swapped leaders. Clare Egan, a USBA national-team member and Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) member finished fifth (+5:02.4) after leading early.

“I did lead a little bit at the beginning,” Egan said. “Jennie, Sheila and I were together for the first 1.5 or 2 miles, and then Jennie and Sheila pulled away, and I got caught by Deedra and Zoe [Williams].”

“From doing this race in the past, the order doesn’t usually change so much after the first mile or so,” she explained. “It’s just so hard to make up gaps on this grade. I wanted to try to hang on for as long as I could and stay in front the whole way, but I wasn’t able to do that. So it was very hard work out there, and I didn’t have what it takes to stay with Jennie and Sheila. Respect to them.”

Irwin explained in a post-race email that her plan was to pace off Bender and Egan and stick with them for as long as she could.

“Jennie and Sheila pulled away just around mile two, I think,” wrote Irwin, a SVSEF Gold Team member who was invited to train with US Biathlon (following its Talent ID Camp) in Lake Placid this fall. “My race went really well. I’m really happy with my result. This was my first time doing Climb to the Castle. I didn’t really know what to expect, it’s a tough climb!”

Blue skies and no snow post-race at the castle atop Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, N.Y., at the 2017 NYSEF Climb to the Castle on Sept. 24. (Photo: NYSEF)

As for Kealey, a top-level masters racer on the Canada Cup, she had done the race a few times before.

“Every year I did it, Liz Stephen did it, and it went out really, really fast,” she said of the U.S. Ski Team member who holds the women’s course record of 41:50. “Really hard at the beginning, and then people dropped off, but today’s pace was a good pace.”

Kealey described wanting to keep a consistent rhythm all the way to the top. She spent much of the race trading off with Bender.

“And then I managed to get a gap,” Kealey said. “I had a gap on [Bender] almost until the last 800 meters, and then she caught me. She was hurting, but she put the guns on at the last bit and just pulled away. She skied really well.”

Reflecting on her win, Bender said, “It wasn’t snowing, and it wasn’t freezing, so that was awesome. My V1 has been getting a lot better. It was a small crowd, but I was stoked to feel good for the whole duration. I haven’t done this race in a long time. I did it probably in college, and it’s fun to see the giant progression since then.”

She explained that she’s been working with US Biathlon in Lake Placid more this summer.

“I think in the big picture, it’s fun to see that I’m not just a sprinter,” she said.

On her race plan, Bender said, “The biggest thing, you have to pace it and not go out too crazy. We kind of started splitting up a bit, and I was going back and forth between first and second throughout the race. First with Clare, then with Sheila and then, near the last 200 to 400 meters, that tunnel, which is always so crazy with the wind, we both were like, ‘Oh.’ We were feeling it.”

“I saw someone coming up behind us,” Bender continued. “I thought it was Clare, I didn’t realize it was Jake. And then I sprinted it in to the finish. I was stoked to get in under 50 minutes.”

Bender, Egan, Irwin, and Brown all skied on matched Marwe rollerskis that they also used in time trials, Bender said.

Zoe Williams, the fourth-place woman (+2:18.8) from Nakkertok and Carleton University, said she wasn’t sure what to expect for her first C2C.

“About 15 minutes in, I kind of all of a sudden realized that it was all uphill,” Williams said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, what have I got myself into?’ But it was fun. I was following Deedra for most of it. I was trying to match her tempo.

“The last mile was tough because you can see the castle,” she added. “I really wanted to try to stick with the lead pack as long as I could.”

In the 11th year of the C2C, Margaret Maher, NYSEF’s outgoing head cross-country coach, said this was one of the warmest race days they’ve had.

“We’ve had every kind of weather possible,” she said. “It’s just fun to see everybody out there getting ready for winter.”

“It was really a blessing to have this awesome weather,” Brown concluded. “Normally you come up here and [the castle] is in the clouds, even if it’s sunny down low. It’s cool to do something here with NYSEF and show our support from US Biathlon.”

Results: Men | Women

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Wednesday Workout: Change Up Your Strength Routine (Videos) https://fasterskier.com/2017/09/wednesday-workout-changing-strength-workout-videos/ https://fasterskier.com/2017/09/wednesday-workout-changing-strength-workout-videos/#respond Wed, 20 Sep 2017 15:10:07 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=157694
Personal trainer and author Peter Minde demonstrating the rear-foot elevated split squat.

Whether you’re an elite athlete or a master blaster, you want to be strong enough to ski at your fastest in your target event. If strength training isn’t part of your training plan, you’re missing an important fitness component.

“Functional training is considered to be training that attempts to mimic the specific physiological demands of real-life activities.”  — Ives et al., Psychophysics in Functional Strength and Power Training (February 2003)

There are many great fundamental movements you can do in the gym. They translate not only to skiing, but also to the functions of daily living.

In addition to traditional moves like deadlifts and squats, single-leg exercises can enhance your fitness in a couple of ways. When you’re classic skiing, you kick and then glide on one leg. All the skating moves are done on one leg.  Unless you’re hammering a double-pole sprint or tucking a downhill, you’re on one leg.

