Durango Nordic Ski Club

Durango Nordic Preforms in Ski Town USA

2012-01-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

Over January 13th and 14^th the Durango Nordic Ski Club travelling to Steamboat Springs, CO to race at the CU Invite and Steamboat Junior National Qualifier. The Freestyle race on Friday was held on a grueling 2.5km loop of man-made snow, as was the Classic race on Saturday. “Racing on the cold man-made snow turned out to create very fast conditions” said head coach Josh Dalley “After a large blocks of distance training mixed with intensity over Christmas break, the DNSC athletes were prepared to race last weekend in Steamboat.”

On Friday the J1 boys raced 4 laps for a total of 10km. Leading Durango and the whole J1 field was Haakon Sigurslid. He was followed by Sepp Kuss in 7^th place. The J1 girls raced 2 laps for total of 5km. Rachel Hampton lead DNSC with a 3^rd place finish. Hampton was followed by Amy Katz in 11^th, Kaylee Blevins in 13^th, and Lily Oswald in 14^th. Also skiing 2 laps, Cully Brown lead the J2 boys field followed by Durango teammates Charlie Greenberg in 7^th, and Abe Ott in 18^th. Skiing the same course, Hannah Peterson of DNSC was 3^rd in the J2 girls field. Racing 1 lap of the 2.5km course, Stanton Ott placed 21^st in the J3 boys category. On the same course, Quinn Luthy lead DNSC in 20^th place in the J4 boys race, closely followed by teammate Corbin Reiter. Racing in the J4 girls race, Carter Reiter skied to a 21^st place finish. Skiing a 1km loop Claudia Luthy placed 8^th in the J5 girls race.

Waking up to warmer temperatures on Saturday, DNSC prepared for the Mass start Classic race. “Mass start racing is the most exciting to watch and coach.” said Dalley “The racers always know where they stand in terms of place, but have to plan their strategy to best suit their styles. It’s not a straight forward as an individual start race.” Again racing 10km, Haakon Sigurslid lead DNSC with a 6^th place J1 boys finish. He was closely followed by Sepp Kuss in 7^th. In the J1 girls race, Rachel Hampton again lead DNSC, having another 3^rd place finish. She was followed by Amy Katz in 7^th, Kaylee Blevins in 12^th, and Lily Oswald in 13^th. Again leading the J2 boys, Cully Brown skied away from the field to capture the win. He was followed by Charlie Greenberg in 9^th and Abe Ott in 15^th. In the J2 girls race, Hannah Peterson placed 10^th. Again racing the 2.5km loop, Stanton Ott of Durango placed 17^th. Corbin Reiter and Quinn Luthy battled it out for DNSC, placing 10^th and 11^th respectively in the J4 boys category. Carter Reiter skied strong, placing 15^th within the J4 girls. Claudia Luthy raced hard to a 6^th place finish among J5 girls.

“I am proud of how all our athletes raced, as well as how they represented our community this past weekend.” Said Dalley “We had very strong results as a team and we continue to pick up momentum as we head into our larger races later this winter.” On January 27^th and 28^th, the Durango Nordic Ski Club will travel to Soldier Hollow, UT to race in the Western Region Super Qualifier. Teams west of the Mississippi all travel to Soldier Hollow on that weekend for the largest junior race in the Nataion.

Tad Elliott and USST Funding

2012-01-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

Tad Elliott 30km National Championships Rumford, ME 2011 1^st Place

Tad Elliott aspires to be in Sochi, Russia as a member of the United States Cross Country Ski Team for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Elliott obtained one of his goals this past winter when he was named to the United States Ski Team (USST) as a B Team member.

Tad Elliott 30km National Championships Rumford, ME 2011 1^st Place

Elliott is mid-way through what the USST calls its “pipeline” and on the road to a top ten result in the Winter Olympic Games. Unfortunately, this year, that road contains significant potholes and financial barriers. The three men and three women of the USST B team are not receiving any financial help with their travels to World Cup ski races in Europe and are responsible to pay entirely for all their travel expenses. These expenses will amount to $20,000 to $25,000 per skier. It is projected that the financial situation will not change next year, which will be the year prior to the 2014 Winter Olympics. The three men on the USST B Team are all from Colorado. They are Simi Hamilton, 24, from Aspen, Tad Elliott, 23, from Durango, and Noah Hoffman, 22, from Aspen. For a comparison, the Norwegian Nordic Cross Country team receives a $9 million annual budget and the Canadians receive a $3.5 million annual budget. The USST, on the other hand, receives a $750,000 annual budget. The two men and two women of the USST A Team are fully funded.

Even though the USST support is making it possible for Elliott to pursue his Olympic dreams, budget cuts have made it increasingly more common for USST B teamers to turn to domestic club programs for the assistance they need in order to make it to the next level on the USST. Elliott recently joined Team HomeGrown, a Colorado team based out of Vail and directed by Dan Weiland.

"I am happy to be a part of Team HomeGrown and a part of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail,” said Elliott. “The team is based on homegrown Colorado skiers that have grown up racing in Colorado and are now professional skiers seeking their Olympic dream. It was a dream come true to be named to the US Ski Team, but due to recent budget cuts the B Team now has to fund 100 percent of their travel in Europe. My goal is to make the A Team, where there is 100 percent funding at the world cup level, and represent the US at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I have received incredible support from Durango and the Durango community. I grew up skiing for the Durango Nordic Ski Club. One of the highlights of my career to date was the year 2008 when I coached the J5 skiers who are 8 & 9 years old for Durango Nordic Ski Club. I learned a lot and it proved to be a motivation for me to improve my racing. The Durango Winter Sports Foundation was not formed until after I graduated from high school, but I have still received support from DWSF to chase my Olympic dream. I fully realize how lucky I am to live in such a special place as Durango, Colorado.”

The ski communities from the three towns of Aspen, Durango, and Vail have recently created the Rocky Mountain Nordic Division Angel to raise money to support these Colorado athletes. The RMN Angel has raised 3/4 of their goal, but still needs another $18,000 to meet their financial obligations to four Colorado skiers racing in European competitions.

The fourth skier is Sylvan Ellefson from Vail. Ellefson also has recorded excellent results so far this winter and has a legitimate opportunity to make the 2014 US Cross Country Olympic Team. Therefore, Colorado could potentially have four members on the USA Olympic Cross Country Ski Team: Elliott, Hamilton, Hoffman, and Ellefson. Elliott, Hamilton, and Hoffman have been training year round under the USST. They were in Park City, Utah and Oregon at a May snow camp and then spent three weeks in New Zealand in July where they were racing and training on snow with Canadian, Russian, and Japanese skiers.

Any fundraising for these Colorado skiers can be earmarked for a specific athlete and will go directly to that athlete through the RMN Nordic Angel. One hundred percent of the funds go directly to the athletes. RMN makes certain that any money disbursed is spent directly on reasonable travel expenses for World Cup skiing. There are no administrative expenses associated with the Nordic Angel. The Nordic Angel division of Rocky Mountain Nordic wants to keep expanding their fundraising so that they can eventually help support future RMN skiers who qualify for a Scando Cup Championships or World Junior Championships.

To help Tad Elliott or one of these other three Colorado skiers make it to Sochi, Russia, please make checks payable to Rocky Mountain Nordic Angel and mail to Rocky Mountain Nordic, 2613 Arroyo Drive, Durango, Colorado 81301. If you want to donate using your credit card, visit www.rmnordic.org, Nordic Angel Program, http://www.rmnnordic.causevox.com/. RMN Angel is a nonprofit 501 C 3 company and can send a receipt to the donors upon request. Rocky Mountain Nordic Angel Federal Tax Identification # 74-3145034.

Tad Elliott’s Results:

· Three time National Champion: 50km March 2010, Grand National Champion March 2010, and 30km January 2011.

· Second at the 2010 American Birkenbeiner

· Member of the 2011 US Ski Team World Championship Team that competed in Oslo, Norway

· U23 National Mountain Bike championships 2008 and 2010.

USST results for the men during the first period of World Cup races this winter in Sjusjoen, Norway; Kuusamo, Finland; Seefeld, Austria; and Davos, Switzerland have been encouraging. Elliott scored his first world cup points by placing 27^th in a 30km race in Davos, Switzerland. He also had a strong skate relay leg in the Sjusjoen, Norway World Cup where he recorded some of the fastest times for his leg.

Clear Skies and Cold Temps: Nordic Racing in Crested Butte

2011-12-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

The past weekend the Durango Nordic Ski Club travelled to Crested Butte, who played host to the first Junior National Qualifier in the Rocky Mountain Division. Struggling with a shortage of snow this winter, volunteers around Crested Butte spent days shoveling snow onto the ski trails in order to have a complete 3km race loop. The 14 and older athletes raced two laps for a total of 6km, while ages 10-13 raced one lap on both Saturday and Sunday. Athletes in the ages of 8-9 raced a shortened loop totaling 1km.

Saturday morning saw clear skis and temps around 0 degrees at the start of the Freestyle technique races. “It was awesome to have a full team travelling to the race in Crested Butte,” said Head Coach Josh Dalley, “we had a total of 26 athletes representing Durango, covering each age group.” Starting with the youngest ages first, on Saturday Dec 17^th the 1km J5 female class was won by DNSC athlete Jordan Taylor. The J5 male class was won by Wiley Corra, followed by Ivan Sippy in 5^th. Skiing 3km in the J4 female class, Taya Bruell of Durango placed 11^th. In the J4 male class Carter Kileen of Durango was 8^th. DNSC skiers Katja Freeburn placed 8^th, followed by Camryn Sippy in 10^th in the J3 female class. Dylan Williamson lead Durango with an 8^th place finish in the J3 male class. He was followed by teammates Stanton Ott in 13^th, Perrin Kileen in 15^th, and Leo Bruell in 20^th. Skiing two laps for a 6km race, Hannah Peterson of Durango placed 3^rd in the J2 female class. Cully Brown won the J2 male class followed by teammates Charlie Greenberg in 8^th, John Rhoades in 10^th, Gordon Gianniny in 13^th, and Abe Ott in 15^th. Rachel Hampton lead the way for DNSC with an 8^th in the J1 female class, followed by Amy Katz in 9^th, Lily Oswald in 13^th, and Kaylee Blevins in 15^th. For the men, Haakon Sigurslid lead Durango with a 3^rd place finish, followed by Sepp Kuss in 7^th, and Levi Kurlander in 13^th. DNSC alumni and now Denver University skier Elena Breed placed 3^rd in the OJ women’s race.

Temps were again near 0 degrees at the start of Sunday’s Classic race. Jordan Taylor again won the J5 female class, as did Wiley Corra in the J5 male class followed by Ivan Sippy in 6^th. In the female J4 class, Taya Bruell was 12^th. For the J4 men, Carter Kileen placed 7^th. In the J3 category, for females Katja Freeburn placed 8^th and Camryn Sippy placed 9^th. Dylan Williamson lead the J3 boys in 8^th place, followed by Stanton Ott in 14^th, Perrin Kileen in 15^th, and Leo Bruell in 18^th. In the 6km classic race, Hannah Peterson placed 5^th in the J2 female class. Cully Brown of Durango again took the win in the J2 male class, followed by Charlie Greenberg in 8^th, Gordon Gianniny in 13^th, John Rhoades in 15^th, and Abe Ott in 16^th. In the female J1 class, Rachel Hampton of DNSC placed 4^th, Amy Katz was 8^th, Kaylee Blevins was 14^th, and Lily Oswald was 15^th. For the J1 male class, Haakon Sigurslid was 8^th, Sepp Kuss was 9^th, and Levi Kurlander placed 13^th. DSNC alumni Elena Breed placed 2^nd in the female OJ class.

