Archive for the ‘Race Reports’ Category

Hey everyone — All winter long, GRP skiing and biathlon results will be compiled in this post. As our racing takes us across the US and Europe, this will hopefully help you keep tabs on how we’re doing! Click through the links to see full results.

 

WEEK of NOV 12-NOV 18

Muonio, Finland (World Cup tune-ups: Ida)

Friday CL sprint: Ida 6th, 1st American

Saturday CL 5K: Ida 36th, 4th American

 

WEEK of NOV 19-NOV 25

West Yellowstone, Montana (SuperTour openers: Tim, Dylan, Pat, Bryan, Nils, Alex, Gordon, Caitlin, Clare, Amy, Maria)

Friday FR 9K Individual Men: Bryan 10th, Gordon 14th, Nils 16th, Tim 18th, Alex 27th, Dylan 35th, Pat 36th

Friday FR 9K Individual Women: Caitlin 3rd, Clare 13th, Maria 16th, Amy 41st

Saturday FR 1.6K Prologue Men: Dylan 7th, Gordon 11th, Pat 18th, Alex 19th, Tim 21st, Bryan 25th, Nils 34th

Saturday FR 1.6K Prologue Women: Caitlin 3rd, Maria 7th, Clare 16th, Amy 18th

Gaellivare, Sweden (World Cup openers: Ida)

Saturday FR 10K: Ida 53rd, 5th American

Craftsbury, Vermont (Craftsbury Opener: Hannah)

Saturday FR 5K: Hannah 1st

Ostersund, Sweden (IBU World Cup: Susan)

Sunday Mixed Relay: Americans (including Susan) 17th

 

WEEK of NOV 26-DEC 2

Bozeman, Montana (SuperTours: Tim, Dylan, Pat, Bryan, Nils, Alex, Gordon, Caitlin, Clare, Amy)

Thursday FR Sprint: Alex 4th (A Final), Pat 11th (Semifinals), Tim 17th, Dylan 26th, Gordon 28th, Nils 36th, Bryan 43rd; Caitlin 4th (A Final), Clare 13th, Amy 26th

Saturday CL Sprint: Caitlin 13th, Clare 17th, Amy 29th; Nils 2nd, Patrick 4th (A Final), Dylan 14th, Bryan 22nd, Gordon 25th, Alex 27th, Tim 33rd

Sunday CL 10/15K Mass: Caitlin 5th, Amy 14th, Clare 25th; Bryan 8th, Nils 15th, Dylan 21st, Gordon 24th, Patrick 25th, Tim 30th

Kuusamo, Finland (World Cup: Ida)

Friday CL Sprint: Ida 9th, 1st American

Saturday FR 5K: Ida 49th

Sunday CL 10K Pursuit: Ida 18th, 3rd American

Ostersund, Sweden (IBU World Cup: Susan)

Thursday 15K Individual: Susan 81st, 3rd American (1+1+3+2)

Saturday 7.5K Sprint: Susan 43rd, 1st American (2+2)

Sunday 10K Pursuit: Susan 39th, 1st (only to qualify) American (1+1+2+1)

 

WEEK of DEC 3-DEC 9

Quebec City, Quebec (World Cup: Ida, Patrick)

Friday Women’s FR Team Sprint: Ida (+Holly Brooks) 9th

Friday Men’s FR Team Sprint: Pat (+Reese Hanneman) 19th

Saturday Women’s FR Sprint: Ida 44th

Saturday Men’s FR Sprint: Pat 53rd

Hochfilzen, Austria (Biathlon World Cup: Susan)

Friday 7.5K Sprint: Susan 31st, 1st American (0+2)

Saturday 10K Pursuit: Susan 52nd, 2nd American (0+0+3+4)

Sunday 4x6K Relay: Americans 12th

 

WEEK of DEC 10-DEC 16

Canmore, Alberta (World Cup: Ida, Patrick, Caitlin, Nils)