“Resistance exercises performed on machines can contribute to [muscle] imbalances unless proper precautions are observed.” – Shirley Sahrmann, Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes

Single-leg exercises will stress the neutralizer and stabilizer muscles in your legs, as well as training the prime movers. And in a single-leg move, bodyweight becomes part of the load. What does this mean? You can get a good training effect with a lower amount of outside weight, reducing the risk of injury.

“In a conventional squat, we strengthen the prime movers and neglect the stabilizers.” – Michael Boyle, Advances in Functional Training

Here are some moves that can enhance your strength and may reduce your risk of injury.

All of these moves have some commonalities: Keep your weight over your stance leg; get those core muscles firing and keep a neutral spine.

The rear-foot elevated split squat (RFESS) primarily trains the quadriceps and gluteus maximus. The hamstrings, gluteus medius and glute minimus are stabilizers. Dig your toe into the box. As with a traditional squat, you want to get your femur parallel with the floor or below parallel. Drive up through your heel.

The single-leg squat is the progression from RFESS. It works the same muscles as the RFESS. Without the support of a bench, all of the load will be on your stance leg. With this movement, you may not be able to move as much outside weight as with the RFESS. Don’t be surprised if it’s more difficult getting your femurs to parallel.

When working with severely deconditioned individuals, I often program a two-legged sit-to-stand. After watching an arena football player doing single leg sit-to-stand with a 20-kilogram kettlebell, I wanted to try them out. This move will train glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and anterior tibialis – an important muscle for dorsiflexion and thus ankle mobility.

You can progress a sit-to-stand by choosing a lower height box in addition to adding weight. The lower the box, the tougher it will be.

Originally, I learned the single-leg deadlift during physical therapy. This move trains the glutes, hamstrings and adductor magnus.  Brace your core, and maintain a neutral spine. Use the “up” leg as a counterbalance. Drive up by contracting your glute.

In addition to the latissimus dorsi middle and lower trapezius, rhomboids and posterior deltoids, the single-leg, single-arm row trains the glutes, hips, and the neutralizer and stabilizer muscles that help us balance. To do these, hold the grip in the hand opposite your stance leg. (If standing on your left leg, hold the grip in your right hand) Brace your core and pull, retracting your shoulder blade. Keep your spine neutral. Don’t twist or rotate.

A progression from this would be a single-arm, single-leg squat to row. This move transfers force from the leg through the hip, sacroiliac joint and thoracolumbar fascia to the opposite side latissimus dorsi. This is how force is transferred when we’re running or skiing.

These are just some of the moves I like in the gym. We haven’t delved into movements in the frontal plane (think lateral stepups or lateral lunges) or compound movements. By no means am I suggesting that you ditch traditional squats or deadlifts. But you may find that programming single-leg movements can enhance your overall strength and fitness.

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Wirth’s Big Facelift: Loppet Foundation Breaks Ground on Trailhead https://fasterskier.com/2017/08/wirths-big-facelift-loppet-foundations-new-trailhead/ https://fasterskier.com/2017/08/wirths-big-facelift-loppet-foundations-new-trailhead/#respond Wed, 02 Aug 2017 18:35:28 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=156105
The Loppet Foundation’s official groundbreaking ceremony for “The Trailhead” at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minn., in June 2017. (Photo: Steve Kotvis)

After six years, the end is in sight: construction is underway for The Loppet Foundation’s Trailhead.

The Trailhead is an ambitious project to improve skiing infrastructure at Theodore Wirth Regional Park in Minneapolis, Minn. The year-round facility will feature a strength-and-conditioning area, a bike-and-ski rental shop, locker room, and food service. Outdoor amenities include a tubing hill and a snowboarding hill along with improvements to Wirth’s snowmaking system.

“It’s a project we’ve been working on a long time,” John Munger, the Loppet Foundation’s executive director, told FasterSkier on the phone in mid-May.

Last fall, volunteers ​​worked on the new ski trails at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis in preparation for The Loppet Foundation’s new Trailhead​ building. (Photo: The Loppet Foundation)

Earthmoving for The Trailhead officially began in early June, and Munger said the goal was to have the building ready by Jan. 15, 2018, just in time for the Masters World Cup Jan. 19-26 at Wirth Park. Winning the World Masters bid added urgency to the project, and it’s given The Loppet Foundation an eye for future major nordic competitions.

“We would like to bring in events like Junior Nationals, senior nationals and maybe even a World Cup,” Munger said.

Brian Gregg, a 2014 Olympian and one of the highest-profile athletes associated with the Loppet Foundation’s race program, Loppet Nordic Racing (LNR), lives next to Wirth Park with his wife Caitlin (LNR’s other top racer).

“We’re really excited about The Trailhead. It’s been a long time coming,” Gregg said in a recent phone interview for Truckee, Calif., where he was leading an LNR training camp with Caitlin. “The Loppet Foundation has really brought life back to the park. It’s really cool to see that grow.”

Originally from Washington state, Brian Gregg has lived in Minneapolis since 2011. Caitlin, a 2010 Olympian who was born in New York City and went to high school in Vermont, moved to the Twin Cities after graduating from Northern Michigan University in 2002.