“I am very pleased with this weekend’s effort from our team.” said Dalley “with winter break on the way we are excited for quality training in the daylight. We will be ready for more racing at our next qualifier in Steamboat Springs on January 13^th and 14^th. In the mean time we will race in the local Coke series hosted at the Nordic Center at Purgatory on January 7^th.”

Nordic Racing in Colorado Kicks Off with a Weekend in Steamboat

2011-12-06T14:31:00.001-08:00

This past weekend marked the start of the Cross Country ski racing season with a USSA race hosted by Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. The race was originally to be hosted in Summit Country, but due to a lack of snow, they were forced to change venues to Steamboat.

The Durango Nordic Ski Club travelled to Steamboat to participate in these early season ski races, with a focus on getting early season race starts prior to the First Junior National Qualifier race that will be held December 17^th and 18^thin Crested Butte. On Saturday December 3^rd everyone raced 5 kilometers around a fast course using skate technique. The J2 (14 and 15 years old) category was lead by Durango Nordic skier Cully Brown. Following him in 5^th place was Durango Nordic skier Charlie Greenberg. For the girls, Hannah Peterson placed 2^nd. In the J1 (16 and 17) boys category, Haakon Sigurslid of Durango placed 3^rd, followed by Sepp Kuss in 8^th. For the J1 girls, Amy Katz placed 7^th, Kaylee Blevins placed 12^th, Lily Oswald placed 13^th, and Emma Greenberg placed 19^th.

Saturday’s race was around the same course, but using classic technique. All racers again competed in a 5km race besides the J1 boys who raced an extra loop to increase the distance to 10km. Cully Brown of Durango again lead the J2 boys, followed by Charlie Greenberg in 5^th. Hannah Peterson placed 6^th in the J2 girls race. In the J1 girls race, Durango was again lead by Amy Katz in 10^th, Kaylee Blevins in 12^th, Lily Oswald in 14^th, and Emma Greenberg in 19^th. The Durango Nordic J1 boys got around the 10km course in good fashion, with Haakon Sigurslid again claiming the 3^rd place position, followed by Sepp Kuss in 9^th.

“These preseason races are good for us to participate in as a team,” says head coach Josh Dalley “as they help get us used to the speed of racing as well as a weekend of skiing ‘on snow’. For the past week we have been forced to go back to dryland training, so the cold weather and snow in Steamboat this past weekend was beneficial for our training as well.” Now that the snow is falling in Durango, Dalley is looking forward to kicking off ski training for the whole team. For more results, visit the Durango Nordic Ski Club website at www.durangonordic.org.

September in Review

2011-10-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

This past September we've been busy here in Durango. We have been training hard, getting in lots of L3 and starting up on our L4 intervals and bounding. As we head further into the fall our ski specific training is going to increase, as is our intensity. Here I wanted to share a video and some pictures of what we have been up to.

We ended our summer with skiing up Molas Pass, up above 10,000 ft!

Throughout of Saturday's this month, we have been getting in some nice long roller skis out in the country. Here is a video preview of some of these skis and some L3 intervals.

As the leaves start to change, we are also starting up our fall High Country hikes. This past weekend we headed up past Silverton to Ice Lakes. This is one of my favorite hikes ever. Check out these pics of the scenery.

And, as always, why not do some push-ups....

What have our Athletes been up to: Cully Brown

2011-09-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

Fellow nordic team mate, Cully Brown had an eventful paddling season in both slalom and wildwater this spring and summer. His first major competition was in April at the Western US wildwater team trials where he qualified for the Junior World Championships in Opava, Czech Republic. Then it was off to Wausau, Wisconsin for US Junior Slalom team trials shortly after the Iron horse weekend. At that event he place 6th qualifying him for pre world competition. He had to make a choice, so he decided to focus on wildwater and skip the pre world slalom races. To prepare for Wildwater worlds he trained with and receive coaching from Mike Freeburn and Andy Corra two local paddling legends. Later in June, Cully competed in the Senior national championships, winning the spring race and placing second overall to his national team coach, Doug Ritchy from the Seattle area.

More DR training throughout July and it was off to Europe. Arriving in Munich, Cully first trained in Ausburg and Paugue before heading to the world championships in Opava. Traveling with team mates and coaches in Europe was a great learning experience for Cully. The US team stay in a 15th century structure that had more recently been converted a dormitory for Czech college students. Sharing the dorm where athletes for all over the world made for a great first international experience. The race courses at worlds were relatively flat, lacking any steep drops or technical paddling which favored the bigger, stronger athletes.

Over all Cully's best finish was 40th place, best among the English speaking world but back from the Eastern and Western European men. The week of racing ended with a sweet party for the teams at a super old castle the looked like Hogwart. Awards, movies, food, drink and dancing into the night was served up to the everyones enjoyment. If you get a chance have Cully share some of his experiences and be sure to ask him about his new Czech friend, Zuzu.

What have our Athletes been up to: Rachel Hampton

2011-09-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Two efforts in particular were significant enough to garner our first Boulder Running Company/Colorado Track and Field Cross Country athletes of the week. Those efforts belong to Rachel Hampton of Telluride and Kyle Ames of Smoky Hill.

Rachel Hampton comes from one of the most remote and, arguably, most beautiful places in Colorado. Rachel spent a very busy summer running and cross training in preparation for cross country in the fall and Nordic skiing in the winter. According to Rachel, “My mileage was definitely a lot higher than it has been in previous summers, and I added in good strength training too”.

All of this pre-season training helped Rachel to a first place finish at the Delta Cross Country Invitational at Confluence Park in Delta, Colorado. Rachel ran the five kilometer course in 19:20, a little over a minute ahead of runner-up Natalie Anderson of Hotchkiss.

The ruggedness of Telluride’s terrain and its altitude is a tremendous strength to Rachel and her fellow runners. The remoteness of the location, however, can make it difficult to face some of the competition they will see at state. The lack of big meets means that Rachel and her teammates will need to make every opportunity count. They are looking toward facing Nederland in October. The MileSplit community will get an early preview of this battle at the St. Vrain Invitational on Saturday.

Read the Full Article Here

DWSF Awards!!

2011-05-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

This past week was the DWSF Awards Dinner. Here are the winning Durango Nordic Awards:

MVP

Rachel Hampton: Consistent efforts, always bright and positive, even with her two hour commute each way to be a part of the Durango Team. A true role model and all year displayed consistent upward progress in the J1 girls results.

Haakon Samuelson: Was consistently a stellar role model for the whole team. He trained consistently all year, and attended almost every race. Always high spirited and helpful. Amazing results this year, including being the fastest Junior sprinter in Colorado.

DEVO MVP

Marit May: Showed consistent effort, was always a good, positive, mature, focused role model for her teammates. She always showed up ready to go and really pushed herself this season trying her hardest at every drill and technique critique.

Dylan Williamson: Showed excitement, smiles and team camaraderie consistently. His enthusiasm and care for the Nordic and his teammates shone at practices, races, ALL the time.

Most Improved

Hannah Peterson: Demonstrated huge improvement from the beginning of last summer, throughout the season, and ended with incredible races at JNs.

Gunther Ott : Not only improved from increased summer and fall training, but also his perseverance this year and since the year he started Nordic. It really showed this year in his best race results ever.

Rookie of the Year

Amelia Wigton: While quiet, showed huge dedication to Nordic in her first year, and became more confident throughout the season. Her skiing has improved greatly over the year and we hope to see her back next year.

Leo Bruell: Always came to practice extremely eager to learn and improve. He got right back up every time he fell and went out 110% whether participating in practice, technique work, races, relays, etc.

Sportsmanship/Inspirational

Lily Oswald: Was upbeat all season, every practice, every race, no matter her results. She always smiled and encouraged others and was a light bulb for the whole team. She just kept getting better and better with each race, almost making JNs, but still stuck out the rest of the season and all this while also doing a lot with Dance.

Cully Brown: Just moved up to J2 level and was still one of the top performers all year in the Rocky Division and at JNs. Always a sportsman, regardless of how things played out in a race, he always finished with a smile and congratulated his competitors. He makes the best out of each situation.

Volunteer

Priscilla Blevins: Always willing to help out with whatever the team needs. She helped Brent organize the team dinner at the Aspen race, among other things.

Bob Oswald: Always willing and asking how he can help, but beyond asking, he was also looking for ways to help. He was really helpful at all the Coke races and a nice team parent rep towards other new parents.

9 DNSC Skiers Named to the Junior National Team after Aspen Nordic Festival

2011-02-15T12:54:00.001-08:00

In Sunny and warm conditions, cross country skiers from the Durango Nordic Ski Club raced in the Aspen Nordic Festival, the final Junior National Qualifier of the season. The races were held on Saturday February 12^th and Sunday February 13^th in Aspen, CO in conjunction with the Owl Creek Chase, a stop along the SuperTour series. With tough competition from pro skiers, these races were also the last chance for skiers age 14 and older to qualify for Junior Nationals which will be held in Minneapolis, MN from March 6^th through March 12^th.

The classic races on Saturday kicked off with the youngest age groups first. Placing 6^th skiing for Durango in the J5 race was Cobe Freeburn. In the Girls J6 race, ages 6 and 7, was won with Durango skier Ruby May. DNSC had two skiers in the Boys J4 race, Dylan Williamson (3^rd) and Stan Ott (6^th). For the Girls J4 race, Marit May was 3^rd, Camryn Sippy was 5^th, and Katja Freeburn was 9^th. Avra Saslow placed 9^th in the Girls J3 race. Moving on to the older skier who are trying to qualify for Junior Nationals, the Boys J2 (ages 14-15) was won by DNSC athlete Haakon Sigurslid. He was followed by teammates Cully Brown (3^rd) and Abe Ott (23^rd). The DNSC girls were lead by Amy Katz in 2^nd and followed by Lily Oswald (5^th), Hannah Peterson (7^th), Kaylee Blevins (12^th), and Emma Greenberg (18^th). Gino Pastore lead the J1 boys in their 10km race placing 3^rd. He was followed by teammates Sepp Kuss (6^th), Gunter Ott (16^th) and Ben Capelin (18^th). Racing against college skiers, Haakon Samuelson placed 7^th in the OJ field. The Durango J1 girls were lead by Alicia Pastore in 3^rd place, followed by Rachel Hampton (8^th), and Hannah Madden (12^th).

Sunday’s races were mass start, meaning everyone in each age group starts at the same time, and freestyle technique. Again, the morning start with the youngest skiers first. In the J5 boys group, Cobe Freeburn moved up to 5^th place. In the J4 boys, Dylan Williamson placed 6^th, followed by Stan Ott in 7^th. For the girls, Katja Freeburn moved up to 3^rd and was followed by teammates Marit May (4^th) and Camryn Sippy (12^th). In the J3 girls race, Avra Saslow moved up to 8^th over the 3km course. In the deciding race of who will travel to Minneapolis for Junior Nationals, the DNSC J2 girls was again lead by Amy Katz. She was followed by teammates Hannah Peterson (6^th), Lily Oswald (8^th), and Kaylee Blevins (10^th). Cully Brown lead the boys race for DNSC, placing 4^th. He was followed by Haakon Sigurslid (11^th) and Abe Ott (22^nd). In the OJ/J1 girls race, there was a lead pack of 5 most of the race. Alica Pastore lead Durango with a 5^th place finish, followed by Rachel Hampton (6^th) and Hannah Madden (9^th). The OJ/J1 boys skied 3 laps around the 5km course for a 15km race. Stick with the lead pack until just about the end was DNSC skier Sepp Kuss (5^th). He was followed by Gino Pastore (9^th), Haakon Samuelson (13^th), and Gunter Ott (16^th).