Thursday CL Men’s 15K, Women’s 10K: Nils 57th; Ida 31st, Caitlin 50th

Saturday FR Sprint Men, Women: Patrick 67th; Ida 10th, Caitlin 66th

Sunday Skiathlon Men’s 30K, Women’s 15K: Nils 57th; Ida 14th, Caitlin 44th

Craftsbury, Vermont (Eastern Cup Openers: Amy, Clare, Maria, Tim, Bryan, Dylan, Gordon, Alex)

Saturday CL Sprint Men, Women: Alex 1st, Tim 2nd, Gordon 4th, Dylan 5th, Bryan 6th; Clare 4th, Amy 5th, Maria 9th

Sunday FR Men’s 12K, Women’s 9K: Bryan 1st, Gordon 2nd, Tim 9th, Alex 11th, Dylan 14th; Clare 2nd, Maria 4th, Amy 7th

Pokljuka, Slovenia (Biathlon World Cup: Susan)

Friday 7.5K Sprint: Susan 14th, 1st American (0+1)

Saturday 10K Pursuit: Susan 38th (1+2+2+3)

Grand Rapids, Minnesota (IBU Cup Trials: Hannah)

Saturday 7.5K Sprint: Hannah 2nd (2+2)

Sunday 10K Pursuit: Hannah 1st (0+1+2+1)

Monday Mass Start: Hannah 1st (1+0+1+1)

 

WEEK of DEC 17-DEC 23

(none)

 

WEEK of DEC 24-DEC 30

Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Biathlon exhibition race: Susan)

“Shoot-out”/Mass start/Pursuit: see FS writeup

 

WEEK of DEC 31-JAN 6

Park City, Utah (US Nationals: Tim, Pat, Dylan, Bryan, Alex, Nils, Gordon; Caitlin, Clare, Maria)

Wednesday CL Sprint: Alex 6th, Tim 25th, Gordon 30th, Pat 35th, Nils 36th, Bryan 49th, Dylan 58th; Caitlin 16th, Clare 18th

Friday FR Women’s 10K, Men’s 15K: Caitlin 5th, Clare 11th, Maria 14th; Dylan + Bryan 7th (tie), Alex 33rd, Gordon 42nd, Pat 44th, Nils 51st, Tim 83rd

Sunday CL Women’s 20K Mass, Men’s 30K Mass: Nils 24th, Bryan 32nd, Gordon 39th, Dylan 46th, Pat 51st; Caitlin 5th, Maria 25th, Clare 29th

Otepaa, Estonia (IBU Cup Biathlon: Hannah)

Saturday 15K Individual: Hannah 24th (0+4+0+3)

Sunday 7.5K Sprint: Hannah 67th (3+5)

 

WEEK of JAN 7-JAN 13

Ostrov, Russia (IBU Cup Biathlon: Hannah)

Wednesday Mixed Relay: USA 7th

Friday 7.5K Sprint: Hannah 18th (1+2)

Saturday 10K Pursuit: Hannah 16th (1+0+1+3)

Ruhpolding, Germany (Biathlon World Cup: Susan)

Wednesday 4x6K Relay: USA Women 13th

Friday 7.5K Sprint: Susan 53rd (1+1)

Park City, Utah (US Nationals: Tim, Pat, Dylan, Bryan, Alex, Nils, Gordon; Caitlin, Clare, Maria)

Tuesday FR Sprint: Alex 3rd, Tim 9th, Dylan 18th, Gordon 23rd, Bryan 29th, Pat 32nd, Nils 37th; Caitlin 10th, Clare 21st, Maria 27th

Liberec, Czech Republic (World Cup: Ida)

Saturday CL Sprint: Ida 42nd

Sunday FR Team Sprint: Ida (and Sadie Bjornsen) 7th

 

WEEK of JAN 14-JAN 20

Minneapolis, MN (SuperTour: Pat, Dylan, Bryan, Alex, Nils, Gordon; Clare, Maria)

