Kate Whitcomb

Age: 27
Hometown: Worthington, MA
School: Middlebury College
Residence: Ketchum, ID
Training Group: Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation
Occupation: Teacher's Assistant, Hemingway Elementary School

Kate Whitcomb was born in Worthington, Massachusetts, where she began skiing as soon as she outgrew her mother's backpack. She was a member of the local Bill Koch Youth Ski League and began racing at age 5. Kate recalls that she never knew who won or lost the youth races, only that the first across the line chose their prize first.

"There was usually only one, possibly two, brown lolly-pops in the bunch. I tried to finish first so that I would get one of them. If you were middle of the pack, you didn't have a chance at the brown lolly-pops and ended up with the orange."

Eleven years late, the sugar has subsided, and Kate is still racing. Not just for brown lolly-pops, but for a chance to represent the US at World Cup races, the World Championships and hopefully the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada.

Kate is the reigning 2007 Women's American Birkie Champion, and has finished in the top-3 in the overall USSA SuperTour standings for 2 years running. She is focused on qualifying for the Canadian World Cup races in January of 2007 and possibly competing in Europe on the OPA Cup circuit, which is the step below World Cup, during the 2007-08 winter season. In her spare time, Kate is a teacher's aid to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades at the Ernest Hemingway Elementary School in Ketchum, Idaho.