Sunday was also the running of the Owl Creek Chase, a 21km race course from Snow Mass to Aspen. Ben Capelin of DNSC placed 2^nd in the 19 and under age group. Racing in the Men’s Elite field was DSNC Alum Lars Ellefson (34^th).

9 DNSC Skiers Named to the Junior National Team after Aspen Nordic Festival

2011-02-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Nordic Visits Olympic Venue

2011-02-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

The Durango Nordic Ski Club has just returned from a weekend of racing in the Western Super Qualifier hosted at Soldier Hollow, which was home to the Nordic Races in the 2002 Olympic Games. At this year’s event, there were 647 racers, coming from ski clubs located in the regions west of the Mississippi River. “This is the best venue a junior skier could ask to race at” said Head Coach Josh Dalley. “As they race around the course, they can imagine being Olympians and skiing the same course back in 2002.”

The first day of racing was Freestyle Sprints, with a qualifier in the morning and head to head heats in the afternoon. 18 year older Haakon Samuelson had an outstanding performance in a competitive field, winning all his heats and placing 5^th in the final. Placing 13^th overall and racing the B final was Gino Pastore. Also in the OJ/J1 age group, but missing the rounds were Sepp Kuss (50), Ben Capelin (67), and Gunter Ott (94). In the J2 boys field, Cully Brown advance into the heats, placing 16^th overall. Following him were Abe Ott (78) and Gordon Gianniny (82). In the OJ/J1 girls race, Alicia Pastore advanced to the B final, placing an overall 8^thalong with Rachel Hampton who placed 12^th. Also making the rounds from Durango was Hannah Madden (23). In the J2 girsl division, 4 out of 5 Durango girls advanced to the rounds, lead by Amy Katz in 14^th. Other results were Kaylee Blevins (21), Hannah Peterson (27), Lily Oswald (28), and Emma Greenberg (65). Durango also had a large contingency of young kids, under the age of 14. In the 13 to 14 year old group (J3), Avra Saslow lead the girls in 16^th. She was followed by Maggie Wigton (44) and Amelia Wigton (50). Charlie Greenberg lead the boys with an outstanding 2^nd place finish, followed by Jared Webster in 34^th. Katja Freeburn lead the DNSC girls in the 11-12 age group (J4) with a 4^th place finish. In the 11-12 boys, Dylan Williamson was 7^th, followed by Stan Ott in 16^th, and Leo Bruell in 27^th. Skiing for Durango in the 8 to 9 age group (J5) was Jordan Taylor (9) and Taylor Bruell (11). Cobe Freeburn was 3^rd in the 8 to 9 year old boys, and Wiley Corra was 1^st in the 6 to 7 year old group (J6).

The second day of racing consisted of mass start classic races. This is when everyone in each age group starts at the same time, skis their course in the traditional cross country technique, and the first one to cross the line is the winner. These races were in the reverse order of the Sprints, so the younger kids raced first. Wiley Corra was in the first race of the day and brought home a win to Durango, skiing away from the rest of his J6 field to win by 18 seconds. In the J5 girls race, Jordan Taylor was again 9^th, followed by Taylor Bruell in 11^th. In the J5 Boys, Cobe Freeburn moved up to 1^st place, outsprinting 2^nd in the finish straight. In the J4 girls, Katja Freeburn placed 4^th. In J4 boys, Dylan Williamson placed 7^th, followed by Stan Ott (15) and Leo Bruell (27). The J3 girls race was competitive with 58 girls racing. Placing in that group were DNSC skiers Avra Saslow (14), Maggie Wigton (43), and Amelia Wigton (54). Charlie Greenberg was again 2^nd in the J3 boys, followed by Jared Webster in 38^th. Then the racing moved to the grueling Olympic 5k course. J2 skiers completed 1 lap while the OJ/J1 Girls did 2 laps and the OJ/J1 boys did 3 laps to complete a 15k. In the J2 girls, Kaylee Blevins had a spectacular races, leading the way for DNSC in 13^th. She was followed by Amy Katz (15), Lily Oswlad (19), Hannah Peterson (32), and Emma Greenberg (62). The J2 Boys were lead by Cully Brown in 5^th, followed by Gordon Gianniny in 66^th, and Abe Ott in 89^th. The 10k OJ/J1 girls race was a tough one with two laps up the legendary Olympic Hills. Alicia Pastore from Durango skied a tactically smart race, placing 4^th overall. She was followed by Rachel Hampton in 12^th, and Hannah Madden in 23^rd. Haakon Samuelson lead the 3 lap race for the Durango Boys, placing 20^th overall. He was followed by Gino Pastore (26), Sepp Kuss (38), Gunther Ott (70), and Ben Capelin (81).

The Team has one more Junior National Qualifier left, which will be held in Aspen, CO on Febuary 12^th and 13^th.

Nordic Storm at Snow Mountain Ranch

2011-01-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

The Junior National Qualifiers continued this past weekend as the Durango Nordic Ski Club travelled to Granby, CO to compete in the second weekend of four Junior National Qualifier’s. These races where hosted by Boulder Nordic Junior Race Team at Snow Mountain Ranch. “As a team, this was our strongest showing so far this year.” said head coach Josh Dalley. “We had 20 skiers racing at the event, with ages ranging from 11 to 18. This weekend also solidified some Durango athletes spots on the Junior National Team, putting 13 DNSC athletes within striking distance of making the team.”

On Saturday Boulder hosted a five kilometer freestyle technique race. The J1 and OJ classes all raced together (ages 16-19). Leading the way for DNSC was Gino Pastore in 7^th place, followed by Sepp Kuss in 10^th, Gunter Ott in 16^th, Haakon Samuelson in 18^th, and Ben Capelin in 23^rd. The Junior Women’s race was lead by DNSC skier Rachel Hampton in 4^th and Hannah Madden in 9^th. Haakon Sigurslid lead the J2 Men age group (14-15) for Durango with a 3^rd place finish. Following Sigurslid were John Rhoades in 18^th and Abe Ott in 20^th. In the girls J2 age group, Durango was lead by Amy Katz in 2^nd place, Hannah Peterson in 6^th, Lily Oswald in 9^th, Kaylee Blevins in 11^th, and Emma Greenberg in 18^th. DNSC had two J3 boys (12-13) compete. Charlie Greenberg skied to a eight second victory and Jared Webster placed 12^th. In the J3 Girls race, Durango’s Avra Saslow placed 11^th. Dylan Williamson placed 5^th and Stan Ott placed 9^th in the J4 Male age class. In the J4 Female class, DNSC skier Marit May rounded out the podium with a 3^rd place finish.

The racers went head to head on Sunday in a mass start classic race. The J1 and OJ Girls skied 10 kilometers with Rachel Hampton again leading the way for Durango in 7^th, followed by Hannah Madden in 13^th. The J1 and OJ Boys raced 3 laps for a total of 15 kilometers. Gino Pastore moved up a spot to 6^th place, followed by Sepp Kuss in 10^th, Gunter Ott in 14^th, Haakon Samuelson in 16^th, and Ben Capelin in 23^rd. The J2 Girls stuck to 5 kilometers, with a close race between the top 3. Amy Katz from Durango was in the final sprint for the finish line and captured 3^rd place. In that age group she was followed by Hannah Peterson in 8^th, Kaylee Blevins in 10^th, Lily Oswald in 11^th, and Emma Greenberg in 20^th. In the J2 Boys, Haakon Sigurslid lead the race from the beginning, finishing 1^st with a 15 second gap over the rest of the field. He was followed by John Rhoades in 18^th and Abe Ott in 19^th. In the J4 Female class, Avra Saslow placed 8^th. Charlie Greenberg held on to a podium for the second day in a row, placing 3^rd in the J3 Boys group. He was followed by Jared Webster in 19^th. Marit May also held on to two days on the podium, moving up to 2^nd place in the J4 Girls race. In the J4 Boys race, Dylan Williamson proved himself to be a force, placing 3^rd on the second day. He was followed by Stan Ott in 7^th. Full results can be found on www.fourcornerstiming.com or www.durangonordic.org.

Next, the Durango Nordic Ski Club athletes will be racing this coming weekend in the Tour de Ski, hosted at Durango Mountain Resort. The race courses wind their way around the Hermosa Valley, with challenging climbs and epic views.

Going the Distance

2011-01-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

Distance Races start tomorrow! Yes, it’s finally going to happen and we are ready for it. With another good day of training at Great Glen, they kids are ready to go out and rock tomorrow in the distance classic race. Everyone is felling good, upbeat, and…ready. This is US Nationals and we brought our A game. And us coaches are ready as well. We did a lot of klister testing today and even race a lap of the race course to check it out. We did our homework and we’ve determined that tomorrow is going to be a good day for Rocky (esp DNSC).

Conditions update. The gun show has been happening. Not the muscle “gun show” or the actual Gun Show that we had at JNs last year. I mean the snow guns. They have been out in force and cranking out enough snow to cover a 2.5k loop that will be used for the races tomorrow and most likely the rest of the week. I took some pics today on my phone:

It starts with making snow

Then push it around the course

And end up with a ski trail.

Also, here are some great shots my mom took during the sprint races. Our kids showed up well and had solid performances in tough conditions.

More to come after tomorrow’s race.

Nordic Success in Vail

2010-12-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

This past weekend the Durango Nordic Ski Club, and youth cross country ski club, travelled to Minturn, CO to compete in the first Junior National Qualifier of the winter season. “Our Team showed our true colors this weekend, racing with the heart they show every day at practice” said head coach Josh Dalley.

On Saturday Ski and Snowboard Club Vail hosted a kilometer classic technique race. The Men’s race was won by DNSC alumni Tad Elliott followed by another alumni Lars Ellefson in 6^th place. Leading the way for DNSC in the Junior Men’s race (ages 16-19) was Gino Pastore in 4^th place, followed by Sepp Kuss in 10^th, Haakon Samuelson in 13^th, Gunter Ott in 15^th, and Ben Capelin in 22^nd. The Junior Women’s race was lead by DNSC skier Alicia Pastore in 2^nd place, followed by Elena Breed (DNSC Alumni) in 6^th, Rachel Hampton in 10^th, and Hannah Madden in 15^th. In the J2 Men age group (14-15), the race was won by DNSC member Cully Brown. Following Brown were Haakon Sigurslid in 3^rd, Levi Kurlander in 19^th, John Rhoades in 23^rd, Gordon Gianniny in 24^th, and Abe Ott in 26^th. In the girls J2 age group, Durango was lead by Amy Katz in 5^th place, Lily Oswald in 8^th, Kaylee Blevins in 9^th, Hannah Peterson in 14^th, and Emma Greenberg in 20^th. DNSC had two J3 boys, Charlie Greenberg skied to a 2^nd place finish and Jared Webster placed 17^th. Stan Ott placed 8^th in the J4 Male age class.

