Hello everyone, It’s Reid! If you have not heard Erin, Logan,Graham, and myself qualified and competed in the World Cup races in Canmore,Alberta this past weekend. There were four races: a 15k skate, skate sprint,20k classic, and a classic sprint. Ipersonally only qualified for and raced the two distance races, but this willbe a bit of a combo blog about each of our experiences!
Reid
First up is me. This was my first World Cup races, so it wasa very new and exciting experience for me. The energy at the venue was superfun and it was cool to be a part of the races I watch every week. Friday was myfirst race, and it was supposed to be an individual start 10k skate, but therewas an issue with the timing equipment not getting to Canmore in time, so itgot changed to a 15k mass start. This really wasn’t too big a deal for me as Iwas just excited to start! Now that I was racing in the big leagues, I startedin the back of the pack…so that meant it was a bit hectic on all the hills andcorners for the first couple laps. I knew that the pace was going to be fast,so my big goal was just to try and stay as relaxed as possible and conserve myenergy. On lap two (of four) the field started to spread out, and I foundmyself falling off the front of the group. I knew this would happen at some point,and just tried to keep a solid pace and hang on to the people around me. I feltpretty good through the second half of the race and was able to catch a fewracers. I ended up being 44th in the field and had a good finish tothe race.
I also raced the 20k classic mass start, which was prettysimilar start to the skate race, except when I fell off the pack I was reallyhurting haha. This race did not go as well for me and didn’t necessarily feelgreat, but still fought and was able to make something out of it. I finished 50thfor this race. Overall, I was definitely happy with my first World Cup and wasglad I felt solid for it. The atmosphere was a ton of fun with the cheering,the sun out, mountains in the background, and family and friends all around!
Erin
Last week I made it into my first sprint heats! This was mysecond sprint start and I was definitely putting more pressure on myself thanin my first one. I was motivated to break into that top 30. However, while Iwas racing I just thought about skiing relaxed and powerful instead of franticunder pressure. Lining up for heats was a feeling I won’t soon forget. Howeverwhen the race started you kinda forget who you are up against and just grind.
In addition to making heats, some of the other highlightsincluded having my BSF teammates and coach there along with my parents. I feellike I always race a little faster when I hear my parents cheering for me. Itfelt comforting to have a support system there along with all the USA fans outon the course (and there were a lot!!).
Graham
This past weekend in Canmore I started my first World Cupski race, and I could say it was a dream come true but that would not be anentirely accurate statement. I want first to say that I am incredibly gratefuland extremely appreciative of the support from everyone who helped me get tothe World Cup, something that I have been dreaming about since I was a littlekid growing up in the Colorado Rockies. The support from the Bridger SkiFoundation and my teammates over the past three years has been nothing butperfect and exactly what I needed to achieve my dream of wearing the stars andstrips of Team USA on the biggest stage in the world. One of the most amazingaspects of the week was seeing my teammates achieve the success that they haveworked so hard for, with both Logan and Erin getting their best-ever World Cupresults! I could not be more proud of them and happy to see all their hard workand dedication pay off!
With all that being said, the races didn’t go the way I wanted them to, witheach race showing just how far off the top 30 I am. Going into the races I feltfor sure that I had what it would take to at least be in with a shot at beingclose to the top 30. However, what you hope for and what happens are verydifferent sometimes, reality is cold and honest. I saw that I still have a longway to go in my training before I’m knocking on the top 30 door. There wereaspects of the races that I did enjoy, that even when I was off the back,suffering deep in the pain cave, I was having fun and that is the mostimportant part. One other aspect of my first World Cup experience that waspretty amazing was getting to meet and race against the skiers that you watchon TV and find out that they have the same stress and nerves that you havebefore a competition. Overall, it was a pretty amazing experience and I can’twait to get more World Cup starts!
Logan
The team had some great results this week. Obviously,starting your first World Cup can be intimidating and stressful. However,Graham and Reid handled it like season veterans landing within the top 50 andeach scoring World Cup points. Erin and I both managed to qualify in the skatesprint and finished within the top 30.
I believeit comes down to the comfort factor associated with racing in North America.I’ve raced a handful of World Cups but none of them have been as comfortable oras fun as this one. Being in an English speaking country with food that you’reused to and having driven just 8 hours north of Bozeman, to Canmore, reallyfostered success within the team. On top of all that, I had 4 of my teammateswith me.
Now onto Minneapolis where we hope to keep the ball rolling!