“One big goal for us as elite athletes, our job isn’t just to go race for ourselves, it’s to represent our whole club,” Caitlin said of their commitment to LNR and their California volume camp with LNR collegiate skiers. “One thing we’ve learned, the best way to push yourself isn’t to bring athletes in from outside, it’s to bring the athletes around you up to your level. We’ve really taken that approach for a number of years, and now these kids can train with us. It’s awesome, I’m really excited.”

Growing with the times

Up until now, skiers at Wirth Park have used a 1920s-era building as a lodge. But that building can’t cope when some 600 to 800 hundred skiers and their coaches swoop in for a high school race. Golfers will continue to use the original building after the Trailhead is complete.

The entire project, dubbed The Trailhead Capital Campaign, is expected to cost $11.6 million dollars, of which $9.6 million is earmarked for the building and other physical improvements to Wirth’s skiing infrastructure (such as additional snowmaking equipment and trail improvements). The park currently has several International Ski Federation (FIS) homologated race loops, spanning from 5 kilometers to sprint-distance (roughly 1 k) long. In total, Wirth includes 23 k of trails, 7.5 k of which will have snowmaking for 2018.

Beyond the $9.6 million the Foundation is looking to raise (and is currently about $370,000 short of), another $2 million dollars was budgeted for programming (e.g. youth scholarships). Approximately $4.5 million of the total amount was to be raised privately, while the rest of the balance was expected to be covered by municipal, Hennepin County, state, and federal funding.

Trail maintenance at Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minn. (Photo: The Loppet Foundation)

In May, Munger explained that the Foundation was in need of $250,000 to break ground. In just two weeks, it raised that amount.

“We had a cash crunch and needed that money in order to make it happen,” he said. “… It was very energizing and heartening to see the community step up like that.”

Was raising the money more or less difficult than expected?

“It’s hard to have expectations when you’ve never done something before,” Munger said.

While the project has been in the works for the last six or seven years, Munger characterized the Trailhead’s cost as a “moving target” as costs have increased over time. He described donations ranging from individuals and foundations contributing between $10,000 to $50,000, as well as many more modest grassroots donations. Munger credited the Pohlad Family Foundation with the single largest donation of $1 million dollars.

The Greggs have pushed for the cause, too.

“We’ve been actively involved [in fundraising] any time we’ve been home,” Caitlin said.

Earning trust

At 759 acres, Wirth is almost as big as New York City’s Central Park and serves a variety of constituencies. In addition to skiing, there are two golf courses, a disc golf course, mountain-bike trails and gardens. When master planning for the park began around 2010, the community didn’t know what to make of the Loppet Foundation’s ideas.

“The [Minneapolis Parks and Rec] Board was a reluctant partner for years,” Munger said. “They weren’t quite sure they wanted to trust a nonprofit or private to come in and do this kind of investment. They weren’t sure we would come through in the end.”

The golf community also wasn’t thrilled with the idea of a trail-development proposal to relocate three golf-course holes.

Now, “The park board is excited, we’re excited,” Munger explained. “That’s been the really dramatic piece. The whole community is excited about this now.”

He added that the park board has “always supported our mission, but I think it’s a matter of trust.”

To start, the Loppet Foundation did a thorough job of getting various municipal approvals. The Foundation’s gold-level club certification from U.S. Ski & Snowboard was an important endorsement. U.S. Ski & Snowboard has gold, silver and bronze level certifications for clubs that benchmark best practices in coaching, community outreach, and regular board meetings, among other criteria.

“Once we started to raise significant funds, [the park board] saw we were serious about this,” Munger said. “When we did the hard work with them of putting the agreements together, that was really significant. ‘This is an organization that does things right, that makes the park board look good to the world and helps deliver great services to the public through our partnership.’ So it’s been a long process, but that’s how we got there.”

“The public-private partnership between Minneapolis Parks and Rec Board and the Loppet Foundation is pretty unique,” Brian Gregg explained. “I think we’re one of the first public-private partnerships like that in the city.”

Racers at the City of Lakes Loppet in Theodore Wirth Park. (Photo: Steve Kotvis, f/go Photography)

The upcoming Masters World Cup won’t be Wirth’s first big event, but it does put Minneapolis on the international stage for cross-country skiing. Wirth hosted 2011 Junior Nationals and SuperTour races in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Brian won his first SuperTour there in 2010.

“A big part of the Loppet Foundation is reaching out to the community of north Minneapolis, which is where Wirth Park is located,” he explained. “It’s really great to see a lot of kids from north Minneapolis being able to take advantage of the Loppet programming.”

The programming includes youth scholarships for training camps and activities.

“I think that service side of the Loppet Foundation is one of the most incredible parts about the foundation,” Brian added.

Caitlin explained that the Foundation has started ski teams in middle schools across north Minneapolis by hiring coaches, acquiring equipment and finding ways to engage kids in healthy lifestyles.

“Brian and I are extremely proud,” Caitlin said. “… Our proudest moment is what the Foundation has done for the community at large.”

The Trailhead isn’t just for winter, either. In the summer, it will be a home base for mountain biking, trail running and orienteering.

“We’re heavily invested in skiing in the winter, but there’s outdoor activity throughout the year,” Munger explained.