The excitement continued on Sunday, as the racers went head to head around a 1km loop in an elimination sprint race. The top 3 skiers in each heat moved on to the next round, until the finals. In the J4 Boys, Stan Ott placed 9^th. Charlie Greenberg sprinted to the line to claim 2^nd place in the J3 Boys, followed by Jared Webster in 14^th. Amy Katz skied to 6^th place finish in the final of J2 girls, followed by Kaylee Blevins in 7^th, Hannah Peterson in 10^th, Lily Oswald in 13^th, and Emma Greenberg in 19^th. In the J2 boys, DNSC skiers Cully Brown and Haakon Sigurslid sprinted to the line in the final, respectively placing 1^st and 2^nd. They were followed by Levi Kurlander in 22^nd, John Rhoades in 24^th, Abe Ott in 27^th, and Gordon Gianniny in 30^th. In the women’s race, ages 16 and up, Alicia Pastore lead DNSC in 5^th place, followed by Rachel Hampton in 6^th, Hannah Madden in 12^th, and DNSC Alumni Elena Breed in 13^th. In the Men’s race, ages 16 and older, DNSC Alumni Tad Elliott lead the way in 4^th, followed closely by Haakon Sameulson in 6^th. Lars Ellefson, a DNSC Alumni placed 8^th, Gino Pastore was 13^th, Sepp Kuss was 15^th, Ben Capelin placed 26^th, and Gunter Ott placed 27^th.

Full results can be found on www.fourcornerstiming.com or www.durangonordic.org.

Durango Nordic Skiers Shine

2010-12-11T18:33:00.001-08:00

After subzero temperatures and whipping snow blizzards, the Durango Nordic Ski Team returned home from training and racing in West Yellowstone during Thanksgiving vacation. They appreciated more snow with warmer temperatures for the first week of on snow training at the Durango Nordic Center. Just five days later, the team repacked and traveled to Frisco, for the season’s first NRL (National Ranking List) race.

The Gold Run Nordic Center welcomed a large field of club, collegiate and citizen Nordic racers to marginal snow and 40 degrees. Five and ten kilometer skate technique events began Saturday morning with J2 and older women (ages 14 to 30 ). J1 skiers AliciaRose Pastore placed 4^th and Hannah Madden followed in 11^th place. Amy Katz placed 3^rdin the J2 women’s class, with Hannah Peterson 9^th, Kaylee Blevins 10^th, Lily Oswald 13^th and Emma Greenberg finishing in 17^th place.

J1 and older men skied the same course but twice for a 10 kilometer race. J1 skiers Gino Pastore crossed the finish line in 2^nd place, and Sepp Kuss in 6^th place. Haakon Samuleson placed 4^th in the men’s OJ field. Durango Nordic Ski Club alumni Tad Elliott and Lars Ellefson finished 2^nd and 21^st, respectively, among senior men. Cully Brown lead DNSC in 2^nd place followed by teammate Haakon Sigurslid in 4th. J3 skier Charlie Greenberg earned gold for the team winning his 3k skate race.

Sunday’s 10K classic technique events started with J1 men. Gino Pastore placed 3^rd and Sepp Kuss 8^th. Haakon Samuleson finished 3^rd in the men’s OJ class. Tad Elliott and Lars Ellefson crossed the finished 11^th and 12^th, respectively. AliciaRose Pastore placed 6^th in the J1 women’s field and Hannah Madden 14^th. J2 boys Cully Brown and Haakon Sigurslid swept the 5k course with Brown 1^st and Sigurslid 2^nd. J2 girls Amy Katz finished 6^th, followed closely by Kaylee Blevins 7^th. Teammates Hannah Peterson placed 12, Lily Oswald 13th and Emma Greenberg 17^th. Charlie Greenberg skied the 3K course placing 3^rd in the J3 boy’s class.

The team’s next race will be this Saturday, December 11^th at 9:00am at the Durango Nordic Center. The classic technique races will offer 1k, 3k, 5k and 10k distances for all interested skiers. Race entries can be paid at the Nordic Center between 8am and 9am on Saturday. They hope to see lots of locals come race and join the fun.

Welcome to West Snowystone

2010-11-24T13:37:00.000-08:00

Noting like heading into a ski camp worried about the amount of snow, and then in the first few days have 2 or 3 feet of snow dump on the town. It's awesome. And that is exactly the case here in West Yellowstone this year. The first 4 days of our trip have been a white out blizzard here in town, with the strong winds and blowing snow just adding to it. The roads in and out of town are blocked by 8ft snow drifts since Monday and have just opened this afternoon (Wednesday). If this all sounds crazy, it is. But the best news of all of this, the skiing here is amazing! All this snow has packed down on the trails and everything is open, including all the roads :)

So, for all purposes of a training camp, we couldn't really ask for better conditions. We've been getting in huge hours each day, and the races that were supposed to start today will now start tomorrow. They were postponed due to cold temps and the race timer is one of the many people who have been stuck in Idaho Falls just waiting for the roads to open again. I can't wait for the racing. Our team is ready. Everyone is skiing really well and training serious.

Here are some pics from this week so far.

How Nordic Has Helped Me - Howard Grotts

2010-07-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

Nordic skiing is easily one of the hardest sports. The mental and physical strength required for the sport is enormous. I learned that shortly after joining the DNSC, even before there was snow on the ground. Coming from an athletic background almost entirely composed of cycling, Nordic skiing seemed very alien to me (I mean, who puts ski boots and roller skis in 80 degree weather?). I wasn't used to the precision or the intensity of the training involved. But now I couldn't imagine not having different intensity training periods or skill specific workouts. I've found it very easy to apply the concepts I learned from Nordic skiing practices to biking. These concepts included having easy and harder weeks of training, technique specific days, and interval workouts.

While all members of the DNSC were very fun people to be around, it was also my first introduction to young athletes who were truly dedicated to their sport. This was exemplified by the seriousness with which they approached their training and the amount of time they devoted to it. I was inspired by their drive to improve, and perhaps more than a little bit humbled when kids 3 or more years younger than I am were beating me. It was hard for me to embrace the sport at first, despite being around people who loved it, and, even now, I very much prefer biking to Nordic. But I have come to appreciate it, if only for the inspiration it gave me to bike at a brand new level.

Howard placed 2nd at US MTB Nationals in the Cross Country (XC) event and was crowned National Champion in the Short Track Cross Country (STXC) event.

Weekend Adventures

2010-07-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend a few of us on the team took some long adventures up in the mountains. Saturday was a bit more eventful with some thunder storm dodging and bumming rides, but nothing can compare to the beauty of Sunday's Island Lake/Ice Lake loop. A few select pics are listed below and you can see them all in the Photo Gallery on our website.

Meadow view from Engineer Saddle on Saturday

More Meadow

Emma and Charlie on Engineer Trail

Thunder Storms rolling in...

Team 'Sweaty Goosebumps' on our way to Island Lake

Island Lake. Gorgeous!

Cutting across the ridge between Island and Ice Lakes

Maybe the best view ever

Ice Lake from a distance

Ice Lakes up close and personal

The Sunday crew

Wildflowers were 'wild'

And the waterfalls were raging

We descended like champs

And crossed streams like Olympians

And ate ice cream like the kids that we are....

REG (part 2)

2010-07-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

We headed out into the Wasatch National Forest for a double pole roller ski on Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. This is one of my favorite workouts from Park City as the road has nice pavement and very little traffic. It slowly climbs at a steady grade out of the town of Kamas and goes deep into the Wasatch towards Mirror Lake. Along the way there are spectacular views of mountains, wild flower fields, rivers, a 6 mile long underground irrigation tunnel (longest man made water cave, I think), waterfalls, and Mirror Lake (which we didn’t get to see). From the coaches, the emphasis for this workout was on ‘high hands’ and ‘explosive power’. But to get to this point, we were also having the athletes work on their forward swing through of the arms and keeping their hands and hips moving together.

Thursday was the big test of the week, but first, Agony Hill TT. Agony is about 1.2 miles long with 1,200 feet of climbing. The start is down in Salt Lake, right behind a medical center. The rest of the trail is obvious. If you are not going straight uphill, you made a wrong turn. The closest thing that we do (that I can think of) is Telegraph TT. Now imagine Telegraph, but replace the field running with more steep uphill. That would be about right. Here are the results:

Boys

Russell Kennedy 15:55
Will Wicherski 15:56
Erik Fagerstrom 15:57
Rogan Brown 16:24
Conor Wallace 16:39
Max Christman 16:39
Austin Meng 16:39
Mike Vigers 16:44
Akeo Maifeld-Carucci 16:57
Tanner Weigand 17:35
Sean Woods 17:37
Ben Westesen 17:41
Johnny Springer 17:42
Henry Austin 17:51
Danny Sundali 17:54
Casey Smith 19:18
Jack Steele 19:35
Alex Hamilton 19:54

Girls

Annie Pokorny 19:34
Jessica Jortberg 19:38
AliciaRose Pastore 20:33
Elena Breed 21:17
Stella Holt 21:21
Katie Gill 21:25
Mikaela Frias 21:47
Anne Miller 22:37
Haley Piske 22:50
Emily Williams 23:09
Kara Baldwin 24:12
Emma Donohoe 24:51

Like I said, now comes the true test of the week. Who can make it up the ‘hump’ on the waterslide at Raging Waters. After Agony Hill Climb TT, we piled into the hot vans for a short trip to the water park. Thursday was the hottest day of the week, with temps reaching into the 90’s, so the water park visit could not have come at a better time. Right away, anyone who knew anything headed straight for the two big slides in the back, one of which is the ‘hump’. The slide goes down a steep drop and then climbs back up high, over a hump, then down another steep before dumping you out into a pool at high speeds. It’s a true test of your waterslide ability because if you are too scared of the big drop at the beginning, you’ll never make it over the ‘hump’, thus forcing you into the walk of shame (exiting the waterslide half way down and having to walk down the stairs the rest of the way to return your slide mat). If my description doesn’t give you the image yet, I think the slide has less than 50% success rate. As we stood in lime, the best thing we could do was make bets on who was going over and who wasn’t. Turns out there is no real science to it.

Friday we were let into the USSA Center of Excellence (COE) for the Canadian style strength test. In order to not overwhelm the Olympic athletes training in the COE (and the COE staff) the group was broken up by gender. The girls went to the COE in the morning, ripped out a bunch of pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, box jumps, and dips. We got a chance to chat with John Farra and Simi Hamilton as they were walking around the floor. My conclusion of the strength: I think there is a lot of room for improvement, but we are not training world champion sit-up-ers (did I just make up that word??), we are training skiers. So far there is no proven research that shows that winning the sit-ups will make you the fastest skier, BUT strength does play a large role in what we do on snow.

Saturday was the big Over Distance (OD) workout. It started with a 1:20 classic roller ski again in the Wasatch National Forest. This time we climbed up route 65 (east canyon?) to the top of the pass. With gorgeous views, we switched from ski boots to running shoes and took off on a long trail run that would eventually take up back down close to Park City. I was running at the front of the pack, helping to ensure that no one made a wrong turn. Ummm…yeah….I should have had a map. Myself and 3 other boys ended up running the wrong ridge and heading towards the wrong phone towers. 10 miles later we were finally convinced that we made a wrong turn, spotted a golf course, made a pick up phone call, and took a straight line for the parking lot. That was cool!

Overall, another awesome REG camp. Hope you all enjoyed the recap.

Western REG (part 1)

2010-06-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

This past week Alicia, Elena, Rogan and I travelled up to Park City for the Western Regional Elite Group (REG) training camp. We were again set up in condos at the base of The Canyons Resort, which I learned was one of the three largest ski resorts in the country. It doesn’t look like much from the base, but as we started running up the mountain for training the first afternoon, once you get over the first ridge the ski trails and peaks of the resort seem endless. So does the winding, climbing single track. The trails were awesome running, but I bet it would also be sweet mountain biking. Just ask Alicia about that.

