Eastern SuperTour Photos
The domestic GRP contingent recently wrapped up two weekends of SuperTour racing in the East, the first in Lake Placid, NY and the second (originally scheduled in Stowe, VT) ended up right at home in Craftsbury. Alex Howe and Deb Miller (Kait’s mom) took some great photos during the Lake Placid races and Northeast Kingdom photographer and skier John Lazenby photographed the Craftsbury races. Overall, we had a mixed bag- some amazing results, some that weren’t quite what we were hoping for, and unfortunately a team-wide sickness during the Vermont SuperTour weekend that left a few on the sidelines. However, on the whole it has been a really successful few weeks and it’s also fun to see our Craftsbury biathletes doing so well on the World Cup (Susan 2nd and 5th this weekend!!), and Caitlin making her way on the cross country World Cup (scoring her first ever World Cup points in 25th in Falun yesterday).
I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the racing story! First up was a freestyle sprint in Lake Placid where all 7 GRP athletes and 2 Craftsbury juniors qualified in the top 30.
Low snow at the Olympic venue, Mt. Van Hoevenberg, meant the races moved to another Olympic venue, the base of the ski jump. This meant lots of vertical, all at once, and then a fun ripping descent and sharp corner at the bottom. Here’s I am in my semifinal heat in the freestyle sprint (Photo Alex Howe).
A very green quarterfinal heat- Caitlin leading out with Emily Dreissigacker (white boots) and U16 Callie Young (far upper left) on her heels (Photo Deb Miller).
Kaitlynn Miller taking it out strong in her quarterfinal, she finished 13th on the day (Photo Deb Miller).
The first uphill of the women’s A Final, Caitlin in green
Caitlin had a great day in the sprint- winning qualification and 2nd in the heats, all on her 26th birthday!
The following day was 10k classic mass start for the women. Building on her success from the previous day, Caitlin Patterson took the victory and Kaitlynn Miller was 3rd. It was a sunny, klister-y type of day on the jumps, not what one would usually expect for January 31st, but with the climatic curveballs we’ve been thrown in the East this year, any weather is normal weather.
GRP Head Wax Guru Nick Brown always has a smile even with sticky hands! (Photo Alex Howe)
We got to see Hannah, who was in Lake Placid training for her next biathlon World Cup
Brush it, Anna! Craftsbury Junior coach Anna Schulz having way too much fun. Which makes sense because the Craftsbury juniors are doing so well this year- 6 going to Junior Nationals! (Photo Alex Howe)
Caitlin kick double-poling en route to her 10k classic victory (Photo Alex Howe)
Heather Mooney kicking hard in the sunshine (Photo Deb Miller)
Hallie, Kait, and I at the finish (Photo Deb Miller)
10k classic women’s podium- Caitlin on top, Kait Miller in 2nd (Photo Alex Howe)
6 days later, we were on to the next SuperTour in Craftsbury. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate at all, and a rainstorm knocked out both the original race site in Stowe, and much of our trail system here in Craftsbury. With two days notice, the crew here did a heroic job putting together a 2.4k course and hosting the entire collegiate, junior, and SuperTour field in the east. Our team was a bit down for the count with multiple skiers coming down with colds in the days leading up to the races, but we still had 3 GRP women and 3 men able to compete.
Hallie Grossman striding to a 13th place finish at home in Craftsbury (Photo Kait Miller)
Biathlete Mike Gibson decided to ditch the rifle for the weekend, here he is in the men’s 10k freestyle individual (Photo Kait Miller)
Hallie and I happy to be done with our 10k classic! As the only healthy members of the GRP women’s team we had to hold down the fort in the 10k. (Photo John Lazenby).
I was happy to land on the podium in the 10k classic- big thanks to Pepa and crew for all-star cheering, and Nick for the sweet skis! (Photo John Lazenby)
For a more results-oriented take on the races, check out the news pieces on the Craftsbury website: Lake Placid here and Trapp’s here .
What’s next? The skiers are scattering to the wind- Heather leaves soon for U23 World Championships in Romania, Caitlin, Kait, and Ida to the Canadian World Cups in March, and I’ll be meeting Heather in Germany after U23’s to race OPA Cups in early March.