Yellowstone Ski Festival

It was a blast!

The training/racing week was a success for the most part. Going into the week in West Yellowstone, the objective was to get in as many training hours as possible on snow. The snow storm came with perfect timing, dumping about 1 1/2 ft. on Monday night. This was enough to call the races. The skiing was for the most part superb, with nearly perfectly groomed trails. While everyone was busy adapting to skiing again, there were many other junior, college, and factory teams preparing for the SuperTour Races.

If the team wasn't out on the trails training, then they could be found relaxing back at the hotel.

The sprint race was an excellent exhibition of fitness and power. The women completed a loop of the sprint course that included a few short climbs, while the men raced two laps. Gunnar Kristiansen had an outstanding performance by qualifying for the senior heats. He advanced to the Final B race where he placed 7th overall. This was an impressive result against a strong field of competitors. For the women, both Mellie Park and Claire Rennie qualified for the senior rounds tying for 16th place. Mellie Park ended up advancing and facing a challenging quarterfinal heat with many strong racers. She skied in for a 16th place finish overall.

In the classic race, the men competed on a four kilometer course lapping four times, while the women lapped twice. This was a unique course that provided many different challenges. Anders Follerås proved himself by finishing in the top 20, with Bernhard Roenning finishing only two places behind.

Overall the week provided a solid time to get a feel for skiing on snow again. It was a productive training week and exciting to see so many different people skiing around on the trails.