The second day was when the real training started. We all piled into vans and headed to Soldier Hollow for some roller skiing. If you think those trails are awesome in the winter, try flying down the hills and around corners on roller skis. True, the paved trail aren’t quite the same super fast and crazy down hills that are on the Olympic race course, but when you are buzzing along on narrow strips of pavement, it seems fast enough. And if you ever do get there in the summer to check it out, I have a word of advice. Follow the DO NOT ENTER signs. Myself and two other coaches went early to scope out a good loop that would be safe for the kids to ski, but we inadvertently skied past a do not enter sign and quickly found ourselves hurtling down a twisty hill like an out of control missile. And then we exploded. All three of us, ending up with matching missing patches of skin on our hips and elbows.

When the real athletes showed up and showed us how to ski. We did a 2 hr skate roller ski workout with some speeds and video technique work. With all the chaos of packing 30 skiers plus coaches onto the trails, doing speeds, and skiing on some rocky roads, there was not a single fall or use of a med kit. Good job guys! For the workout we broke down into smaller groups that we would use later in the week to look at the video and discussion about technique.

The afternoon was a pole bounding intensity workout. This was a combination of short fast intervals (15 sec) with a lot of recovery between each one (2 min). On these types of workouts, the rest is important to be sure that our muscles are firing at the top end for each interval. After the explosive stuff, the workout continued with longer (2-3 min) threshold intervals.

Each day we got to wind down with a nice meal from chef Doug and a team meeting to discuss schedule or hear talks from the USST nutritionist or USST member Andy Newell. I’ll post later this week with more from the REG camp.

Happy training!

Finding our Stride

2010-06-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but it is worth mentioning again. It is really important to take some time in the summer and really break down to the basics. We’ve been doing that over the last couple of weeks, starting with a lot of no pole technique work and also some ski walking technique. It all comes from the core (yeah, that’s why it’s called the core). Our core marks our body’s center of mass, so all of our stability is driven from a strong and centered core. If you want to go faster, just move your center of gravity further forward. Duh!

I guess it’s easily said, but what’s going to stop us from falling on our face? Well, on roller skis, not much! Hopefully, our strong core keeps us balanced in the upper body and the lean come from the ankles. Once we get the position, our skis should accelerate on their own and keep up with our falling body. Again, this is what we are striving for.

Same deal when we are ski walking. Or running. Yeah, running is what really got me on this mindset. I’ve been reading a bit about Chi Running in order to help me prepare form Leadville, but the more I read about it, the more I think it relates to skiing. Almost all the key points of Chi Running can be (and usually are) applied to Nordic. Relaxed Shoulders, Stable Core, Forward Lean, Ankle Flexion. Sound familiar? I hope so.

Whoa! Enough about running. Here were the top 5 things learned this week:

Roller Ski silhouette pictures look awesome
Don’t roller ski by Bar-D on Tuesday afternoons
Ski walking feels as weird as my hair
Every roller ski is the ‘best roller ski ever’ when talking to those who were not there
4:30pm IS the hottest time of the day

Euro Mountain Bike Trip

2010-06-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

We are in Champerey and it is unreal! We are surrounded by super beautiful and tall mountains.
It is unreal!! Gino raced today and the rest of us race tomorrow. The course is ridiculous!! Yesterday preriding there were 4 huge crashes in the first 10 minutes. One girl broke her helmet, it sounded like a car crash. I did a huge endo and landed on my head and scraped up my new glasses and my face!! :( Thankfully it was soft ground though because I left a huge head plant which probably saved my helmet. (we have a good pic of it) my neck and back are super sore and stiff, not good.

The experience is really cool because the Rabobank team is staying right next to us. We have kinda made friends with them, haha. It is impossible to explain it here. There is a creek right by us and we went there yesterday. The water is super clear and awesome. Today I also bought about 2 pounds of chocolate (!!!!) so get ready. Haha. The above pic is from our ride today.

Alicia

Burgers and Birthdays! Episode 3

2010-05-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

The title just about says it all. Well, I guess it described what was happening outside of training…on one night. This past Monday a few of us got together to celebrate a certain someone named Hannah’s birthday! It was cool. Now about the stuff that really matters…. (just kidding! Birthdays matter too!)

Our training this week looked a lot like it did the week before, but better. Tuesday we were back on the bike path cruising through town on our roller skis, taking a water break to watch Cully shred some river in his kayak. No tragic crashes or broken hands this week, which is pretty rare on the bike path. Maybe someday all those sketchy sections will be fixed (with pavement please!!). Our main focus was on ankle bend and keeping our weight forward over the ball of our foot, but once it started raining on the way back, a little of that focus went to speed!

Wednesday we just “jumped” around from place to place, speed hiking with heavy med balls, big jumps on steep hills, ball throw relay TTs (I’d say races, but we were really just racing against ourselves), and of course….parkour (the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment).

Saturday was a steamy one. It finally started to feel like summer again, especially the heat. We hit the pavement for a technique focused session, shooting some great video and getting time to analyze it right away. I look forward to more of these workouts over the next few weeks until we really start to get out technique dialed in. Maybe a little less shirt stealing next time. Maybe….

So, you think you can Jump?!?, Episode 2

2010-05-16T19:33:00.001-07:00

Wow, what an interesting week. But super fun. Us Nordic-ers started the week off on a rough…errr…path. Yeah, the bike path. Initially I was nervous, as I was one some super fast and sketchy roller skis as Haakon borrowed mine. But, things started off going pretty well, with a short lived race against some DEVO riders as they cruised by. We took some time at the end of the path to talk about positioning in more depth and check out a groovy new patio. The trip back proved to be a little more interesting with a crash or 3. I seriously though Lily was going to lose a tooth.

Wednesday I decided to try out a new workout that I’ve been thinking about. The goal is to help us increase our explosive strength, leading to better sprinting as well as use of power during distance races. The workout involved steep hills, a lot of jumping, med ball double pole races, sprinting, and tons of fun.

This weekend was an incredible one to be in Durango for. Beyond the roller ski video session, and the fabulous weather, it was also Taste of Durango and dance performances from many current DNSC members. Kaylee, Lily, Mattie, and Maggie along with many other dancers from Durango put on a wicked cool show on Saturday night. For me it was cool to see those guys in a different context, having fun, and putting on a great show!

Here’s looking forward to next week and remember…just two more weeks of school!!

BBQ Smells, Sunburns, and Road Rash; Episode 1

2010-05-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

BBQ smells, sunburns, and road rash. Yep, it must (almost) be summer again. The first week of May and the first week of training for DNSC’s Summer Training Group (STG) are officially over. With 3 weeks of school still left, we’re logging some extra bonus hours over last year’s summer program and looking forward to the payoff next winter. After a month and a half of down time since JNs, I’m psyched to be back training with DNSC and continuing to develop our program.

I know everyone has been active during our hiatus, but I was extremely impressed by the form and fitness that I saw this week. I always this it’s good to go back to the basics at the start of every year, reassess our technique, and start over again; hopefully dropping any bad habits we may have picked up in the past year. From what I saw yesterday, there are only minor corrections to be made before we can start shifting our focus to strength and speed. Wow. I’m excited!

Considering we are only one week in, I don’t have a lot of exciting news to report, but with new and interesting workouts coming up next week, keep posted for some excited stories!

Lanny Barnes - US Olympic Biathlon Team

2010-02-12T09:54:00.001-08:00

Hi,

How are you doing? We finished our camp on Vancouver Island and are now getting ready for the Olympic races! Please see attached pictures of the last week (or visit our website www.twinbiathletes.com). We flew from Vancouver Island to Vancouver and are now in Whistler at the Olympic Village. We had our first training session on the Olympic course yesterday and it happened to be a timed trial (or practice race). I was super psyched with how it went. Skiing is getting faster everyday and I was perfect on the shooting range hitting 10 of 10 targets and shooting both stages (5 shots each) in 23 seconds a piece. It was a good confidence booster and good way to start our last week of training before our first Olympic race on Saturday!
We flew from Vancouver Island to Vancouver on the 6th where we did "processing" at the US Olympic Committee headquarters. We got our credentials, cell phones, and all our clothing for both opening and closing ceremonies as well as podium wear. It is always a fun activity to go through processing with all the teams and athletes. We also had courses on how to deal with the media, security, and scheduling. From there we drove to Whistler's Olympic Village and moved in. It was quite the process getting through security, but the Canadian organizing committee made it as smooth as possible while still making it safe for everyone. Everyone entering and exiting the complex has the go through airport type security as well as having vehicle and bag searches. It is easier and smoother for the athletes, but volunteers and staff get rigorous searches. Security doesn't seem as tight as it was in Torino four years ago, but I'm sure the Secret Service is there, just not as visible. In Torino, we had the SS guys following us around everywhere.
The village is a few kilometers from Whistler and is pretty much separated from everything by several km of trees in every direction. This is mostly for security. They usually have snipers in the trees and hills as well as camera's watching over everything. The village consists of multiple condo units separated and there are usually 2-3 countries per building. Team USA shares a building with Australia. There are also ski jumpers, nordic combined, bobsled, luge, skeleton, cross-country skiing, and of course biathlon are all staying here with us. So far the food is amazingly better than it was in Torino. All of us expected the food to be great in Italy four years ago, but it was not very good. The Italians are some of the best cooks in the world, but we had to leave the Olympic village to get really good Italian food. Luckily the Canadians are doing a great job here and the food is awesome.
NBC stopped by our room the other day and got footage of "the life of an athlete" in our small little rooms. We gave them a quick tour and showed them how we made us of the small space and maximized the space so we still had room to move around and stretch after our training. keep an eye out for that footage. We have a big press conference today a 3pm with media from around the world. This will be our last big press conference before the games start.
Our first race is a sprint race on Saturday at 1pm pacific time. I will let you know when it will be on TV. The forcast is for rain the next five days. Luckily it has been snowing up at the venue. It snowed 6 inches of really wet snow during our training yesterday which made for some interesting conditions. No matter what happens, we are excited to race on saturday and put together a "best ever" performance. As always, thanks again for all your support. Take care and have a great winter.
-Lanny Barnes
US Olympic Biathlon Team

Alaska update - Day 7

2010-01-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

The past few days have seen a lot of action up here in Anchorage. Tuesday was a training day, Wednesday was the distance classic races, Thursday was another training day, and today (Friday) will be the classic sprints.

Wednesday was the last of the distance races at US Nationals. The women stated first with a 20k mass start classic right in the middle of a snowstorm. Liz Stephen and Kikkan Randal took the early lead, pulling along a group of 30 (or so) skiers through their tracks. The race started to break up around 10k when Kikkan started to pick up the pace. Only Holly Brooks was able to match her pace as the two of them broke away from the rest of the group. From that point, Kikkan managed to ski away from Holly during the last kilometer and take the win.

The men raced 30k mass start classic, starting shortly after the women had finished. By the half way mark, Kris Freeman and James Southam were alone off the front, going head to head. Sometime during the 3^rd lap, Freeman had to stop and check his blood sugar, thinking he would be able to catch back up to Southam. Over the rest of the race, Southam stayed in the lead, ultimately winning by over a minute. Tad Elliott had another great race, finishing 7^th overall and again the top U23 skier. Way to go Tad!!

The Juniors skied their 5/10k race in the afternoon. By this time the snow storm had slowed, but the trail had already seen 7 laps of racing from both the Women’s and Men’s field. All the new snow had basically filled in the original double tracks on the race course, plus the other racers had already beat the tracks out of both the uphill and downhill. This race was a good test of ski handling. Rocky Mtn had strong performances in these classic races, with Jessica Jortberg placing 4^th among J1s and AliciaRose Pastore was 8^th. In the boy’s race, Mike Vigers had a great race, also placing 4^th among J1 skiers. Spencer Lacy and Sean Woods also skied strong. From RMN, both Jessica Jortberg and Mike Vigers qualified for the J1 Scando Trip.

