Distance Nationals- The 30 and 50

The 15k/30k pursuit race on Friday was a real eye-opener into the world of long distance races for both Sam and Corinne, neither of whom had ever raced anything that long before.  In the women's race, Corinne skied a smart classic leg, focusing on staying relaxed and smooth so she could really put the hurt on during the skate leg.  After changing skis she passed some more girls in front of her who went out too hard and ended up the 4th junior in the event; a very solid performance overall.  Sam, who before the race had never raced more than 15k, also looked very relaxed during the classic leg and was right in the mix of juniors, however he was skiing on his "warm" skis for the skate portion due to a travel mishap with his "cold" skis, and he ended up with extremely slow skis for the whole 15k skate leg.  Despite the result, it was still a decent race for him, as he had a strong finish and definitely didn't blow up at any point, which is the goal for anyone's first real distance race.  

Sunday's race then topped the pursuit for the title of "longest race ever" for both the athletes.  In addition, the one 5k lap and six 7.5k laps were on the hardest course I've ever seen for a 50k race- just barely under the FIS limit for climbing meters per kilometer.  Corinne was definitely tired from the 15k still, and although she skied well, she dropped off a pack of girls early in the race and skied alone for the next 25k, which is no easy feat.  Sam also ended up skiing alone most of the time, but he was skiing his own race and didn't bonk, while at the same time passing a few guys who for most of the race were almost 10 minutes ahead until they lost steam.  It was still an exhausting ordeal, as anyone who has skied a 50k knows, but the degree of difficulty on this course made it even worse.  Needless to say none of us had any trouble falling asleep on any of our flights yesterday.  

Thanks once again to John Estel and the amazing volunteer crew who worked without rest all week to put these races on, it was a great race series to end the season on a high note!

I'll also post pictures from the distance races as soon as possible, I was busy waxing so I put my dad in charge of the documentation, now I'm just waiting to see them!

US Distance Nationals

Even though it is almost April, it's not common to see wax testers skiing around in T-shirts in Fairbanks Alaska.  The daily highs have been almost 30 degrees, although the snow is still squeaky cold enough that we are still racing on the coldest waxes we can find.  The 5/10k Classic race a few days ago was Sam and Corinne's first race effort since leaving altitude at JOs and it was definitely a good warm up race for the week which keeps getting more intense from here on out.  Sam actually skied really well in the 10k, beating many elite team members and other good skiers his age, while Corinne skied well but a little conservatively for a 5k back at sea level.  It can be really easy for skiers to come down from altitude thinking they can hammer the whole race, only to blow up before the end, so I was happy that she played it a little safe- especially considering the long team sprint a day later, the 15k pursuit today, and the 30k classic on Sunday!  The team sprint on Wednesday was a super twisty 1.5k loop that the racers did 3 times.  Corinne and her partner, APU's Kate Fitsgerald, made it into the top 5 of their semi-final and advanced to the final where they got to ski with the big shots like Kikkan Randall, Morgan Smyth, Liz Stephen, and Morgan Arritola.  They ended up 9th overall, which was a great result for such a young team.  Corinne was definitely feeling the burn after around 10ks of sprinting, so we will see how she fares today in the 15k!  This will be the longest race Corinne and Sam have ever competed in, so it will definitely be a learning experience, but I'm also confident that they are both in prime condition for this level of race right now.  I'm headed up to the venue to test skis with Sun Valley SEF's Travis Jones, who we have been teamed up with for wax all week, and it is snowing outside this morning, so I'll upload some pictures from the team sprint and fill you in on todays race soon!

Thanks to John Estel and the entire Fairbanks volunteer crew for putting on such high quality and well organized races this week!! 

A big day for New England, winning most of the relays and the Alaska Cup!!

Unfortunately in California, "High Speed Internet" apparently means "dialup".. so the short story is that New England rocked it today and the Burkies definitely left their mark (1st place OJ boys relay anyone?) and there are lots of great pictures to go along with the story but they won't load so I'll get plenty of them up as soon as possible.  For now I've been at least able to put up a glam shot of the entire team.  

Truckee: The mass start skate

Due to poor internet service at the hotel this week, the blog has been somewhat neglected so far but I'm still trying to at least get pictures up and maybe a little blurb about the day when possible.  The conditions were perfect for racing- hard packed powder that stayed firm throughout the day despite the rising temperatures.  The mass starts were a little messy at times, lots of broken poles and tripped up High Plains skiers, but the wide trails were perfect for racing.  Corinne was the top New England J1 of the day, ending up in 8th place after face-planting 10m from the finish.  In the OJ boys race, after the first lap Sam was in the lead pack along with Midd skiers Graham Egan and Chase Marston, while Lucas was skiing conservatively in the top 30.  After they disappeared for the second 7.5k lap we kept getting radio reports of New England skiers moving up and ahead of the other skiers until they finally came back into the stadium for the last 150 meters.  Chase had a 2 second lead on Graham and a Rocky Mtn kid, and Sam soared into 6th place after a fall 1k from the finish.  The East in general had a pretty good day, although the Classic race tomorrow is really our strength.  

Mass start skate tomorrow... pictures from the week so far

JOs in Truckee: The first two days

As promised, the sun has been beating down on us since we got to Truckee late Friday night, the snow is deep, and the trails are perfectly groomed.  The only problem is that we can't ski very hard or very long the first couple days out here while the low-landers acclimatize to the increased UVs and decreased oxygen intake.  The hardest part of the trip for me so far has been the drive up Donner Pass to the Auburn Ski Club while looking out at the barely touched powder and epic lines that I won't have time to ski while we are here.  Fortunately its possible to hop off of the edge of the nordic trails at almost any point on the race course to ski some powder down to a lower part of the course.  

Tomorrow morning is the skate sprint race which will most of the athlete's first chance to prove that the altitude isn't going to slow the East down this year.  The course is a quick 0.9k course that leaves the stadium, flows down and up over one roller and then down again around a sharp curve before one last steep climb into the finish.  The internet is pretty unreliable here, but I'll be taking pictures and posting them as soon as we're back from the venue.  Stay tuned.