2007 US National Championships
Houghton, MI
5km Individual Classic

Every year I look forward to the National Championships for what seems like forever, and then all of the sudden, bam they're almost over for another year! Today we skied the last race of the '07 championships, which have been put on by the amazing dedication and hard work of an awesome group of volunteers. I would like to say a big thanks to the organizers for all their hard work!

This is the first year that the team sprint event has been officially contested at US Nationals. After three individual races during the week, I was excited to team up with Taz Mannix to represent APU. Because yesterday's sprint was classic, today's race would be skate. Thank goodness, no more messing with klister! The coaches had our skis taken care of, so all we had to do upon arrival at the venue, was warm up!

In team sprints, there are two semifinal heats, from which the top four to six teams (depending on the overall field size) advance to the final. Each skier completes three laps, alternating with their partner, until six laps total have been skied for the team. That means, if your team qualifies for the finals, you end up skiing six times around the sprint loop, all in a matter of two hours. It can be a grueling day!

Taz and I were placed in the second semifinal heat, so we completed our warm up as the first semifinal got underway. We checked in occasionally to see what teams were doing well and then developed our own strategy. We knew we would face the toughest competition in the final. So for the semifinal, we decided to only ski as hard as was necessary to advance. Taz would ski the lead off leg and I would be anchor.

It was nice to race the semifinal because it was pretty much a warm up for the final. Taz and I skied both skied relaxed, always staying up near the top three. Coming down the final stretch I was side by side with the CXC team, anchored by Laura Valaas. I threw my foot across the line just for fun and advanced our team in 1st place, guaranteeing a good lane position for the start of the final. There was a 1.5 hour break, while the men completed their semifinals, and then it was our turn again.

In the final, there were several teams that would be a challenge to beat: the CXC team of Caitlin Compton and Laura Valaas, the Rossingnol team of Kate Pearson and Karin Camenisch, and the NMU team of Lindsey Weier and Lindsay Williams. Skis had been running fast in the semifinals, but coach Erik notified me that he would be brushing out excess wax from the skis after each lap in the transition area.

I made it into the start area a little on the hurried side, but Taz was already there getting into position in the start lanes. I did a few last minutes sprints back and forth and then watched as the gun fired and the skiers took off. Then I stripped off my warm ups and clicked into my bindings to wait for my first lap. Taz settled into position in the middle of the pack going into the downhill. The skiers dropped out of sight for the next minute and a half. Then the race officials started calling bib numbers.

I positioned myself a bit further up in the exchange zone to avoid getting tangled with other teams. Taz came over the rise in a mix of other skiers and tagged off to me in about 5th place. The tag was clean and I was off. Coming around the first section of the course, I tucked myself in behind Laura as she moved up through the field. By the bottom of the downhill, we had worked our way to the front. I sat patiently in second place going up the hill and tagged off to Taz dead-even with the CXC team. Taz cruised out of the transition area right behind Caitlin.

I took off my skis and handed them to Erik to get brushed while I jogged around to stay loose. I was feeling good about our position until I looked up and saw that Taz had suddenly dropped 20m behind Caitlin going into the downhill. I flustered to get back into my bindings, having Erik scrape the snow out of my boots. "The break must have used up some energy," I thought to myself, "maybe Taz could make time back up on the climb." But as Caitlin crested the hill to tag Laura, Taz was still out of sight. Caitlin's move had been decisive and now we were two separate teams.

As Taz came in for the tag, I shouted a word of encouragement and then skated off to see what I could do. I skied an aggressive lap but only made up a few seconds on the now 20+ second lead. Taz headed out for her final lap. Erik brushed out my skis and then I clicked back into my bindings. I had to go for it. Caitlin came in and tagged off to Laura. Taz came in twenty seconds later. The final tag.

Before I left the tag zone, Laura had already cleared the first corner. I opened up my rhythm over the flat, around the turn and accelerated into the downhill. I took the S-turns as tight as I could hold them without stepping off the course and held a low tuck to the bottom. I came zinging around the sharp turn and burst into the uphill with a frenzied V1. I focused on being quick and powerful with each stride and powered my way up the rolling terrain. Even though I was no longer in the hunt for the win, I skied hard and pushed the pace all the way to the line. Good practice for a world cup final!

I crossed the finish line feeling satisfied. I had managed to make up a few seconds on the leader, to bring our team in for a solid second place. Karin and Lindsay were having a good duel for third place, with Karin taking it at the line. The races were now finished...well, almost. Taz and I snuck in a quick cool down on the side trails and then returned to the course to watch the men's final. Midway through the race our men's APU team of Eric Strabel and Tyson Flaharty was hanging tough. We cruised over to the exchange zone to watch the final tag. Torin Koos was leading and then all of the sudden there was a bunch of commotion and Tyson shot out to a big lead. Torin had crashed after tripping on his pole and had missed the tag to Andy Newell. Andy, Lars Flora and James Southam, all took off in hot pursuit.

Excitedly, we rushed over to the finish straight. As the skiers crested the top of the hill, Tyson had been caught and now it was Andy leading Lars and James. Lars started pulling even with Andy as they reached the final 100m. It was a full on sprint! Lars managed to just pull ahead of Andy at the line and took the win. Andy came second and James third. Tyson held on for fourth place. How exciting!

With all the races now concluded, it was time for the final flower ceremony. It was really cool to see team APU well represented on both the men's and women's podiums. Pictures were snapped and then everyone headed off to pack things up. An hour or so later there was an awards banquet over at the university, complete with the traditional spaghetti feed and the handing out of the week's awards. Instead of medals this year, the top three places were awarded wooden snow flakes. By the end of the awards we had quite a stack of flakes at our APU table!

Now I embark on my world tour. I leave my APU team to travel over to Europe with my US team to compete on the World Cup. The first stop will by Davos, Switzerland for a week-long training camp. Then I will head to Rybinsk, Russia with Andy and Torin to compete in the freestyle sprint that was rescheduled from December's cancellation in Cogne. A few days after that we rejoin the rest of the team in Otepaa, Estonia for two World Cups there. Then back to Davos for two more races, before traveling halfway across the world to Japan to prepare for World Championships. (See a complete schedule on www.kikkan.com/calendar). It's going to be a wild time!

I really enjoy sharing this crazy experience with everyone, thanks for all the words of encouragement!

Until Russia!

Cheers,
Kikkan :)

PS If you are interested in watching coverage of the World Cup races, be sure to check out the World Championships Sports Network, a new website that offers international race footage to North American audiences for the first time. Go to www.wcsn.com/skiing and click on the x-country tab to see what races are available for viewing! (I've been using this site and it's awesome! I highly recommend!).