One of Brian’s favorite Foundation programs is Adventure Kids, a series of weeklong summer day camps for kids ages 9 to 13.  It was previously run with “popup tents and picnic tables,” he said, and if there was a thunderstorm, the kids took cover under a bridge. When the Trailhead opens, they’ll have a shelter.

“There really is no offseason for us,” Munger said.

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Race of Truth: Husain, Lawson Win App Gap Challenge https://fasterskier.com/2017/07/race-truth-husain-lawson-win-app-gap-challenge/ https://fasterskier.com/2017/07/race-truth-husain-lawson-win-app-gap-challenge/#respond Tue, 25 Jul 2017 18:22:22 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=155883
The winners of NENSA’s 2017 App Gap Challenge rollerski race, Kam Husain (who set a course record) and Alex Lawson, at the awards ceremony at Mad River Glen in Fayston, Vt. While Husain was awarded $100 cash for breaking the course record, he explained in an email that he donated it to NENSA to comply with NCAA rules. (Photo: Dave Priganc)

FAYSTON, Vt. — This past Sunday, July 23, Kam Husain and Alex Lawson won the 2017 App Gap Challenge and set some of the fastest times on the grueling course in the process. Husain, a 19-year-old Vermont native and former Stratton Mountain School skier, set a new men’s course record of 30 minutes, 28 seconds. Lawson, a Craftsbury Nordic skier coming off her senior year at St. Johnsbury Academy, was the second-fastest woman ever on the course, winning in 26:58 and coming within 21 seconds off Corrine Malcolm’s record.

Competitive cyclists refer to the individual time trial as the race of truth. It’s just the athlete against the course and the clock, and there’s no pack to hide in. On the steeps leading up to Vermont’s Appalachian Gap, men raced 7.5 kilometers and the women raced 5 k in Fayston, near Waitsfield, Vt. Since Vermont Route 17 was left open to traffic, the race was an individual start. App Gap may be the only rollerski skiathlon in the U.S. (if there are others, email peter (at) fasterskier.com), with the flip-flopped format of skate technique followed by a transition to classic.

(Article continues below)

“Last time I did it, I was only a J2, so I wanted to beat that,” said Husain, who will be a freshman at Dartmouth College this fall. “I’ve been working on my skate skiing, so I wanted to take my skate skiing out hard and see if I could hold it through the classic. And it worked out pretty well.”

Husain broke a seven-year-old record set by former GMVS skier David Sinclair by six seconds.

“I was definitely trying to gun for it, because I was feeling pretty good,” Husain reflected. “I’ve been really trying to work on my fitness, especially in a race like this. I’m glad my work has been paying off.”

Alex Lawson (Craftsbury Nordic) with her game face as she approaches the summit and first place in the 2017 App Gap Challenge on July 23 in Fayston, Vt. (Photo: Laurel Minde)

Lawson, of Bethlehem, N.H., explained that while she was new to the race, she was familiar with the territory and terrain.

“I’ve never raced the App Gap before, but I’ve skied parts of it at a few camps that I’ve done at GMVS [Green Mountain Valley School],” she wrote in an email. “I didn’t really have too much of a plan for how to ski it, but I definitely took the skate part pretty conservatively and just tried to ski smoothly.”

Her time was the second fastest of any woman in the race’s nearly 10-year history (Malcolm set the record of 26:37 in 2012). The race started in 2007 and was held every year thereafter, except last year, according to Justin Beckwith of the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA). Beckwith started the race as a finale to his junior camps at GMVS, where he was previously a coach and nordic director. After it went on hiatus for a year in 2016, Beckwith, NENSA’s new competition director, decided to revive it.

“I think [the race] went really well and the event was a lot of fun,” Lawson wrote. “I haven’t really done many rollerski races before, but this one was a blast and certainly makes me want to do more in the future.”

The second-overall woman, Callie Young, of Newport, Vt., finished 1 minute and 31 seconds behind Lawson. She was also unfamiliar with the course, but received some advice from a friend who had done it before.

Callie Young, of Newport, Vt., racing toward the summit and second overall in the women’s race at the 2017 App Gap Challenge in Fayston, Vt. (Photo: Laurel Minde)

“‘ Hammer the skate leg and just walk the classic section,’ ” she recalled. “I definitely didn’t want to take that advice … but decided to go out pretty hard for the skate leg then once I transitioned just focus on good technique and smoothness for the classic section. The only thing I had to know when I was close to the top was when I got to the record time I knew I was pretty close. At that point, I was going to try to push a little harder if I had anything left.”

In retrospect, Young wished she had driven the course before the race.

The Mad River Glen ski area served as race headquarters and also the transition zone.

“My goal was to bring cross-country skiing to an alpine hill,” Beckwith said, adding that he wanted to recreate the vibe of European rollerski events like Norway’s Blink Festival. “The biggest clubs are so strong, they’re having their own time trials. Hopefully we’re creating more excitement for cross-country skiing and also rollerski races. Having this community event, it’s not just about who had the fastest time. You get together with your buddies.”

