Just a quick update:

We are here in Canmore, and the first day of classic sprinting is over.  We had a decent day, with both of the first Americans being APU skiers.  The day was not quite so good for Americans overall however, with quite a few of them sitting out of the rounds. Full results are on Zone 4. Laura Valaas from APU was 6th, and 1st American.  Mark Iverson was 7th, and 1st American.  I had a great time cheering them on, and we are all proud of their results today.  It was also a great day to learn more about tactics and watch some really fast skiers doing their thing.

Tomorrow we have another identical classic sprint race, so it’s a chance for some of us to improve on todays result.

Here are some pre-race photos:

This is a truly world class venue.

Our coaches are out waxing almost all of the time, here they are taking a rare break.

Katie Ronsse and Kassandra Rice skiing thursday morning, enjoying the snow speed and scenery.

Canmore is a really beautiful area

The last ski in Silver Star, it was a super fun distance ski with awesome teammates and an alpine run finish.

First, a quick recap of the races in Silver Star:

On Saturday we did a 10 and 15k skate race.  The cold conditions and hilly course made it a long and difficult race that rewarded tough skiers.  After dominating the American field this year so far, Holly Brooks also beat the Canadian racers that day, edging Dasha Gaiazova by 8.5 seconds.

Holly is on a roll this season!

Taz and I rounded out the top 10 for APU Women with 6th and 9th places.  Full results can be found at here.

James Southam took second in the Men’s 15k race behind Garrott Kuzzy, on a day when American skiers dominated the top 5. More results here.

James laid down a solid 2nd place.

Sunday’s sprint got off to a decent start, and developed into a really great day for APU, with 4 of our girls in the A final!  Having qualified 3rd, 7th, 14th, and 19th, Holly, Kassandra, Katie and I worked our way through the heats to meet in the A final.   Following Dasha’s 1st, Holly and Katie had a photo finish for 2nd, Kassie got 4th, and I barely missed 5th in a photo finish with Rebecca Dussault.  APU skier Laura Valaas also qualified well, getting 2nd in the prelim, but didn’t race the heats due to a minor illness.

APU ladies took 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th in Sunday's sprint race

Mark Iverson had a blistering day finishing 4th, leading the mens team which had 3 skiers in the B final as well.  Anders Haugen finished 7th, winning the B final, Mike Hinckley was 8th behind him, and Brent Knight was 10th.  The APU men finished the heats in significantly better places than their qualifying places too.

Iverson was very happy with his 4th place in the sprint race

Silver Star is an amazing place to be a ski racer.  The accommodations are excellent, there is skiing right from your house, and the race courses are challenging both technically and aerobically.

As a young athlete, getting to be on the road with APU is an important learning opportunity.  Because we are able to have coaches on the road for 5 weeks straight in the early season, I am getting much more racing experience than I would if I only made it to West and Bozeman.  I know that I learned more than a few things tactically on Sunday here, as well as in the sprint in Bozeman.  Courses with substantial climbs like you might find at world junior championships or U23s are important to experience, and Silver Star is an excellent example. Also, it’s a total blast!  I love getting to start the season, head out on the road, and spend a bunch of time with the team. Traveling and racing is exciting and super fun, but is also hard work. While it’s great to hang out with your teammates all of the time, it also takes some cooperation and compromise.  There are chores to do, and skis to be worked on, and of course training once or twice daily.  Basically it’s very very fun, but also fulfilling, productive and definitely worth taking advantage of.

We are a large travel team. This really hit home as we were skiing in a group for some photos, because we really took a lot of room to maneuver.

The big blue mob coordinating and synchronizing, which took some serious teamwork!

Unpacking and sorting skis upon arrival to Silver Star

APU team Conoco muscle shot

APU, looking sharp.

We have a good time together, even when trying to take team pictures at -4ºF

After some strong APU performances in Bozeman, the team just finished traveling to our next race venue in Canada: the Sovereign Lake Nordic trails.  They  are located near Silver Star ski resort in the Vernon, BC area. Learning our lesson from our 18 hour drive last year, we made the trip in two parts with an overnight stop in Colville WA.  We had some great races in bozeman, and APU skiers looked especially strong in the striding sections of the course at Bohart.  Here are a few shots from the weekend:

The top three women finishers at the sprints in Lindley Park

Holly and I were 1st and 3rd

James celebrates his victory on top of the podium at Bohart Ranch after the classic race

Holly and James both won at Bohart Ranch, I was 4th. It was a good day for APU!

The big news from the drive was that the SuperTour rankings had come out, and APU Women are 1,2, and 3!  James Southam is also holding a strong position in 4th.

Now that we are in Silver Star, all there is to do is keep training, ski prepping, and get ready for some skate races this weekend!