On Thursday, we had a training day. With the sprints ahead of us, we decided to head out and ski some different ski trails around Kincaid Park. We headed out on the World Cup loop, a trail that winds up and down a ridgeline just above the ocean. To put it in perspective, the World Cup trail made the 5k race course look flat. We were either ripping down steep, fast descents, or climbing up vertical walls. It was a really really fun trail!

Today we are getting ready to head back out to Kincaid for the last race of US Nationals, the classic sprint. Should be super fun and I hope to have some pictures up from that event.

Alaska Update – Day 5

2010-01-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

US Nationals Skate distance race. For Durango and RMN, the big news of the day is Tad Elliott’s 2^nd place overall finish, just 24 seconds behind Kris Freeman and another 33 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Way to go Tad!!

Both the men’s and women’s races were very exciting. I was fortunate enough to be out on course giving splits. It was awesome to see Tad come flying by, becoming the race leader by over 20 seconds just 3k into the race (this was first lap and before the A seed group had started). After the “A Seed had skied through, only Freeman was able to reach Tad’s speed. This remained the whole race, with Tad skiing in 2^nd place, just off the back of Freeman. There was also many other great races by RMN skiers. Sylvan Ellefson ended up 21^st overall and 4^th U23. Mike Vigers and Spencer Lacy were 78^th and 82 overall, 6^th and 7^th J1’s. It was great to see such high quality racing.

The women’s race was just as exciting. AliciaRose was 5^th out on course, with her and many other J1’s setting a fast early split times. Following the C and B seeds, Kikkan and the other A seed skiers came through, setting new lead times. At the end of a tough race, Alicia skied to 91^st overall, 13^th J1. Other RMN Juniors were Jessica Jortberg, 70^th overall, 8^th J1; Haley Piske, 93^rd overall, 15^th J1; Michaela Frias, 100^th overall, 19^th J1; Mary Rose, 116^th overall; and Molly Newman, 120^th overall.

Today, we are heading back out to test kick and glide in preparation for Wednesday’s classic race. All photos were taken by Rob Whitney, via Fasterski.com.

Alaska Update – Day 3

2010-01-03T08:15:00.001-08:00

Today was the opener for 2010 US National Championships. The women competed in a 1.4km course and the men on a 1.5km course. The women were out of the gate first during the qualifier, with Kikkan Randall putting up a fast time, qualifying over 8 seconds ahead of the rest of the women’s field. DNSC Athlete AliciaRose Pastore had a strong qualifying round, finishing 96^th overall, 18^th J1. She was also the 2^nd junior from RMN.

The women’s rounds went much the same as the qualifying. Kikkan totally dominated each heat, skiing easily to victory in the A Final.

The men’s qualifier was awesome to watch! Former RMN skier (and Middlebury Alum) Simi Hamilton won the qualifier by half a second over Garrott Kuzzy (also a Middlebury Alum). Those two were 5 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. DNSC Alum Tad Elliott skied an awesome qualifier placing 36^th overall and making the U23 sprint heats.

The men’s rounds saw a few crashes, including one in the finish stretch. All the skiers in the top 30 were competitive and no one was able to ski easily into the final. The way the course was set up, starts were very important. If you didn’t come out of the start well, you would have to be content with staying at the back over the top of the big hill. In the final round, Simi got out fast and lead the entire way to the finish, maybe earning himself a spot on the US Olympic Team.

Tad had an awesome U23 A Final, making his move from the middle of the pack on the last small climb, double poling to the inside of the corner at the top of the hill. This set him up for a good position coming into the finish stretch, where he sprinted it out against Dylan McGuffin, winning by a foot throw at the line!!

Full results for the sprints can be found at www.durangonordic.org

I’m looking forward to the 10/15km Freestyle distance race on Monday!

Alaska update - Day 2

2010-01-01T14:37:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post today. We previewed the 10k skate course (two laps of a 5k) and tomorrows sprint course this morning. A thick fog has covered the area all day, spitting out a little news snow. On our way around the 5k loop we skied out of the fog and into a little big of a sunrise. All this around 11am.

Pastore and Jortberg towards the top of a climb during the 10k course preview this morning

10:45am sunrise and a corresponding sundog

Cool view of the frosted trees along the race course

The Alaskan Update, Day 1

2010-01-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

Between all the turbulence, flying at a low altitude, a stopover for fuels, and sitting next to a lady who was flying up to Alaska in order to marry a guy she hasn’t see in over 30 year, you could say it has already been an interesting trip. Due to the above reasons (well, maybe not the lady), our flight landed 2 hrs later than it was supposed to (touchdown at 3:15am) and we got to our hotel by 4am, Alaska time. Phew what a day! It’s true, travel days are NOT rest days.

The good news is that Alicia and I made it here just fine and so did all of our luggage! We opted to sleep in and ski later in the day. We met at 11:45am to head out and find some breakfast and ended up at Snow City Café. If you are ever in Anchorage, I suggest that you eat at least one breakfast there. Go for the B.O.B. (best of both benedicts), I highly recommend it.

After breakfast, we took the scenic route (err…which way to I go??) to Kincaid Park, finally arriving sometime around 2:30. The skiing was incredible! I had heard a lot of talk about all the shoveling that was being done, but if they did shovel, those guys did a great job. Totally race ski conditions and super fast snow. Kincaid park looks (and skis) totally different when it isn’t 30 below zero. Alicia and I had a nice hour of cruising around the many trails that Kincaid Park has to offer. Our initial goal was to head down by the ocean and ski alongside the beach, but I have some problems with directions (ummm…see above driving reference) and soon we ended up many kilometers from where I was expecting to be. Oh well, at least it was a scenic route!

Our next goal (or at least mine) was to track down a moose. The ski trails were littered with tracks and every corned brought a new hope that we might run into one. Unfortunately each time I thought I saw a moose, it turned out to either be a dark stump, or some guys skiing in a brown jacket. After skiing through tunnels, by the biathlon range, back through some more tunnels, and through the cross country stadium, we ended our ski failing both goals. We didn’t make it down to the water’s edge and we didn’t see a moose. Bummer.

THEN…as we crossed the parking lot towards the bunker, right there in the midst of all the wax trailers and Swix banners, were two moose just chomping away on the tree. Success!!

If you like this update, but want more frequency, follow DurangoNordic on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/DurangoNordic.

A race day through the eyes of a coach.

2009-12-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

Crested Butte Colorado. The season opener for Rocky Mtn Nordic Junior Nat Qualifiers. A race day through the eyes of a coach.

Saturday morning, 6:30am I stumbled my way down to the lobby of the Old Town Inn in Crested Butte, Colorado. Finally, race morning. The moment I’ve been waiting 9 months for has arrived. I convince myself it’s ok to eat a cheese danish and drink lots of coffee. I’m going to need all the energy I can get over the next 8 hrs.

6:57am: The team is out the door for our morning run. I think to myself “Everyone else must be excited about racing as they are all early! Very cool!” as I rush out the door to catch up. Well, “very cool” sure was the right thought. I was shocked at the -12 temp as I started to jog down the street. Yep. It sure is winter!

7:30am: Driving to the Nordic center, even though it’s only about a half mile from the hotel proves to be a hefty challenge. The car is so cold it’s hard to start. Good thing Maggie is a good co-pilot, the frost on the window is almost too thick to see through. Ahhh. Seat heaters. So nice.

7:32am: Arrive at the CB Nordic center. Shoot! We’re not the first team there. Vail has already arrived and is waxing skis. Epic fail.

7:45am: All the benches are set up, skis unpacked, irons plugged in. Jeanne is picking up the bibs and Maggie is waxing her skis with start green. Time to go test what we put down for wax yesterday. The course is squeaky cold and almost Alaska slow. This morning it’s not so much about testing what wax is fast, rather testing what wax isn’t horribly slow. Answer: LF4.

8:15am: Coffee break. Currently the fastest wax we have is already down on all the older kids skis.

8:20am: Re-warmed by the coffee; Brent, Maggie, and I start to brush and check over all the older kids skis. A few of the older boys start to wander into the waxing area.

9:45am: The boys (and some girls) are all busy doing speeds to warm up. All the skis have been brushed and are ready to race. Brent and Maggie are heading out to the course to give splits, Jeanne’s on her way to the start/finish stadium, and I’m hanging by the wax bench to check over the younger kids skis as they arrive.

10:00am: Race time! I hear over the radio that the first skier is on course, officially starting the RMN JNQ season. Awesome!

10:01am-12:30pm: The day fly’s by. I get tons of splits over the radio from Brent and Maggie. DNSC athletes are skiing strong and all the fields seem to be tight. Racers are heading up to their start as others are coming down from the finish. Just as soon as it all started, the races are over.

1pm: Pack up the waxing area and head back to the hotel for lunch. We get the wax tables set up at the hotel so the athletes can put down the wax layers for Sunday’s classic race. What a day! I love my job.

2009-12-16T07:34:00.001-08:00

Hello Durango Nordic!

Greetings from Geilo, Norway. I have been busy settling in to the cultural changes and the living. Here are some pictures of the experience thus far. Everybody loves pictures!

Geilo, Norway. One of the Alpine areas at about 15:00, when the sun is setting and the sky turns fiery red when you're lucky.

Male 19/20 Sprint Quarter-Final Sprint race in Sjusjøen, Norway.

Female 19/20 Sprint Quarter-Final Sprint race in Sjusjøen, Norway.

Me doing reconnaissance skiing the day before the 10km Classic race in Sjusjøen, Norway. Great sunset.

Sjusjøen, Norway.

Geilo, Norway.

A tunnel I ski/pass under on my way into town and training.

A fog hangs over the lake in Geilo, Norway. There is a perfect 12km loop around it for distance.

Things are going smoothly. It is great to be around people that are so driven by skiing and how it is just a part of who they are. I've been skiing at least 2-3 times a day. There is a 5km lit loop, so skiing after dinner is great. Plus, there is a lake loop, that is 12km, and takes about an hour or less to ski easy around that is perfect for distance training, it just never gets old. Ski tracks surround the town, so not only is it a great way to train, but a great way to get around. The level of competition is extremely high. Norway goes hard, always. The training is rigorous, but worth it. The food is great, and Hamburgers are a big hit here. There is a bowling lane here so I've been perfecting my technique. Obama's visit here was a huge deal to the people in Oslo and in Norway. Sometimes I feel like I am in America because everyone listens to our mainstream music and watches American movies.

I hope everyone's training is going well. I have a lot of core/medicine ball exercises to show the team, it will make you so fast! Good luck this weekend in Crested Butte!

Skål,
Rogan Brown

8 Days in West Yellowstone:

2009-12-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

The majority of the J2+ skiers and I just finished am 8 day training camp in West Yellowstone, MT. Here’s a brief recap of how it all went down.

Whoever thought it would be a great idea to stick 12 junior Nordic skiers plus a coach in a condo that is meant to sleep 8 would be a good idea? Well, it was. Sure, our space might have been a bit cramped, especially around lunch and dinner time when 8 Crested Butte athletes would show up to scrounge for food, but it all worked out well enough. The main goal of our 8 days spent in West Yellowstone was time on skis, and of that we got plenty. Over 20hrs of training, plus up to 3 races and still no one wanted to go to bed early by the end of the week. I’m not sure where all the energy came from, but heck, it was contagious!

From the coaching aspect, our team more than accomplished their goals.

