Our training camp at West Yellowstone had to be absolutely one of the greatest trips to West Yellowstone we have had thus far. After heading to West on the 19th of Novemeber, we were headed into a week full of volume hours and our first set of races. It is really nice to be able to come to a place with significant amounts of snow and focus on dialing in on technique and logging hours of training for the upcoming season. Every day leading up to our first races we were out the door at 7am for our morning jog, out the door at 8am for our first session for 1.5 - 3 hours. Back home eating and resting, then back out the door at 3:30 for afternoon sessions. Every night we had food from our amazing parents that send along food or cook it for us. Incredibly helpful for all of our athletes. I always feel spoiled when I come here.
Our First Races: On Wednesday some of us had our first races and they were a great start to the season. It was quite an interesting format race where there is one classic sprint qualifier in the morning and then a skate sprint qualifier 1 hour following the first. The reason they have to do this instead of running a full sprint is because there is not a FIS homologated sprint course here and they find complications in running a full sprint on a point-to-point format. Our results were outstanding. I was 13th in the classic sprint and 4th in the skate sprint. Mike Vigers (one of our newest members) was 23rd and the 2nd OJ. Christian Shanley was 30th overall and 2nd J1. Outstanding result for him. Cal Deline placed 41st overall but took the 5th J1 spot. Aleksei and Parker both had outstanding races for this time of year and we are all excited for what they throw down the rest of the year. In the end SSCV ended up taking 3 of the top 7 junior spots for the men. The women had equally amazing races. Hannah was our first finisher with a 28th spot overall and a 1st place showing for J2's. Also to mention she would have been 5th in both the J1 AND OJ race. These girls are anywhere from 1 year to 5 years older than Hannah. Sally and Eva both had great sprints putting them in as the 9th and 11th J1's, and at the wrong end of some tight times for the J1 girls. A good start that continued into the following days.
15km Skate Race: The race here only found 5 SSCV racers in it, debatably more successful from our first day of racing. I finished in 2nd overall, just ahead of Mike Sinnott and Matt Gelso of the Sun Valley Team. I knew Mike Vigers was having a great race when he got a positive off of him after the first lap. Mike ended up skiing to a 9th place finish and an amazing finish at that. If that wasn't enough, Christian Shanley and Cal Deline skied to 34th and 38th place finishes respectively. This put them in as the 2nd and 3rd fastest J1's and the 6th and 7th fastest juniors in the nation, including ALL OJ's. Our last skier Christian Kloser also came in with a great race finishing in 84th. You have to give this guy some time after his Colorado State Championship Biking Title (he's probably still basking in the glory as he should).
5km/10km Classic Race: Our last race here and a day before our departure unfortunately. I continued the streak of fast skiing by placing 2nd overall behind Graeme Killick of the Alberta Racing Team. This second place finish put me in the running for the Overall SuperTour Title and in the SuperTour Distance Leader Bib for the Bozeman, MT SuperTour races. The classic day was equally an important day for the juniors as each junior, minus the injured ones (i.e. Katie Scruggs AKA Pretzel) who continued her positive training for a great season once she is able to use those poles again. Mike Vigers took the 5th OJ spot. Christian Shanley and Cal Deline again had impressive races sitting in their 2nd and 3rd J1 spots respectively. Aleksei and Parker again had great races for this time in the season. Finshing in the top-15 in each of their age groups. Christian Kloser had a tough day but once the classic legs get under him, he'll be off and running! The ladies had some great finishes with Hannah Hardenbergh coming in an impressive 1st place for J2 girls, 12th for all Juniors (including colelge athletes), and 41st Overall. Sally and Eva were the 14th and 15th J1 girls and narrowly missed beating some their Colorado rivals. They'll certainly get them next time. And back from a lacross camp was Clare Baker coming in just a couple seconds behind Salyl and Eva.
We had a great week and are already excited to come back for camp next year. Thanks to the parents and coaches for preparing food and making our skis uber fast. Without them racing so well wouldn't be possible!
Back to my classroom on the 12th of December! Pretty excited to see what I missed out on!
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