Fifty-seven starters lined up Sunday under cloudy skies with temperatures in the low 60s. Right around the start, it began raining lightly, which continued for about 25 minutes. The terrain is markedly different from the Northeast’s other major uphill-rollerski race. Whereas the Climb to the Castle, up Whiteface Mountain’s toll road outside Lake Placid, N.Y., is a steady 8-percent grade, Route 17 from the men’s start teases you with mainly easier sections below 5-percent grade.

Strava lists Route 17 to Appalachian Gap as a 5-percent grade, but that’s deceiving. As you get closer to Mad River Glen, the road pitches upward, with a 15-percent ramp right below the ski area to soften you up. Starting 2.5 k closer to Mad River, the women had maybe a kilometer of relatively easy grade before the steeps. The pavement is slow and you need to watch for cracks. There’s also the odd pothole that you wouldn’t notice while driving, but that would take you out on rollerskis.

Pre-race at the 2017 App Gap Challenge in Fayston, Vt.: skiers setting up their classic gear in the transition area. (Photo: Peter Minde)

From the exchange, there’s no relaxing, with regular grades over seven percent and several over 15 percent. The killer is a 20-percent incline right below the finish. At least the pavement is new and faster than the pavement for the skate segment.

As with any other race, being familiar with the course helps.

“I live right in the valley. I know this road,” said Elliot Ketchel, a four-time App Gap racer who won the junior men’s race in 31:18. A GMVS graduate, he’s headed to Bowdoin College this fall.

At the finish, 1,509 vertical feet above the men’s start, skiers loaded their boards and boots into a sag wagon and changed into dry shirts and sneakers for a hike down the ski trails. With perfect timing, the sun came out for the barbeque and awards.

Results

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South Korean Para Team Takes Spring Training to Casper https://fasterskier.com/2017/04/south-korean-para-team-takes-spring-training-to-casper/ https://fasterskier.com/2017/04/south-korean-para-team-takes-spring-training-to-casper/#respond Tue, 18 Apr 2017 14:37:29 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=152707
South Korea’s Eui Hyun Sin swept both biathlon races at U.S. Paralympics nationals earlier this month and placed third in the cross-country sprint and short-distance races in Casper, Wyo. The South Korean Para-Nordic team is training in Casper until May 9. (Photo: Pearson Photography)

Winter closed with a bang at Casper Mountain Biathlon Club (CMBC) in Casper, Wyo., as the nordic center hosted World Para Nordic Skiing NorAm & U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Biathlon Nationals with four races in three days earlier this month.

“Although the event was small, the competition was quality,” CMBC Managing Director Cathy Rosser wrote in an email.

On March 31, the day before the first event, athletes trained as a foot of snow fell on an already deep base. Biathlon races took place April 1 and 2, with middle-distance biathlon races on Saturday, 12.5 kilometers for men and 10 k for women, and four shooting stages for each. Men raced on a 2.5 k loop; the women skied a 2 k loop on trails designed by John Morton. The weather warmed to 36 degrees, making for a firm track.

On Sunday morning, biathletes raced a sprint, 7.5 k for men and 6 k for women, on the courses noted above. That afternoon, 1.2 k cross-country sprint qualifiers and finals were held. Fog descended during the sprint A-final, giving athletes just about 100 meters of visibility.

On Monday, the three-day series wrapped up with short-distance classic races.

Oksana Masters of the U.S. and South Korea’s Eui Hyun Sin dominated the biathlon events. On both days, American Andy Soule finished second by narrow margins, according to a CMBC press release. Canada’s Derek Zaplotinsky won the men’s sprint qualifier and final, and on the final day, Soule won the short-distance sitting cross-country race, as did Masters in the women’s sitting division.

The South Korean Para-Nordic coaching staff at the Casper Mountain Biathlon Club earlier this month in Casper, Wyo, including (from left to right) trainer Ki Won Yoo, cross-country coach Jong In Choi, team manager Joo Yeon Han, and head coach Kaspar Wirz. (Courtesy photo)

The South Korean team planned to continue training in Casper through May 9. According to coach Kaspar Wirz, the team’s primary goals are to “work on technique and [accumulate] snow kilometers,” he explained on the phone. “This is more than just doing the races.”

Canada’s head para-nordic coach from 1996 to 2010, Wirz took the opportunity to coach the Korean Para-Nordic team in the months leading up to the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. When he started coaching the Korean team in January, he checked out CMBC. His athletes had never trained at high altitude, Wirz explained, and he chose Casper because of its elevation (above 5,000 feet) and reputation for promising spring conditions.

“We could have gone to Finland to put some kilometers in but decided to come here and I’m very happy.”

Coming off the IPC World Cup Finals in Sapporo, Japan, the team returned home for a few days before traveling to Wyoming.

South Korean Paralympic skiers Ki Won Yoo and Sang Hyun Kwon having some fun after a morning training session in Casper, Wyo., with coach Kaspar Wirz (left). (Courtesy photo)

“The conditions are excellent,” Wirz said. “The adjustment to the altitude and jet lag are not a big deal. I’m happy I made the move to come here.”

The training camp caps a successful season for the Korean team, which competed at all five stops on the IPC World Cup circuit. “We went to all the World Cups, we had people on the podium, but if the Russians come back, the deck would be re-shuffled a little bit,” he said, referring to the indefinite suspension of Russian Paralympic athletes from IPC-sanctioned competitions.