Ski Related Goal:

1. Lots of volume training

2. Technique work, especially in classic

3. Intervals to get used to absolutely flying over snow

4. And racing. That’s what we do.

General Goals

1. DNSC Team bonding

2. Learning all the words to “Big Green Tractor”

3. Official forming of South West Colorado Nordic Alliance

The skiing goals were easy. “We are here to ski, that’s what we are going to do” was a quote often heard within our cabin. The level of commitment to the “plan” often amazes me. Of course it didn’t hurt that we had totally amazing ski conditions for the whole week of our trip. Every practice we were able to walk right out the door of our condo, put on our skis and ski down the middle of the road for about 5 minutes to the main trail head of the Rendezvous Trail System. From that trail head we had over 30km of groomed and classic tracked ski trails at our disposal. It’s great to have that type of terrain to choose from when doing a 3 hour distance ski.

Outside of all the distance training, we were also able to mix in some racing. The SuperTour series was in town so West Yellowstone was host to a Classic Sprint Qualifier, 10/15k Skate, and 5/10k Classic. These races were a great opportunity for athletes on our team to go head to head with some of the best skiers in the country, both juniors and seniors. The US Ski team was in attendance, as were many professional and college ski teams. There were also many junior teams from within our region there for training and racing. Early season races are always good because it reminds us all (yes, coaches too) what it’s all about. Over the summer we forget how to wax skis and ski fast, so this series was a great “wake up call” for all of us. Race #1, classic sprint: after waxing late into the night, I woke up early to head to the race venue to test kick wax. After getting everything all set up, it finally dawned on me why I was feeling that I was forgetting something. Yep, left all my test skis back at the wax room. Very smooth. From the racers point of view, everything was great! Alicia, Hannah, Gino, Sepp, and Haakon all raced their first 10km, and all of our healthy/non-injured athletes were able to race at least one. Success.

I’m not saying it was all smooth sailing. We had a clothes fire (no, you should not dry ski clothes over a lamp), couch fires (heat guns are hot, even after you turn them off), and an overflowing dishwasher (dish soap and dishwasher detergent are two different things). Lucky for us, with all the parents cooking food and bringing it over at dinner time, there were no kitchen fires.

More to come….

2009-11-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

Winter is almost here! And the team leaves for west yellowstone in 5 days!!! yeah!

Last weekend Molas pass was hit with about 18" of snow and it was incredible. Can't wait for snow in town.

Durango Nordic has had an excellent fall of training and preperation. Watch out! We have had great weather and as usual great training opportunities. From the TT's to the "epic" hikes everyone has put in a great effort.... let's see where it takes everyone this winter.

Make sure to check the website - durangonordic.org for results on our tt's from this fall.

As well as all the training we have helped out with building a couple new trails at the Nordic Center. One is north of Boyce lake, and the other is north of North Loop. It will be great to have some extra terrain to ski.

Well hopefully you here from us in West Yellowstone!!! Everyone cannot wait!

Think Snow!

Mtn Bike Worlds Race Recap from Tad Elliott

2009-09-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

I was riding well I started dead last out of 70 riders and moved up ok. 48th on the first lap. I moved up to a group of 30th through 25th. Felt strong my 4th and 5th lap. My times on those laps were 19th and 18th fastest laps. It was hard having dudes bobble in front of you and get gaped off the pack. I cracked hard with half a lap to go only 10 minutes to go and I went from 30th to 36th. Just spent to many matches during the race. If only I could have better UCI points and gotten a better call up at the start. Damn.

Went on a ride today saw a blue and red Parrot saw a Kangaroo jump a fence and petted a mini horse on the bike path all in ten minutes. Pretty cool. Eating a Steak dinner tonight at the hotel. Kangaroo steak that is. Should be cool. The Ausies hate the meat here for some reason. I watched all the four cross last night and that was really cool.

Also, Todd Wells was 8th. Congrats to both Tad and Todd.

More from Tad Elliott at World Championships

2009-09-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

Things here are looking good. I broke my race shoes, went to my back up pair and then was able to repair my favorite race shoes. My knee is sore from the new position on the shoes but Bernard is here on will dial me in for the race. For the hammer head section on the course. I am going around the easier safier way which may be two seconds slower. Also going around is US National Champ, Jeremy Hogan-Kobelski, Colin Cares, World Cup leader Wolfram, and the Junior Women are riding it. Sketchy! Rob Squires crashed super hard there today and hurt himself. He is OK to race but he is sore. Man, still no Kangaroo sightings. I Saw a mini horse but no Kangaroos. I guess I repel them. Todd Wells is staying at our hotel. So is Bury Stander, and Christof Sauser. Pretty cool to see them eating breakfast with us each morning. The Ausie people are super nice. They have been helping us out a lot. Also they come over and talk to us about our bikes and travel and America. It's pretty rad. When I talk, people instantly know where I am from. I am resting up well and hope things will go OK. I start at the back so hopefully I can move up well. Weather should be good and cold. temperature will be around 60 degrees. Should be nice for racing.

you can go to cyclingnews.com to check out photos from the race course they are pretty rad.

World Championships for Mountain Biking

2009-09-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Tad Elliott is at the World Championships for Mountain Biking on the USA Team racing in the U23 class in Canberra, Australia. Tad is a product of the Durango Nordic Ski Club, Rocky Mountain Nordic and the Durango DEVO Club. He left last Friday and I believe he will race this Friday or Saturday. Canberra is 14 hours ahead of Colorado. Todd Wells from Durango is also there. Here is a little blurb from his trip so far:

Flight went well, economy plus on the isle with no one next to me. I slept for 7:30 hours straight no sleeping pill. Woke up ate some food then took another 1:30 nap. I had so much food I did not even eat the airplane food. Very Nice. Course is good with a lot of single track and tons of option lines with jumps over ditches, drops, and fun stuff. It is a lot like Colorado trails. I hope to do well. Colin Cares and I are roommates. Hotel room is so swank. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, big flat screen TV, movie channels, two bathrooms and showers, plus our own laundry. So nice. Food set up is rad. Walk downstairs and there is 4 star restaurant preparing our meals. We see tons of Cockatiels and Parrots flying around, Kangaroo dead on the side of the road, I have not seen a live one yet but I hope to soon. It is very cold and windy here. Thermal stuff like spring in Colorado. Talk to you more when there is something cool to report.

New Race Suit, Take 3 (final round)

2009-08-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

Hey Skiers. Final round of voting on the new suit design. Here are the top three choices:

Option#1

Option #2

Option #3

Email your votes to joshdalley@gmail.com

New Race Suit Take 2!

2009-07-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've gotten a few more suggestions from skiers and parents. I think the best way to do this is to post all the designs on the blog (below) and everyone email me what design you think is best. I'll tally the replys and we'll see where that goes. So, vote away!

#1 (above)

New Race Suit??

2009-07-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this on the blog for all your to check out. Below is a standard design ski suit made by Podium Wear. Like it? Let me know. Don't care for it? Design your own on their website (http://mtborahcustom.com/index.asp?pageID=customdesign&Product=NordicSkiing) and send me the result.

Finishing up at REG

2009-06-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

We’re wrapping things up here in Park City. Today was the last day of official training for the REG and as far as things go, it was pretty epic. Today’s workout started out with a classic roller ski up Emigration Canyon, about five miles of climbing to the summit. At the top everyone changed into running shoes for a 2hr high ridge run down to Parleys Summit. I think the kids managed to find every bit of mud along the way!

Leading up to this morning Over Distance workout, we took yesterday pretty easy, starting off with an explosive bounding workout. The REG kids were joined by some USST members. Check out the pictures of Noah, Rogan, and Alicia killing it below.

Thursday was cool, with some early morning skate roller skiing back at SoHo for a distance workout and some video and technique sessions.

BUT, I think Wednesday was the most fun. Hands down. That morning was Agony TT, which is a hill climb just outside of SLC. The trail climbs 1327ft over 1.08 miles (credit GPS watch). Anyway you look at it, the climb was a leg burner! After Agony, all the fun begun. We bussed it down to Raging Waters Water Park for some fun in the sun. The highlight was ‘King on the Tube’, where if you didn’t nearly drown or get kicked in the face, you weren’t trying hard enough. Three days later and I’m still sore…

Update from REG

2009-06-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

REG is off to a great start here in Park City. REG is a weeklong training camp for elite junior skiers from the western region. After a recovery run and team meeting on Sunday afternoon/evening, the training really got underway yesterday morning with level three skate roller ski intervals at Soldier Hollow. As always, the main focus is on body position: mainly achieving the correct hip position and proper ankle flex. Doing level three intervals gives everyone a chance to focus on their race technique in addition to getting in a great aerobic workout. After completing the intervals on the access road to the ski center, we headed out to the trails for our cool down. Wow is it great to have paved (and swept) ski trails at our disposal.The workout was a huge success and we coaches even got a chance to grab some video footage to review later this week. Day one was finished off with an easy recovery trail run along some rolling trails with views of the Olympic Jumps and Bobsled track.

Today was day two and we again woke up to blue bird skies and headed out for a classic roller ski on the Mirror Lake Highway. My van was rocking out to Queen and Rod Stewart on the drive out to the start of the ski. Today’s focus was on double poling, as the road was mostly flat or gradual uphill. USST coach Pat Casey came by last night to show some video and demonstrate exactly what we were to focus on during today’s ski. The answer: body position. We were to focus on bringing the hips and hands forward together, getting the hands up high in front of our face, then exploding down with a hard crunch (punishing the pavement)! The ski session ended at the base of a waterfall, but no kayakers today. This afternoon we are heading down to do strength at USSA’s Center of Excellence.

The big excitement is about tomorrow. Early in the morning is Agony Hill Climb, followed immediately by a trip to a water park. Look for some more updates to come!

Tad Elliott on Houffalize World Cup Race

2009-05-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

Houffalize was awesome for me. The town is so sick. It is really small with stone buildings cobble stone streets. We stayed in a small hotel 10k away from the venue. I got my own room because I snore and keep everyone else up. I am not complaining. The elderly Belgium couple cooked all of the meals for us, and it was to order, so we ate well. The course was rad, we started right in town and went up a road climb and then jumped onto the course. The road climb is in Leige Bastone Leige and is 14 percent and about 3 minutes long. There was still paint on the road cheering on Frank and Andy Schlek. The course was long at about 25 minutes per lap with some longer climbs, technical rocky single track climbs, and steep rough descents. I liked it, and hoped it was a chance for me to make it all the way through the race without being lapped. My start number was 107, but the UCI implemented an "Insert rule" where they could insert riders they deemed fit to start higher up in the call up. I was one of these riders. I was called up 68th out of 230 riders. Before Jeremy Horgan Kebelski. No rhyme or reason just the UCI thought I could do well or something. I didn't ask too many questions. The start climb was again CRAZY. I was staying in position and even started to move up a bit. I even caught up to Sam Schultz. Then I had some Euro take me out. I was riding strong and I was around top 80 going into fourth lap and in the middle of the fourth out of five laps I started to go under. The fifth lap I went under major. Both quads, calves, triceps, and forearms started to cramp. I took in a lot of fluids, but I approached the race as a four lap race and wanted to be able to finish and not get lapped, I accomplished this goal, but only if I could have held on. I ended up 114. I raced the whole time, never tried to recover, and was always looking for speed, until 20 minutes to go. I ended up being the second American in the race. JHK crashed out Todd did not start; Sam Shutlz had a rough day. I passed him on lap three. So I was riding really strong which feels good over here.

There were 30,000 fans. All crazy about cycling and you can hear them roar all around the course when the leaders come through. When I came by it was pretty silent. Some fans love the US and I got some good cheers. On the last lap I was hurting up the climbs and I think they could tell, so the cheers picked up and were pretty loud. In lap 2 and 3 I was riding with the U23 world cyclocross champion and 2nd place finisher in Cyclocross Worlds last year from Netherlands. Holy cow were the fans going crazy when he came by. In the lap we rode through town and it was hard to breath with all the grill smoke, cigarette smoke. The weather during the race was different. The warm up was cold. The race started cold, then it rained, then it got really hot and sunny. Europe Weather?

