The Arctic Winter Games, a bi-annual winter sports competition for young athletes from Arctic regions, featured four days of cross-country ski racing in Grand Prairie, Alberta.  The Games officially conclude on the 14th, but all cross-country competitions have been completed.

Complete ski results from the Games can be found at www.zone4.ca.   Many athletes from Alaska competed against Canadaian provinces and Greenland, among others.

The event website can be found here.

By: Shane MacDowell

Today was the first day of competition at the 2010 Junior Olympics in Presque Isle, Maine. The day’s conditions started out hard and fast with the J2’s, but as the day wore on the conditions quickly began to deteriorate from the raising temperatures as the older age groups got underway. By the time the heats began, the hills had been reduced to mush in most areas making kicking a chore for the majority of the athletes.

Every heat was intense and exciting for all of the spectators lining the trails and finish area. One of the most competitive heats was the OJ Boys A-Final that ended up leaving some serious carnage in its wake. The pack was tight and aggressive which brought three broken poles and one broken ski on the first long climb.

As the men’s heats finished the temperatures began to drop for the J1/OJ women, hardening the once wet tracks into hard packed ice. The previously soft down hills were then covered in hard rutted tracks making descents faster and more difficult to maneuver. This also made the racing more interesting to watch as the girls worked hard all over the course to try to gain an advantage anywhere they could.

With the first day of competition completed New England looks to be the team to beat, having swept three podiums and winning five of six national titles. The 2010 Junior National Sprint winners for today were;

J2 Girl: Corey Stock, New England

J2 Boys: Cole Morgan, Intermountain

J1 Girls: Isabel Caldwell, New England

J1 Boys: David Sinclair, New England

OJ Girls: Kaitlynn Miller, New England

OJ Boys: Alex Schulz, New England

Complete Results.

With the 2010 Junior Nationals set to kick off Monday, Andy Newell made a welcome video starring the U.S. Ski Team and some international guests. Check it out below. For live results from the sprint races (and links to start lists), visit this link.

Wednesday brought with it another day of immaculate grooming and exciting racing in Truckee. While temperatures had dropped well below freezing during the night, it warmed up quickly and continually throughout the morning so that by the OJ mens race it had climbed to 47 degrees. The skate races took place on a challenging, hilly course with quick downhills and unforgiving uphills.

Logan Hanneman kicked things off with a dominant performance in the J2 boys 5k, winning by almost thirty seconds over Alaskan teammate Isaac Lammers Rocky Mountain answered this 1-2 performance with one of their own on the girls side, with Hannah Smith and Michaela Frias leading the way.  The girls J1 and OJ competitors skied two laps of the 5k course.

Intermountain led the way in the J1 girls race through a commanding victory from Elizabeth Guiney, who bested teammate Monika Markvardsen by 34 seconds. Becca Rorabaugh and Briana Perkins provided the closest finish of the day in the OJ women’s race, as the Alaskan Rorabaugh grabbed the victory by just .16 seconds. The men’s J1 and OJ racers raced the grueling 7.5k “red course” twice in a 15k that brought with it slower and more variable snow conditions. Scott Patterson of Alaska edged out Erik Bjornsen in the J1 race, while Chase Marston and Graham Egan led a 1-2 New England finish for the OJs. Intermountain held a slim lead over New England in the Alaska Cup
standings at the end of the day, 618-601, with Alaska in third with 562.

As a first-year Older Junior, Truckee local Bernie Nelson is determined to place well at this year’s Junior Olympics, especially because she is on the host team.

After taking the State Championship crown last week at Auburn Ski Club, Nelson, a senior at Truckee High School, is one of the few athletes on the team who competed in the last Junior Olympics (’05) held at Auburn Ski Club.

She recalls ’05 as her “best Junior Olympics — ever” and said she hopes to top them this year.

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