Soldier Hollow

It's a busy time for the Nordic Team with lots of traveling, racing and fun. Last weekend, a group of 9-12 year olds from the team drove up to Salmon Arm, BC for Midget Championships were they logged some great results. Also competing internationally this week is Claire Waichler who is finishing up a stint at World Juniors for biathlon in Romania. 

For other members of the team it was time to fly down to Utah for the annual Super Junior Qualifier held at Soldier Hollow. Nine members of the team accompanied by coaches Leslie and Laura, helpful parent drivers William Worrell and Bob Nielsen, and wonderful cook Tammy Nielsen. 

This race included skiers from across the entire west and hosted over 750 skiers in all the fields. Soldier Hollow is always an exciting race to attend because of the great competition and the challenging venue, as the sight of the 2002 Olympics. 

A beautiful SoHo day

The first race of the weekend was a classic sprint following a very tough course featuring the infamous "Hermods Hill", a steep and long uphill climb. With such large fields of racers it was difficult to advance into the qualifying rounds and we had many skiers just on the edge. With only the top 30 moving on in each age group the times were all very close and competitive. In the U16 boys qualifier Peter Aspholm barely missed moving on, placing 31st, just .9 seconds outside and Emerson Worrell in 33rd closely behind. Novie McCabe and Ella Hall were the only MVNT skiers to advance to the qualifying rounds where Ella was eliminated in her quarter heat and Novie advanced well throughout the afternoon and ended up 4th overall in the U16's!

Novie charging into the finish

Additionally there was a U14 race just doing one lap of the 1.3km course. Walker Hall placed 3rd in this event and Travis Grialou finished 17th. 

U14 boy's podium

Saturday morning we awoke to the pattering of heavy rain which fortunately turned to snow after not too long. Unfortunately this made for rather poor visibility and tough conditions especially for those skiers doing 10km and 15km. The technique of the day was skate mass start and the U14 boys kicked things off with a 3km course were Walker Hall finished 2nd with a great finishing kick and Travis Grialou was not too far behind in 11th place. Following this was the U16 boys race were Peter and Emerson again tested their strength against that of a tough field. The U16 girls were after them and Novie McCabe dominated the field, taking the lead early on and keeping it the entire way. Gretta Scholz had a strong race as well and finished 9th overall. 

Novie at the top of the podium!

The next race was the U18/20 girls were Ella Hall had a strong race on speedy skis and finished fourth in the field and first in her age group. 

Another MVNT skier on top!

The last race of the day was the U18/20 boy's 15km were competitors made their way around the snowy loop 3 times. Eli Nielsen worked his way through the field and finished in 45th for his first 15km. Geza Sukovaty completed the race in 100th position. Full results for the weekend can be found at: http://summittiming.com/races/race_results.php.   

Girls cheering on during the sprints. 

All and all it was another great weekend for the team. Aside from the racing scene, things are going well also. With more and more snow in the valley conditions have been great at practice and everyone is enjoying getting outside and shuffling around. 

Practice at the McCabe trail! photo: Jen Schumacher

Stay tuned for our next adventures and enjoy the beautiful winter!