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!

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!! 

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.