Six weeks makes for a long training camp, but Wirz said his athletes were up for it. The team’s original plan had been to train in Wyoming for two weeks, go home for a break and fly back to Bend, Ore. But that would have meant two additional 13-hour travel days and recovery from jet lag.

Asked about funding for the overseas camp, Wirz said that in January he met with the secretary general of the Korean National Ski Federation for the Disabled, who was incredibly supportive.

“So far I don’t have a budget. I just have to request to go somewhere, and they say yes or no,” Wirz explained. “So far, we haven’t had any budget restrictions. There were no questions asked because they want to perform at their home Olympics.”

Results:

Day 1: Middle-distance biathlon

Day 2: Biathlon sprint | XC sprint qualifier | XC sprint final

Day 3: Short-distance XC

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Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s Snow Factory a ‘Game Changer’ https://fasterskier.com/2017/04/mt-van-hoevenbergs-snow-factory-game-changer/ https://fasterskier.com/2017/04/mt-van-hoevenbergs-snow-factory-game-changer/#respond Fri, 07 Apr 2017 13:00:42 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=151874
The stadium at Mount Van Hoevenberg as seen on April 1, no joke, thanks to the TechnoAlpin Snow Factory. (All photos: Peter Minde)

When it came to investing in snowmaking, New York State’s Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) went with the go-big mentality, leasing a TechnoAlpin Snow Factory for the Mount Van Hoevenberg nordic center and using the technology throughout the 2016/2017 winter season.

Following the previous 2015/2016 season, in which Mt. Van Hoevenberg, “Van Ho” for short, was open 37 days, according to ORDA’s annual report, the authority acquired and installed a self-contained snowmaking system at Van Ho, the 1980 Winter Olympic venue in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The Snow Factory at its current home at the Mount Van Hoevenberg nordic center in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Photo: Peter Minde)

The Snow Factory was put in place, just behind the cross-country lodge, just before Thanksgiving.

This machine isn’t your grandfather’s snowmaking setup, where snow guns are positioned strategically along trails. Mounted on a flatbed trailer, a 40-foot ocean shipping container holds compressors and ice-making equipment. A blower sends crystals through a segmented orange hose up to 600 feet in length.

The Snow Factory hasn’t budged from its original position near a parking lot, yet the snow it has produced has been spread throughout the stadium and on trails up to 1.5 k away from its starting point.

According to Robin Smith, TechnoAlpin’s Colorado-based business manager, the Snow Factory has been in production for the last four years, but its technology isn’t brand new. IDE, an Israeli company that specializes in water desalination, developed a warm-weather snowmaking unit with different technology than the Snow Factory uses.

Smith explained that the Snow Factory at Van Ho is the only one in the U.S. and one of only 19 in the world. The best part? The Snow Factory will make snow in temperatures up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Blowing snow into the stadium, made by the Snow Factory, at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in late December. (Photo: Peter Minde)

Both Whiteface and Gore mountains, two of the alpine ski resorts that ORDA manages, use TechnoAlpin snow guns.

“Probably a year ago, we began a conversation with the success they [TechnoAlpin] were having in northern California with the machine that we ended up leasing,” explained Kris Cheney Seymour, Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s manager. “ORDA has its full attention and interest in the future of nordic sports at Mount Van Hoevenberg.”

When Seymour first spoke with FasterSkier on the phone in late January, the nordic center was dealing with changeable weather.

“Lake Placid has had a fairly light snow year and a fair amount of very heavy rain,” Seymour explained. “Traditionally, the stadium gets blasted in poor weather. This winter, we would have had a similar winter to what we had last year: no snow, ice conditions in the stadium. We’ve pretty much been open all but one day since Thanksgiving. The reason is the Snow Factory.”

Without the Snow Factory, Van Ho wouldn’t have been able to host St. Lawrence University’s Winter Carnival, Junior National qualifier races and other events, he said.

ORDA acquired the Snow Factory from TechnoAlpin after an alpine resort in California used it for a year. Arriving by truck the day before Thanksgiving, it took five days to haul from California at a cost of $7,000 dollars. According to ORDA’s Communication Director Jon Lundin, ORDA is leasing the Snow Factory for one year for $90,000 dollars.

In an email, Lundin explained that if ORDA decides to purchase the Snow Factory, it will pay a total of $500,000 dollars: $410,000 plus the amount already paid this season.

“We’ll make the decision later this spring as to whether or not we purchase the Snow Factory,” he wrote. “We’ll look at how it performed and how the cross-country venue benefited from its use.”

The Snow Factory in place at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg nordic center in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Photo: Peter Minde)

So how does this thing work?

Inside the shipping container are three icemakers, refrigeration equipment, a cooling tower, and a blowing system. The blowers move snow through a segmented orange hose. One can add segments to blow snow up to 600 feet away from the Factory.

“Other [traditional] snowmaking systems require a temperature and humidity component,” Reese Brown, executive director of the Cross Country Ski Areas Association, said on the phone. “Generally, 22 to 27 degrees and below is good snowmaking weather. The Snow Factory doesn’t require any conditions to make snow, because snow is generated inside the container and then spit out the hose. With the others, snow is made when it hits air temperature.”