Saturday FR Women’s 5K, Men’s 10K Individual: Clare 5th, Maria 11th; Nils 5th, Bryan 8th, Dylan 10th, Alex 14th, Gordon 21st, Pat 24th

Sunday CL Men’s 20K, Women’s 15K Mass Start: Nils 10th, Bryan 11th, Pat 13th, Dylan 17th, Gordon 29th, Alex 44th; Clare 6th, Maria 13th

Antholz-Anterselva, Italy (Biathlon World Cup: Susan, Hannah)

Thursday 7.5K Sprint: Susan 49th (2+1), Hannah 81st (0+4)

Saturday 10K Pursuit: Susan 44th (1+2+1+3)

Sunday 4x6K Relay: USA Women 10th (Hannah and Susan competed)

La Clusaz, France (World Cup: Ida)

Saturday 10K CL Mass Start: Ida 29th

 

WEEK of JAN 21-JAN 27

Minneapolis, MN (SuperTour: Pat, Dylan, Bryan, Alex, Nils, Gordon; Clare, Maria)

Friday CL Sprint: Pat 4th, Alex 7th, Dylan 9th, Nils 16th, Bryan 17th, Gordon 20th; Clare 6th

Saturday CL Individual 5/10K: Bryan 8th, Pat 10th, Nils 11th, Dylan 12th, Gordon 16th, Alex 20th

Sunday FR 10/15K Pursuit: Clare 4th, Maria 8th; Pat 4th, Nils 6th, Dylan 9th, Bryan 10th, Gordon 13th, Alex 15th

Marquette, Michigan (Noquemanon Ski Marathon: Maria)

Saturday 50K CL: Maria 2nd

Liberec, Czech Republic (U23 World Champs: Caitlin)

Tuesday CL Sprint: Caitlin 38th

Thursday 10K FR Individual: Caitlin 14th (top American)

Saturday 15K Skiathlon: Caitlin 19th (top American)

 

WEEK of JAN 28-FEB 3

Craftsbury, VT (Craftsbury Marathon: Nils, Bryan, Dylan, Gordon, Patrick, Alex)

Saturday 50K CL: Nils 2nd, Bryan 3rd, Dylan 4th, Patrick 5th, Alex 6th, Gordon 7th

Stowe, VT (Eastern Cups: Clare, Maria, Tim)

Saturday Women’s 5K, Men’s 10K Individual FR: Tim 6th, Maria 11th

Sunday 10K Individual CL: Clare 11th

Sochi, Russia (World Cup: Ida)

Friday FR Sprint: Ida 6th

Saturday 15K Skiathlon: Ida 37th

Sunday CL Team Sprint: Ida (+ Sadie Bjornsen) 5th

 

WEEK of FEB 4-FEB 10

Craftsbury, VT (Dartmouth Carnival: Nils, Bryan)

Friday 10K CL Individual:

Nove Mesto, Czech Republic (Biathlon World Championships: Susan, Hannah) — results here

Thursday Mixed Relay: USA (inc. Susan) 8th

Saturday 7.5K Sprint: Susan 49th (2+2), Hannah 71st (0+3)

Sunday 10K Pursuit: Susan 47th (top American; 1+1+2+1)

Madona, Latvia (Scando Cup: Caitlin)

Wednesday 5K CL: Caitlin 10th

Thursday 10K FR Mass: Caitlin 9th

Estonia (Scando Cup: Caitlin)

Saturday CL Sprint: Caitlin 22nd

Sunday FR Sprint: Caitlin 22nd

 

WEEK of FEB 11-17

Madison, WI (SuperTour: Pat, Tim, Dylan, Gordon, Bryan; Maria, Clare, Caitlin)

Saturday CL Sprint Men, Women: Caitlin 5th, Clare 6th, Maria 7th; Dylan 4th, Pat 6th, Tim 7th, Gordon 9th, Bryan 17th

Sunday FR Sprint: Tim 6th, Dylan 9th, Bryan 11th, Pat 12th, Gordon 14th; Caitlin 3rd, Clare 4th, Maria 7th

