RMN was well represented at the REG by:
Athletes: Haleigh Armstrong (Vail / Bates), Brittany Perkins (Summit), Brianna Perkins (Summit), Ashley Quiggle (Crested Butte / