Rollercoaster Nationals
The skiing GRP recently returned from a racing trip to Soldier Hollow, Utah, where we competed in the four races of US Nationals. The races were a 10/15k classic, skate sprint, 20/30k skate mass start, and a classic sprint, in that order spread out over the course of seven days.
Nationals is always an interesting experience, with individual high expectations colliding with an increase in the number and intensity of competitors present at the races. Especially in an Olympic year, tensions are extra high. While doing well at Nationals does not directly correspond to Olympic selection, the races potentially have an effect, especially for the men this year.
When I was in college, the races of US Nationals were usually among the first times I really competed for the season. Especially with Nationals at the upcoming 2014 NCAA venue, and with the distance races as Western college scoring races, there were quite a few college skiers present, and I can sympathize with the difficulty of their position, being thrown into a gigantic field of racers in what could have been between their first and fifth race start of the year. Many of the college skiers raced very well though, and it was great to have them in the mix with the rest of us professional athletes and the multitude of junior skiers.
For those of us who’ve been racing the US Supertour, we’ve had a chance to adjust to racing and smooth out our routines somewhat, hypothetically. The first race of Nationals was my 8th race start, and it was nice to be fairly comfortable with my pre-race routine and be able to fine-tune the details that would get me to my best racing form. I know not all of the Supertour racers, especially on our team, felt quite so comfortable with racing just yet.
The GRP team as a whole had an up-and-down rollercoaster of a Nationals, with a few bright lights of good results shining through a lot of difficult races and unfulfilling results. (The courses involved a rollercoaster effect too, with long climbs and fast descents, but the emotional/results rollercoaster was probably more extreme…)
Our coaches and wax techs, Pepa, Nick Brown, and Bryan Cook, did an excellent job through the week of reassuring and encouraging everyone, and testing many, many combinations of waxes. While it would be untrue to say that we had perfect skis every day, and in fact a significant bit of our inconsistency as a team was attributable to wax/ski difficulties, the techs did a great job of working through the problems to make each day better than the previous one. By the classic sprint heats on the last day, our skis were extremely good. Thanks techs!
Check out the results post in this blog for the breakdown of our results for each day.
For more photos and news articles about the races, check out Fasterskier’s and SkiTrax’s coverage of US Nationals, but here are a few to start:
Caitlin and Liz racing in the 10k classic.
Bryan Cook (former GRP skier, now wax tech) runs past the start pen. Behind him, the men, including Gordon and Andrew, are lining up for the 15k classic.
Podium! I think I can safely say that my personal highlight of the week, 3rd place in the 10k classic, was also a team highlight.
Many clear skies and mountain views in Utah, until it clouded over for the last few days of racing.
Pete, Andrew, Pat, and Rosie Brennan played an epic(ly long) game of Catan on one of the off days. Don’t scoff at Settlers of Catan until you’ve played it, it’s a great game and highly entertaining!
Liz during her skate sprint quarterfinal. She made it through the semifinals into the B final and finished 9th overall. Photo by Bert Boyer, http://bertboyer.zenfolio.com
Skate sprint quarterfinal, Caitlin tucking in behind Jennie Bender, eventual race winner. Photo by Bert Boyer, http://bertboyer.zenfolio.com
Entering the finishing stretch during the Skate Sprint final. Although I was last in the final for 6th place overall, looking at this picture reminds me how close together everyone finished – it was an exciting race! Photo by Tom Kelly/USSA
Andrew qualified in the top 30 for the first time at Nationals in the classic sprint this year! Here he’s racing in his quarterfinal. Photo from Fasterskier.
Alex Shultz racing in a semifinal of the classic sprint. He qualified 12th and ended up 8th after a day of tactically smart skiing. Photo from Fasterskier.