“Snow is created within the shipping container,” Seymour said. “You can effectively make snow with 100-percent efficiency up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. You’ll have diminished productivity, but you can make snow up to 80 degrees.”

Running on electricity, the Snow Factory draws from the ski lodge’s well, using 11 gallons of water a minute. The icemakers can be optimized for various climates. Seymour pointed out that northern California has a much drier climate than Lake Placid.

Dumping snow onto the trails at Mount Van Hoevenberg this winter. (Photo: Mt. Van Hoevenberg/Facebook)

Leading up to U.S. Junior Nationals, held in Lake Placid from March 3-11, FasterSkier asked Seymour about the Factory’s capability to cover a 5-kilometer loop if the ground was bare. With snow already on the ground, Seymour reframed the question.

“It works differently than a traditional snow system, and you need to use it and plan for it in a different way,” he said. “The Snow Factory makes a known quantity of snow: two tons per hour. Depending on what our needs are for snow coverage and where we want to go with it, we need to work backwards and give ourselves enough time to blow that amount of snow.”

While the Factory is mounted on a trailer, the trailer hasn’t moved from its home behind the lodge. The primary locations for its manmade snow have been the stadium, the Innerloopen 3.3 k homologated ski loop, and the beginner trails close to the lodge.

Days before Junior Nationals, ORDA decided to move the weeklong event to the 2.5 k loop at the Olympic Jumping Complex, also known as the MacKenzie Intervale Ski Jumping Complex, closer to downtown Lake Placid.

“Six weeks out, we were aware that the long-term forecast had two almost weeklong periods that we were going to have very warm weather,” Seymour said in a follow-up interview after Junior Nationals (JNs).

Leading up to the championships, the Factory had been cranking almost around the clock. Seymour estimated that once a week, ORDA would shut it down for maintenance. Otherwise, it ran 24/7.

A large pile of snow produced by the Snow Factory this winter at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Photo: Bob Maswick)

The stadium was covered a mix of natural and manmade crystals, 2 1/2 feet deep. The next focus was the sprint loop and the 3.3 k loop.

“We were moving snow 10 to 14 hours a day,” Seymour said. A PistenBully hauled snow in a 16-foot dump trailer to where they needed it. ORDA bought the trailer specifically for Van Ho.

Two weeks before JNs, groomers had buffed the 3.3 k loop to a 28-inch average depth with a mix of natural and manmade snow. Then, “We had really warm weather,” Seymour said. A warm three-day period with high winds and heavy rains reduced the base depth to 12-18 inches.

Then, starting Feb. 24, another three-day thaw cost precious base depth. A week before the championships, the race courses were down to an average depth of 4 to 8 inches.

The death blow came one night later. Driving rain and 50 mile per hour winds wiped out weeks of intense work. Wednesday morning, they inspected the courses. Not only was snow melting, but water was “flowing all over the place,” Seymour said. “We had large portions of the race trail that were totally washed out. There were sections of the trail that were lovely and totally groomable. But we also had a 100-meter section of the trail that was totally gone, like, 100 percent gone from pouring water.”

That morning, Van Ho still had snow stockpiled in the stadium out near the 3.3 k loop. But the forecast for Sunday through Wednesday of championship week called for temperatures in the mid 40s.

The forecast was accurate.

“We could have rebuilt the course so that it had four to six inches of snow everywhere,” Seymour said. “We knew that Mount Van Hoevenberg couldn’t survive a third major thaw in a four-week period.

“We had a course that was mostly built at the jumps,” he explained.

The U18 boys’ classic sprint podium at U.S. Junior Nationals, held at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Gus Schumacher (c) of Alaska Winter Stars in first, Scott Schulz (l) of the New York Ski Educational Foundation in second, and Adam Glueck (r) of Ford Sayre in third. (Photo: XCJuniorNationals2017.com)

Blowing snow on site for 30 hours and working around the clock, ORDA employees also moved all the snow from the in-run of the ski jumps and the in-run and landing areas of the freestyle training area, which had a depth of eight feet. With that and the snow made on site, the Intervale loop was covered to an average depth of 2 1/2 feet for a successful Junior Nationals.

As a result of the venue change, there was only one adjustment to the schedule. Coaches, jurors and organizers agreed to switch the classic mass start to an individual start because of a narrow spot for two-way traffic midway through the loop.

While the Snow Factory ultimately didn’t play a part in JNs, it continued to blow snow at Van Ho, which remained open while the races happened took place at the jumps. Teams arrived early and trained on the trails, some choosing to cool down or train on off days at Van Ho.

“That was 100-percent Snow Factory,” Seymour said.

Besides the Factory, there have been other significant improvements to Van Ho. According to Allan Serrano, the FIS technical delegate who worked with ORDA to homologate Van Ho’s race trails, the stadium exit, along with much of the Interloopen portion of the Ladies’ 5 k loop, was widened.

“Most importantly they have been able to do rehabilitation work on the Ladies 5k, leveling and improving the water management so that it skis and grooms much better,” Serrano wrote. “They are able to have a high quality ski surface with lower snow.”