Davos, Switzerland (World Cup: Nils, Ida)

Saturday CL Sprint: Ida 18th

Sunday Men’s 15K FR: Nils 72nd

Nove Mesto, Czech Republic (Biathlon World Championships: Susan, Hannah) — results here

Wednesday 15K Individual: Susan 15th (1+0+1+0), Hannah 56th (1+1+1+2)

Friday 4x6K Relay: USA 11th

 

WEEK of FEB 18-24

Hayward, WI (American Birkebeiner: Tim, Dylan, Pat, Bryan, Gordon; Maria, Clare, Caitlin)

Saturday FR 50K: Bryan 15th, Patrick 20th, Gordon 25th, Dylan 29th, Tim 37th; Caitlin 3rd, Clare 8th

Val di Fiemme, Italy (World Championships: Ida, Nils)

Thursday CL Sprint Women, Men: Ida 33rd, Nils 61st

Saturday Skiathlon Ladies 15K, Men 30K: Ida 38th, Nils 59th

Sunday FR Team Sprint: Nils 21st

 

WEEK of FEB 25-MAR 3

Val di Fiemme, Italy (World Championships: Ida, Nils)

Wednesday 15K FR Ind: Nils 69th

Saturday CL Mass Start 30K Ladies: Ida 25th

Sunday CL Mass Start 50K Men: Nils 55th

Oslo, Norway (World Cup Biathlon: Susan, Hannah)

Friday 7.5K Sprint: Hannah 61st, Susan 70th

 

WEEK of MAR 4-10

Samedan, Switzerland (Engadin Ski Marathon: Nils, Hannah)

Sunday42K FR Men, Women: Nils 51st; Hannah 25th

Lahti, Finland (World Cup: Ida)

Saturday FR Sprint: Ida 38th

Sunday 10K CL Individual: Ida 44th

Campo Carlomagno, Italy (Alpen Cup: Caitlin)

Saturday 5K CL: Caitlin 13th

Sunday 15K FR Mass: Caitlin 19th

Sochi, Russia (World Cup Biathlon: Susan)

Thursday 15K Individual: Susan 7th

Saturday 7.5K Sprint: Susan 25th

Bretton Woods, NH (Bretton Woods Marathon: Alex)

Saturday 50K CL: Alex 1st

Fort Kent, ME (Biathlon Nationals: Clare)

See results here.

Friday 7.5K Sprint: Clare 2nd

Saturday 10K Individual: Clare 2nd

Sunday 12.5K Mass Start: Clare 1st

 

WEEK of MAR 11-17

Sugarloaf, ME (Sugarloaf Marathon: Patrick)

Saturday 50K FR: Patrick 2nd

Drammen, Norway (World Cup: Ida)

Wednesday CL Sprint: Ida 48th

 

WEEK of MAR 18-24

Craftsbury, VT (GRP Spring Tour: Pat, Tim, Dylan, Gordon, Alex, Nils; Caitlin, Clare, Hannah)

Friday 3.5K CL Prologue Men, Women: Pat 1st, Nils 5th, Tim 9th, Alex 11th, Dylan 13th, Gordon 19th; Hannah 7th, Clare 10th

Saturday FR Sprint Men, Women: Pat 3rd, Dylan 9th, Alex 11th, Tim 12th, Gordon 26th, Nils 28th; Caitlin 2nd, Hannah 7th, Clare 8th

Sunday CL Pursuit Women 10K, Men 15K: Pat 3rd, Alex 5th, Dylan 10th, Tim 13th, Nils 14th; Hannah 2nd, Clare 5th

Stockholm + Falun, Sweden (World Cup Finals: Ida)

Wednesday CL Sprint: Ida 20th

Friday FR Prologue: Ida 38th

Saturday CL 10K Mass: Ida 29th

Sunday FR 10K Pursuit: Ida 37th

 

WEEK of MAR 25-31

(none)

 

