Birkebeiner

by David Chamberlain

I have been traveling alot lately. Currently I am in the midwest waiting for the Birkebeiner this weekend, but this is not the first time I have been to the midwest in the last few weeks. After nationals I came out here for the midwest Supertour races in Mt. Itasca and Telemark. Afterwards I returned east for more Supertour action in Rumford and Stowe, only to get back on a plane to return to the midwest for the Madison sprints.

Madison was terrific. Colin, Nicole and I were given a room at the Concourse, just a few steps from Capitol Square. Colin and I teamed up for the sprint relays and had a good weekend, taking 2nd place both days. This was the first time racing in the sprints, what a weekend. It is not often that we get to do races in a cosmopolitan place like a major state capitol. I wish we could do that more often.

Right now we are enjoying the awesome hospitality of Dennis Kruse in Cable. We have been here a few days, training, eating, sleeping, in other words getting ready fora 50k at the end of the week. Get ready for Birke fever!

Madison to Cable

By Nicole De Yong

I am currently in Cable, Wisconsin awaiting and preparing for the infamous Birkie! I traveled to Madison, Wisconsin this past weekend to participate in the Madison Square Sprints. I partnered up with Kristina Strandberg and we claimed first place in the skate sprint relay and second place in the classic sprint relay. It was fun to race in the middle of the city and to have people from the community watch the race and be involved with the other winter activities going on. Despite little snow in the Madison, they did a great job trucking snow in and organizing the race!

We are five days away from the Birkie and butterflies are already beginning to surface. Last year was my first full 52k Birkie experience, as well as my first 50k race ever! I ended up 4th overall, just 2 seconds from 2nd. I am positive it will be another close race this year and that the sprint to the finish will determine the podium…I hope to be right in there!

I will keep you posted on how everything pans out!

Until then, cheers!

SuperTour Victory!

By Colin Rodgers

I have had a great time coming back to the East Coast! I flew into Manchester, NH from Madison, WI on Monday night. My bro picked me up at the airport and we crashed at my grandparents place before traveling up to Rumford, ME on Tuesday. The weather has been stable and cold and there is great snow everywhere I have been! It is quite a treat to be back in New England when the skiing is so spectacular.

Wednesday was the last Super Tour sprint of the season. One of my goals now for the past two years has been to get a sprint victory. I have known for awhile I was capable, but things never quite lined up. Wednesday they did. I skied smooth and relaxed and did not rush anything. I did not lead every heat but managed to cross the line first every time. It felt great to have a win especially with my brother there waxing my skis and a lot of other great friends and teammates there to take part in the day. Chambo finished right behind me as well and Brayt was 4th so it was a solid performance for the Fischer Craft trio! Doug Debold of Middlebury also had one of his strongest performances ever and got in there for 3rd. Congrats to him. (Doug is also a Fischer guy).

Whirlwind

By Colin Rodgers

Well, I am in the thick of it now. Race season is on. I know this because I never find myself in one place for more than a week. Whether it is at a race venue or at home I am constantly preparing to get to the next race. Living like a nomadic ski racer is never dull. There are always friends to catch up with that you have not seen in awhile and then there is the familiar crew of athletes that tries to make it from race to race on the SuperTour circuit, not quite knowing how they are going to get there or where they are going to stay when they do. Thanks to a supportive US XC ski community it always seems to work out.

Since the racing season began in November I have been on the road for approximately a month at a time and then back in Ketchum, Idaho for an off-racing week. One week is just enough time to recuperate a bit and put in some good training before putting in the next push for a race series.

This last month was an exciting one! I spent a long time in Alaska getting ready to race fast for US Nationals. We got to do some racing, but not as much as I had hoped. I think most people heard how cold it was up there, but not much about how hard the organizers and volunteers worked to salvage some of the 2009 National Championships. They did a great job despite the unfavorable weather. I was thankful we just got to race and glad they were able to pull off a sprint!

The US National Championship sprint was not my best performance ever, but it was solid. I definitely faded in the A final which was disappointing, but the rest of the day was relatively encouraging. More than anything I was fired up to be named to the nations group to represent the US at the pre-Olympic World Cups in Whistler. This was a big goal of mine and achieving it was a huge motivator.

Once I arrived in Whistler I knew it was time to perform. I would say that I had good focus and was confident I could fight for a top 30 result. I knew it was going to be a battle to get into the heats, but I never stopped believing it was possible. When I was right on the edge it was hard to believe, but I snuck in there. I have got to admit scoring my first World Cup points was a pretty sweet feeling! I hope that there are more to come. Making it all happen at next year’s Olympic venue was like icing on the cake!

A Week In Telemark

By Nicole De Yong

Last week the Super Tour made its rounds to Telemark, Wisconsin. With temperatures as low as -15, it managed to warm up to zero degrees to kick off the skate sprint on Wednesday . The course wasn’t an ordinary sprint course. To put it clearly, it mainly consisted of two up-hills…one big hill and one really big hill. I skied to a solid second place in the qualifying round and ended up forth overall in the A-final. Colin Rodgers skied strong all day, qualifying in second place and holding his second place finish in the A-finals.

We had two days off before we found ourselves back on the trails racing. Saturday was a 5/10k classic on a challenging course. My energy felt good and I knew I had to go out there and hammer every bit of the course. Despite a tumble on a down hill, I managed to get 5th place, 10 seconds out of a podium finish. Dave Chamberlain proved his dominance in classic skiing, finishing 3rd overall.

Sunday was a 10/15k skate mass-start. After watching the men’s race at 9:30am, I learned that the course, and its lack of hilly terrain, was probably going to make for a tight finish in the woman’s race just as it had for the men’s race. A pack of 20 men came into the finishing stretch within a matter of about 10 seconds. Colin Rodgers finished 8th and Dave Chamberlain finished 12th. The top women stuck together in a tight pack until the last two kilometers. I decided to put the hammer down and begin my charge to the finish. Kristina Stranberg followed close behind and it came down to a sprint in the final 50 meters to the finish. Unfortunately, I did not have quite enough in the tank to maintain first place…she out-edged me by 1 second!

Overall, it was a successful week in Telemark. Many thanks to Dennis Kruse for housing several of the athletes this past week! We appreciate your hospitality!

I am back in Sun Valley getting ready for the Boulder Mountain Tour this weekend! I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!