He added that Van Ho’s grooming capacity has also improved since its courses were certified in 2012.

“At that time the venue did not have a dedicated snowcat with track setters and now they have a machine with double track setters,” he wrote.

As race season winds down, what’s next? With the ability to make snow in warm temperatures, Seymour was intrigued by the opportunity to provide skiing on short loops in the offseason. He’s got the attention of John Farra, the high-performance director for U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing.

“We have found that it is most valuable for sit skiers especially to have access to snow in the ‘off season,’ ” Farra wrote in an email. “The nature of maneuvering a nordic sit ski on turns, downhills and out of the track is not something that can be duplicated on roller skis, so we have found [snow] much more valuable for sit skiers in advancing their technical skills. We are very interested in the Snow Factory project that ORDA has invested in and have been in touch with Kris about the possibility of getting our National Team to Lake Placid to take advantage of their new Snow Factory snow in this coming Games season.”

“Part of skiing currently is having a viable snowmaking option,” Seymour said. “The Snow Factory will guarantee the ability to open the venue when we want to and hold races as they’re scheduled; we can be counted on as a world-class venue. It’s a game changer.”

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South of the Equator: World Cup Skiing Comes to Thailand https://fasterskier.com/2017/04/south-equator-world-cup-skiing-comes-thailand/ https://fasterskier.com/2017/04/south-equator-world-cup-skiing-comes-thailand/#respond Sat, 01 Apr 2017 19:02:46 +0000 http://fasterskier.com/?post_type=article&p=151803
Thailand’s beaches will host the season-opening World Cup races in late November 2017. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

With Kuusamo’s sudden cancellation of the season-opening Ruka Triple in November, FIS formally announced a schedule change for the start of the 2017/2018 World Cup season. The season’s first event will be a mini tour in Thailand.

Yup, Thailand. A dedicated committee of ski enthusiasts recently committed to organizing a three-stage mini tour on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, in late November 2017.

“I bought a Snow Factory in 2015. At first, we thought people would be interested in snowboarding,” said Roman E. Conti, an expatriate American entrepreneur based in Bangkok. “That was fine, we made a lot of money with people snowboarding in a lame halfpipe. Then we heard that Kuusamo pulled out, and we thought, ‘Hey, why not bring nordic skiing to southeast Asia?’ ”

World Cup skiers, get some beach skis. You’re going to Thailand. (File photo)

The race format follows the footsteps of earlier mini tours, but with a twist. The opening 1.5-kilometer freestyle sprint and 5/10 k classic races will be on manmade snow, courtesy of the Snow Factory. But the pursuit will be a 10/15 k, point-to-point freestyle beach ski from Chonburi to Bang Phra.

“We have 100-percent confidence that we can provide a good ski surface,” Conti said.

According to the manufacturer, the Snow Factory can blow snow in temperatures up to 80 degrees. The Mount Van Hoevenberg Nordic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., is currently leasing one of these snowmaking contraptions and has been blowing snow most days since last November. (More details on that in another story.)

According to Peter Masonry, race director for International Ski Federation (FIS) Cross-Country, “FIS is building on the enthusiasm behind new Winter Olympics venues like Sochi and PyeongChang. This is a historic move to expand nordic skiing into the Southern Hemisphere.”

He added that FIS would suspend regulations governing minimum climb for this event.

Reactions in the ski community varied depending on the location. FasterSkier’s Editor-at-Large, Chelsea Little, road-tripped to Scandinavia on a special fact-finding mission.

“I don’t want to go there,” moaned Martin Johnsrud Sundby. “Thailand is even farther away than Quebec! Why can’t all the World Cup races be in Scandinavia and central Europe?”

“Do they even know what blueberry soup is over there?” asked Finnish world champion Iivo Niskanen. “And what is beach skiing?”

Unnamed sources indicated that major ski manufacturers were scrambling to develop skate skis with a camber specifically suited for moist sand. Swix and Rode are developing klisters that will work at temperatures up to 95 degrees.

FS caught up with Andy Newell as he wrapped up a pre-Spring Series workout at Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vt. “Thailand? I’m stoked!” he said. “The surfing is really sweet!”

Further north in Vermont, FS found Sophie Caldwell working at great uncle John Caldwell’s maple sugaring operation.

“I love winter, but it’d be nice to have a break from cold weather,” Caldwell said as she heaved logs in to sugarhouse the wood stove. “I’m all for a trip to Thailand, sounds great!”

In Alaska, the FS web of spies [sic] journalists found Rosie Brennan doing laps on Eagle Glacier.  “Thailand? That’s sweet.” Asked about the beach race, she showed a writer her ski bases. “Look at this,” she said. They were streaked with a runny mix of klister, dirt and oxidation. “I have to hassle with klister in Alaska for six weeks every summer. And I mean, it’s really not about the klister or beach skiing, I can’t wait to see what Thailand is all about.”

According to Swedish Olympian Marcus Hellner, an athlete caucus will push to replace the beach skiing stage with a swamp run. But Masonry said that FIS would stand firm on the race format. Tacitly acknowledging that fact, the national teams of Norway, Finland and Switzerland have already planned two-week summer training camps at the Jersey shore.

(Is this for real?)

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