WEEK of APR 1-7

Truckee, California (SuperTour Finals/Distance Nats: Tim, Bryan, Pat, Dylan, Nils, Alex; Hannah, Ida, Susan, Caitlin, Clare)

Thursday 3.3K FR Prologue Women, Men: Susan 5th, Caitlin 9th, Ida 13th, Hannah 17th, Clare 21st; Patrick 5th, Nils 8th, Tim 10th, Dylan 13th, Bryan 14th, Alex 56th

Friday CL Mass Start 15K Men, 10K Women: Patrick 8th, Dylan 14th, Bryan 19th, Tim 23rd, Nils 24th; Ida 6th, Hannah 11th, Susan 12th, Caitlin 15th, Clare 27th

Saturday CL Sprint Men, Women: Pat 2nd, Tim 4th, Dylan 21st, Alex 31st, Bryan 32nd, Nils 36th; Ida 2nd, Susan 6th, Hannah 12th, Caitlin 17th, Clare 32nd

 

WEEK of APR 8-14

Truckee, California (SuperTour Finals/Distance Nats: Tim, Bryan, Pat, Dylan, Nils, Alex; Hannah, Ida, Susan, Caitlin, Clare)

Monday FR 6K Hill Climb Women, Men: Susan 8th, Caitlin 12th, Hannah 16th, Clare 23rd; Pat 6th, Dylan 20th, Nils 21st

Wednesday Women’s 30K Classic Mass: Susan 17th, Caitlin 18th, Clare 32nd

Thursday Men’s 50K Classic Mass: Pat 8th, Tim 19th, Dylan 29th, Nils 31st, Alex 39th

 

Before the memories and the spirit of the Birkie fade too much, here’s a look at my experiences at the American Birkie and the Madison Sprints.  Gordon also recently posted a video-blog where he interviewed me about these events, so I apologize if this written blog seems repetitious – I definitely made different comments between the two formats, but you can choose which you prefer to view, or read/watch them both for the sake of the photos and video clips.

First: the Madison Sprints.

The weekend before the American Birkibeiner, the US Supertour race circuit conveniently made a stop nearby in Madison, WI.  The Madison Sprints include a skate and a classic sprint, which are held as part of the Madison Winter Festival, and entail trucking snow in to cover the streets that circle the capital building.  Fortunately the snow is used for a lot more than just two ski races – beyond the elite sprint races that the GRP participated in, there are also high school ski races, a cyclocross race, and on-snow equipment demos that use the loop of snow.

The snow was laid out the night before the first race, so we weren’t able to preview the course until the morning of the race.  While most of my teammates had been to Madison for these sprint races before, I had not, and I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical about the idea of double poling the classic sprint on skate skis.  As it turned out on race day, double poling was completely feasible and definitely the way to go for all of the top women and men.

The Madison Sprints used a slightly modified format from normal sprint races, due to the small field sizes and the narrow course.  The quarterfinals were 4 heats of 4 people, for a total of 16 qualifiers, where 2 from each heat moved on to the next round.  However, on Saturday for the classic sprint, there were only 16 girls signed up to race, so we went straight to the semifinal round with only 8 qualifiers.  For the skate sprint the next day, 17 people were signed up, so we raced quarterfinals through finals, and the men had quarterfinals on both days.  On the second day of racing, the skate sprint, basically all of the women who’d raced the classic sprint heats were suffering from extremely sore backs from the intense double poling.  It wasn’t something any of us were used to, exclusively double pole sprinting, but luckily we were able to laugh about the common misery of our sore backs as we prepared to race the skate sprint.

For the GRP, 4 of the 5 guys qualified on the classic day and 5 of 5 on the skate day.  Top finishers were Dylan McGuffin in 4th on the classic day, and Tim Reynolds in 6th for the skate sprint.  The guys races looked extremely intense because the sprint was short for them – 1 minute 39 seconds on the skate day – and the qualifier times were close enough that any skier in the heat could win it, depending on tactics.  For women, Maria, Clare and I were all in the B-final of the classic sprint and took places 5 through 7 for the day.  In the skate sprint, I made my first Supertour sprint podium with a 3rd place finish and Clare was right behind in 4th while Maria was in the B-final.