Rob, Was 146. He blew his rear shock in the race, flatted, messed up his shifting somehow and he got pulled with one lap to go. In the pre-ride Ethan Gilmore’s tire was defective and rolled off the rim. He crashed hard, which swung his bars around sending his stem into his top tube on the carbon frame. The stem hit the frame so hard it broke. Ethan was ok but his bike was done. He ended up having to ride Marc G's Large epic instead of a medium frame. He had a hard day and got pulled with two to go. Adam Craig learned that Ethan needed a new bike and offered Ethan either one of his race bikes. Hard Tail or Full suspension. His quote "Choose your poison." That is crazy nice of Adam. Ethan stayed on Specialized to not get Marc in trouble with sponsors, even though Adams bikes would have fit him better. That is all from here.

2009 Junior Nationals

2009-03-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

After two days of travelling, covering enough miles officially classify this trip as a ‘road trip’, we (CB and Durango) pulled into the parking lot of our home for the week, the Boreal Inn. Shortly after arriving, we got out for a short run in order to stretch our legs and get a lay of the land. The location of the hotel is perfect. While all the other divisions have to stay down the pass in Truckee, the RMN skiers and coaches are housed right at the race site. This will infinitely simplify the logistics for the week. The stadium for the 2009 Junior Nationals is only located a short 500 meters from our hotel front door, with the base lodge of Boreal Ridge (where we eat our meals) half way in between. Shortly after we settled in to our rooms, the remainder of the RMN skiers arrived from the Sacramento airport, marking the official start of Junior Nationals for the complete RMN team. Game time.

Saturday and Sunday we broke up into age groups and previewed the race courses, talked some strategy, and prepared for Monday’s sprint races. Oh yeah, and we marveled at how much snow is on the ground out here!

On the morning of the sprint, the RMN skiers were ready to lay down some speed. Everyone was focused on the job at hand and they ripped it up! We qualified 17 skiers for the heats and ended up with multiple top 10 finishes. Lars, Gino, and Alicia were the 3 skiers from Durango to move on into the rounds. Be sure to check out the full results on http://www.durangonordic.org/Results/results.htm.

Today was another training day and once again we broke into age groups and previewed the distance skate course one last time before tomorrow’s mass start race. The 5k loop that the J2 boys and all girls will be skiing is a tough course without a lot of rest. The climbs are short and steep, but typically followed by a log gradual uphill grind. This is where we are going to ski fast. There are no long downs that those lower elevation dwellers can catch their breath on, so our plan is to make them suffer: to push the pace on the transitions to eliminate any chance for the group to rest.

Tomorrow is going to be a good day for RMN skiers, I can feel it in the thin air….

Succes at SoHo!

2009-02-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

January 30th and 31st - Western JN Super Qualifier, Soldier Hollow Utah.

A great weekend for Durango Nordic! 28 skiers represented.

Notable results:

Stephanie Ogier - 1st place J3 female (3km freestyle)
Hannah Madden - 5th place J2 female (both days)
Rogan Brown - 6th overall 1st J1 male (15km freestyle)
Charlie Greenburg - 1st and 2nd overall J4 male
Mallory Byrd - 2nd J4 female
Hakkon Sigurslid - 2nd and 3rd overall J3 male

These are just a few of the great results Durango had!
For full results and more photos go to www.durangonordic.org

Thanks so much to the Coaches and Parents of DNSC!
We had great skis, plus they kept everything well organized, and us ready to race.

Dense fog and cool temps in the morning broke away to beautiful sunshine in the afternoon.

Soldier Hollow put on a great race weekend. Excellent timing, grooming, and organization make this race one we can't wait to go back to next year!

Thanks to Jeanne Pastore for the great pictures -

Email from Tad - U23 Worlds

2009-01-27T12:37:00.000-08:00

Things here are going well here in France. I feel like I did before Owl Creek Super Tour Race. I am now resting and trying to stay healthy and get ready for the races on Thursday and Friday. Thursday is the 15km freestyle race and Saturday is the 30km Ski-Athon. The race is a mass start and the15km classic technique is first and then 15km freestyle technique. I am happy the juniors are here now for the Junior World Championships.

The race organizers groomed the skate course today. Holly cow is it hard. The course is either going up or going down. It is pretty sick. I really like it. The start is way steeper than the last hill into the Nordic Center. Got to keep it chill going up there. One hill on the course is like going from Boyce Lake up to the top of the North Loop but the climb is 300 meter longer.

Getting to know the Canadian Team. The guys team is cool. The girls team is really nice and they are fast.

Good luck in the Super Qualifier in Soldier Hollow. I kind of wish I was there. Well I am off the eat now. They fed us steak for lunch. It was awesome. I will talk to you soon.

TAD

First Race in Norway

2009-01-26T06:45:00.000-08:00

So we had our first race of the trip yesterday, which was really eventful. It is really something to be at the start and not having any clue to what is going on, and what people were saying to me. I was the first older skier out so I had nobody to follow. I arrived in the starting area and got to hear the whole race instructions in Norwegian. If there was not a clock telling me when to go I would have had a much delayed start.

The course was in a unusual layout. We first skied a 3km loop and then came through the start and finish and skied a 2km loop, there were a lot of really big hills.

During the awards ceremony the announcer tried to call up all of the Americans and get us all on to the podium. This took about 5 minutes because his English vocab consisted of only a few words. Once we were all up there he gave all of us these small glass bowls and a thanks for coming to the race, and welcomed us to Norway.

Today we went and watched ski jumping that was really, really cool. Here are some pictures.

2009-01-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

Hi guys here are some pictures of Norway.

An email from Tad

2009-01-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

So great flight over. Watched the new Kevin Costner movie on the big touch screen in front of me. It sucked. I ate dinner slept for 5 hours straight then ate breakfast. Very Nice. Staying in a room with Noah Hoffman. Its a nice room small with a kitchenette. It has bunk beds and they are so narrow a sleeping bag zipped up would hang over the edges. I might just sleep on the floor.
The hotel is crazy good food. Four course meals and at the end of the first night six different cheeses, around a pound each, with bread to go with them. It was awesome. Coffee is not so good. Good thing I have my French press. Pat Casey (US Ski Team Coach) already hit it up with me. He hates bad coffee but likes mine. So that means I Should have some fast skate skis. He also looked at my training plan and liked it.

The town is small but we are stayin thirty meters from the stadium. So that is nice. Salomon International is here so new boots and skis coming my way once they get here, just got the email about it. Very Nice. "Rocket Skate skis" they said they are fast, but I will use my white ones. Reminds me of skiing in CO here. Cold snow and mountains surrounding us on every side. The skate course is really hard. There is a climb that would be like skiing from Boyce lake up to the top of the North Loop but this climp is about 300 meters longer. Awesome for me. Snow should stay pretty consistent too. The Russians are staying with us and so are the Finns, Canadians, and maybe the Swedes. Russians not so friendly, Finns crazy friendly. The area really is like Durango. Hard hills and downhills not really flat ever. Pat Casey and I get along great and he even skied WITH ME today, he commented on how I was the only one he has skied with lately that has gone the proper speed. Every one else way to hard. Even US skiers. Feeling good and ready. Everyone else is doing these long day trips. They would be fun but I have been keeping it chill. I will email you later with how my training is going. Should be a good time.

Norway

2009-01-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

After over 24 hours of traveling and hardly any sleep, I finally arrived in Norway. My trip here was interesting. From New Jersey to Norway about two thirds of the passengers did not show up leaving 99% of the people with a whole row to themselves. It was better than first class! We were able to lay down completely, that was really comfortable.

Once we arrived in Oslo we had to wait about three hours for Dan to show up, we passed our time by having luggage cart races and listening to Norwegian music. Once we finally stuffed ourselves and the luggage in to two vans, we where off. What should have been a 2 hour drive ended up being more like a 4 hour drive.

We did learn one thing however; there are two ways to get to Lillehammer: the scenic way and the fast way. Due to none of the signs being in English we got to experience both! At all the stops we made trying to find directions, we realized that the people here are obsessed with hot dogs. They are everywhere, in a variety of different styles!

Now that we are finally here we are trying to stay awake till 9:30 pm with no naps to make our time adjustment easier, only two more hours left! I have a good feeling that I am going to sleep like a baby. I can hardly keep my eyes open.

Our hotel is very Euro. All of the rooms are stuffed together like sardines. The doors are about three feet wide, and so are our beds. The funny thing is that our room's bathroom is about the size of our room itself! The hotel is right next to the ski jump, at night it gets all lit up and looks really cool. The Nordic trail passes right by the base of it, we will test that out tomorrow.

Good luck in the Tour De Ski!

Alicia

2009-01-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

Well back in Durango, enjoying beautiful Colorado weather...

Wow nationals was quite an experience! We ended up racing twice out of the 4 races scheduled.
Each Day seemed to repeat the one before, temps hovered in the -10 range. It was cold!
Skiing at Kincaid Park was Awesome, great scenery, the occasional moose, and glimpses of Mount McKinley made for spectacular skiing (besides the cold weather which we all seemed to acclimate to)

COLD as you can see.

My week started off on a bad note, having my race skis and poles broke by the airlines. Bummer. Thanks to the Fischer Rep. I was able to get some extra skis.

The next few days were filled with training and figuring out how to stay warm well still being able to move. Saturday's sprint races got pushed to Sunday, and then Sunday they got put on hold till later in the week.

Monday came and the freestyle race was on! My race was not exactly what I was looking for, and it being the only race that ended up counting I was sorta bummed.... oh well
Durango had some great racing, especially by Tad taking 9th overall, and Alicia racing up as a J1 in 64th overall..... Tad ended up being named to the U-23 World Championship team, and Alicia to the J1 Scando trip

Tad Ripping it up!

The Tuesday and Wednesday races were postponed or canceled. With our flight departing Thursday at 1 a.m. it seemed our Nationals trip was over.... but as we were loading up the last of the waxing equipment, we got the call that our flight had been canceled due to no flight crew!? And it sounded like the next available flight was not till Saturday morning! So back to the hotel.
We ended up getting a flight for Friday morning, and since we were around we all started preparing for the sprint race Thursday.

Thursday morning warmed up just enough and the sprint race was on!!
I failed to make the heats but still had a decent qualifier finishing 41st in U-23 and JR field.
The wind picked up all day and by the time the heats started it was a freezing wind chill.
Alicia and Tad made the rounds, so the rest of the team and I braved the cold to cheer them on.

After everything had been repacked, we headed to Gwenny's family restaurant with $160 in airline vouchers! All you can eat ribs were the special and boy were they good! Somewhat of an eating contest followed and it seemed Tad had eaten the most ribs. Stuffed and ready for some more fun we headed over to the local lanes to try are hand at bowling.... Josh was the #1 bowler and was laying down quite a few strikes! I on the other hand, probably should have been bumper bowling! good fun.

Off to the airport, flights were on time and we made it back to Durango around 4 p.m. on Friday

This next weekend Durango Nordic will be up in Aspen for the Owl Creek Chase and JOQ events.....

Till next time

Lars

In Alaska for US Nationals

2009-01-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

So far the major news is the weather. It's cold. We were all hoping that the sprint races would be a go today so the rest of the week would stay on schedule, but good old Mother Nature had second thoughts. With the temps only rising up to -7F the race orgainizers had to postpone the race until tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for warmer weather in the near future!