Hello all! Reid here with an update on what I have been up to for the second half of the racing season.
As many of you know, I have been on the BSF Pro Team for four years now and have raced the Supertour all over the US. Last year I got to accomplish my childhood dream of racing on the World Cup circuit in Canmore and Minneapolis. I went into this year with the same goal of qualifying for more World Cup races, but after the end of January if you don’t qualify for anything there is a large break in the Supertour circuit. This year, I made some “backup” plans to target some cool races in Europe that I have always wanted to do – like the Engadin and Norwegian Birkie. In past years I have had the attitude that races like these are something I can do when I am older. However, I came to the conclusion that I put all my effort into training all year long and I am maybe the most fit I will ever be in my life, so might as well try and do these races now!
Soooo, I am writing this blog about the non-supertour, non-world cup racing I have been up to this year:
After the Bozeman Supertour in January, I had not qualified for any World Cup races and headed to Sun Valley for the Boulder Mountain Tour. Many of the people reading this were probably also at the BMT and know what a crazy event it was this year (if you don’t– it was very (very) snowy). Despite the blizzard I still had a great race and came into third place!
After the BMT, I got the opportunity to head to Toblach, Italy with the Para Cross Country Team for Para World Champs. I teamed up with some friends from the Sun Valley Gold Team at Para World Champs in Toblach, Italy. I spent a week training over there with Peter Wolter and Jake Adicoff, who both ski for Sun Valley. Peter and I then did some guiding for Jake at World Champs and he crushed it, bringing home some gold medals.
The day before flying back to the U.S. for the American Birkie, I decided to hop in the Gseisertal Lauf Ski Marathon that was taking place close by. I signed up last minute the evening before for the 42K Classic. The top guys at these races only double pole, so I decided to do the same. It was some very fun skiing in a huge pack, even though my arms did die towards the end…
Back in the US, I did my best to adjust to the timezone and get prepared for the Birkie. The Birkie Fever was maybe a bit too high for me and I planted my pole between my legs and face-planted in the first 3K and broke my pole. In a selfless act of kindness, my coach Andy Newell, who was also racing, gave me his pole. I ended up losing the lead pack, but it was still an awesome day of racing – you can’t beat the feeling of skiing down main street.
After the American Birkiebeiner, I planned to go back over to Europe for the Engadin Skimarathon in Switzerland. I convinced Simon Zink to head over with me earlier than planned and do a marathon in Austria. I decided that I wanted to get over earlier so that I wasn’t so jet lagged for the Engadin. There was a race called the Ganghoferlauf Marathon, which wasn’t too far away from Engadin and was a great excuse to do another race and get over earlier.
We landed two days before the Ganghoferlauf and quickly got organized to race. We both ended up feeling pretty good on race day and I finished in 3rd place and Simon in 5th!
We had some amazing weather and it was good prep for the Engadin (also a much cheaper area than Switzerland).
This last Sunday I raced the Engadin Skimarathon. The Engadin is the largest skating race in the world with 13,400 participants. It is 42 kilometers long and net downhill…which adds an interesting racing dynamic.
This was one of the craziest racing experiences I have ever had, but also maybe the most fun race I have ever done. The race starts out across a lake for 12 kilometers, so it is dead flat (see image below – I am somewhere in there). I have heard this part of the race compared to bike racing in a peloton. I skied in a pack of hundreds of people just getting sucked along in the middle of it. I heard a pole snap every 30 seconds for 20 minutes straight haha.
After this section the course pinches into one or two skiers wide and goes up a steep climb, which is where the lead pack breaks away. I got myself up into a solid position before that and hung on for the climbing section to the halfway point.
At the halfway point the course becomes pretty flat again and nobody really breaks away. However, the lead pack is still around 30+ people. There are a few rolling climbs in the last 5 kilometers where people start to push again. I got myself into decent positioning for the end of the race, but was not quite with the top guys.
I finished the race in 16th place – 14 seconds back from the leader.
This was a highlight of my season so far and was fun to race with some top-level skiers into the finish. I hope to come back next year and get some better positioning and maybe sprint it out for a podium!
I am now in Norway getting ready to race the Norwegian Birkebeiner on Saturday. I am getting my 3.5kg backpack ready and planning on double poling the course. Praying that my arms will work for 54K.
I have had a bit of a different season compared to past years, but after doing close to 300K of racing since February I have certainly gotten more dialed at fueling for marathon races! After Norway, I am headed back to meet up with my team and race Supertour Finals in Lake Placid.