Here are photos from the Madison Sprints – thank you to Suzanne Wolf for hosting Gordon, Clare and I during the week and for sending me these photos!

 

 

 

The day after the sprints, we packed up and drove to Hayward, WI, to a nice little cabin on a lake a few miles outside Hayward.  The next few days we spent skiing sections of the Birkie trail.  Tuesday Pepa dropped us off at about the 2k mark on the trail, and I classic skied with Maria to the pick-up spot at 23k at “OO”, and Maria pointed out many notable features of the course.  Wednesday we skate skied from the “OO” road crossing  to about 45k to take a look at that part of the trail.  I was impressed with the Birkie trail “ski highway,” for its width and the nice rolling terrain.  On Thursday the team drove in to Hayward for the afternoon “Elite Sprints” on Main St, where Tim and Clare were our top finishers in 3rd and 4th in their respective races.

The Birkie morning itself was about as chaotic as expected, with frantic rushing around the house to gather every piece of equipment and clothing, a wrong turn on the way to the start and then convincing the parking authority to let us through anyway, quick ski testing while dodging people on the 400m warm-up loop, and running to the start at almost the last minute.  Comparatively, the Birkie itself was somewhat relaxing and straightforward!

Actually maybe not so relaxing… the start of the Birkie was moderately fast-paced, as the leading women broke the group into a pack of 12 by the time we reached the high point.  Nicole DeYoung, Caitlin Gregg, and several of the Europeans were typically leading. The pace never seemed unsustainable, it was just crucial to be paying attention to the front and move around people if any gaps formed.  After the high point, we settled into a nice flow of skiing along the rolling terrain.  The only thing that prevented the skiing from being quite relaxing was the accordion effect – people in the back of the pack would have to do little sprints over the tops of the hills to keep up, and then at the bottom of downhills everyone would stack together and the people at the back would need to slow down.

It was a great start to the race to be comfortably in the lead pack, but it was even better when I looked around and saw that Maria and Clare were also in the pack, and out of the 12 women we were the only ones with teammates!

By about 41k into the race, at the top of Bitch Hill, the pack had dwindled to five women, and we stuck together all the way until just before the finish when the sprinting started.  Throughout the race it was fun to ski in the pack behind accomplished European skiers and Birkie veterans, comfortably keeping up with them but also admiring how well and confidently they ski.  For future years, I’ll have a little better sense of what can happen at the finish, because even after 50k it almost came as a surprise when we reached the 1k-to-go sign.

The Birkie was a very enjoyable racing experience for me, and I’ll definitely plan to race it again in the future.  Here are pictures of the Birkie and the awards ceremony – unfortunately not many, because everyone involved in the race tends to be absorbed in racing or supporting the athletes, not taking pictures.  For those of you who haven’t followed the results, they can be found here: http://www.birkie.com/2013results.  For the GRP athletes, I (Caitlin) was 3rd, Clare was 8th, Maria was 11th even after breaking a pole, Bryan was 15th, Patrick 20th, Gordon 25th, Dylan 29th, and Tim 37th.

Also, this is a link to the 10 minute video-recap of the women’s 2013 Birkie:  http://vimeo.com/60717863   I’m not sure what this video is like to an outside observer – perhaps you’ll find it interesting to see the attrition of the pack, or maybe it will instead be repetitive and not very captivating until the finish – but for me, it’s quite fascinating to relive the 50 kilometers of racing and to see glimpses of skiing that remind me what was happening and how I was feeling at any given moment.

 

 

The following photos are from the Birkie website, taken by Kelly Randolph, Mark Milford, and Darlene Prois:

 

Check it out here!

 

And see Craftsbury’s Youtube channel for earlier editions of the video blog.