As a Nordic Winter Olympics wraps up (oh, the alpine and indoor events too) in Vancouver, so too wraps up the Wasatch Citizen’s Series races.   No one here has stopped talking about the Nordic skiing in Whistler nor stopped talking about  Billy Demong’s skiing in the 3rd Wasatch race.  Hum, which gold medal is he wearing today?  Wasatch race #4 at Soldier Hollow showcased our 60+ J4 and younger skiers skating the Olympic Sprint course or a shorter section of the sprint.  The older skiers contested thier 10k race on portions of the Olympic 5k loop.  The fifth and final Wasatch Citizen’s race held, as tradition required, at The Farm in Park City was a 20k race of all conditions from wind-blown, ground blizzard powder to fast, scoured track. 

Wasatch Citizen’s Race #5 Adults:

Wasatch Citizens'Race #5 Juniors:

Wasatch Citizen's Race #4:

The skiers were hard at it on second day at the Bogus Basin Jr National Qualifier,  the last day for selecting the Intermountain Division team members to travel to Jr Nationals in Maine.  The classic course was a 5k for men and women OJ/J1/J2.  The younger racers skied on the same shorter courses from the day before.  Video highlights from a beautiful course:

Women’s Classic OJ/J1/J2:

Men’s Classic OJ/J1:

Classic Men’s J2 and J3/J4:

Bogus Basin, Idaho hosted the final Intermountain Division Jr National Qualifier.  Three video highlights from the first day of competition:

Women’s J1/OJ 10k Skate:

Men’s J1/OJ 15k Skate:

Men and Women J2/J3/J4  5k/3k/1k Skate:

The second day of Jr National Super-Qualifier racing at Soldier Hollow, Utah again started in the 1′F fog with waves of J6 through J3 and novice skiers flying out of the starting zone in front of the biathlon range.  The fog burned off presenting a brillant day in the Wasatch Mountains for the J2 through OJ/Seniors.   Video highlights are of the Salt Lake Nordic Ski Team in 2 videos:

J2/J1/OJ/Seniors video:

J6/J5/J4/J3 pound for pound, the fastest skiers:

The Soldier Hollow, Utah Super Qualifier for the Intermountain Region Junior Nationals began in a 1^oF fog Friday morning.  Local teams included Park City Nordic, University of Utah Ski Team, Salt Lake Nordic Ski Team, and the Soldier Hollow Ski Team.  Wyoming High schools attended as well as skiers from as far Washington to New York.  Rocky Mountain and High Plains regions put powerful teams on the tracks. 

Five videos of the Freestyle sprints from OJ through talented J6s follow:  

Qualifier round OJ/J1/J2:

Women's Sprint Heats OJ/J1/J2:

Men's Sprint Heats OJ/J1/J2

Sprints J4/J3/W-Novice SLNST

Sprints J6/J5/J4 SLNST

The TUNA Relay teams skied under a brilliant sky and over blue wax snow at White Pine Touring, Park City, Utah. The golf-handicap style scoring allows comparisons across the 3 X 2k 12years-and-under juniors to the 3 X 5k adults. Teams could be of 3, 2, or 1 skiers.  Salt Lake Nordic Ski Team, Park City Ski Team, and Soldier Hollow’s team put up great competitors, spreading the winning across the elite junior teams and the citizen seniors and masters. 

 Starting with 8-11 year-olds, over 300 skiers raced Saturday January 2, 2010 at White Pine, Park City, Utah. In addition to 100’s of citizen racers were members of Steinbock Racing, US Nordic Combined, US Biathlon, Park City Nordic, Salt Lake Nordic, Soldier Hollow, and the University of Utah.  Full results at  the TUNA link to the left edge of this blog site.