Teams from Boulder and Steamboat, as well as Rogan Brown from Durango made the trip up north. Upon arrival in West, there was not a flake of snow to be found. Happily, the first night we were there, a foot of fluffy snow fell, and it was off to the races... Conditions held up really well, which is quite a feat, considerin that those twelve inches packed down to about three and that 1000+ people per day were out there skiing, two times each... Thanks to the West Yellowstone Crew!
Everyone had a great week - lots of volume, some quality intensity, very cold temps and very positive results for those who raced...
Thursday was the first race day, with a 10 km Biathlon Sprint. SSWSC Skier Marty Smith, a newborn biathlete, won his first ever competition by an amazing 3 minutes and 9 seconds over second place. Most of the big guns didn't race, but we were pretty proud of him!
Friday was the Supertour Skate Sprint, with great results from Sarah MacCarthy, Ryan Scott, Kevin Hochtl, Ian Havlick and Mark Iverson. Smac (Utah/SSWSC) skied to a solid 8th place finish in a loaded womens field, Ryan Scott (MSU/Boulder) won the 4 skier junior final, Hochtl (Vail/Rossignol) rolled in to 10th place and Iverson (Steamboat/Rossignol) came in with a solid 21st, only 1.5 seconds from qualifying. Havlick skied to 39th in qualifying.
Saturday was the Supertour Distance Classic Race. The field was huge and very strong, and Sarah MacCarthy, Noah Hoffman, Ian Mallams and Rogan Brown had outstanding races. Smac (Utah/SSWSC) skied to a solid 14th place finish, further establishing herself as one of the top up-and-coming women in the country. Ian Mallams (SSWSC) had a breakthrough race, skiing to a very impressive 15th overall and 2nd junior (behind Noah Hoffman SVSEF/Aspen. Go Noah!). Both Hoffman and Mallams threw down the gauntlet and showed that thye will be stron contenders for this year's World Junior Team. Rogan had a very solid first race as a J1, finishing well in the super-elite junior field.
Complete results are available at http://summittiming.com/races/race_results.htm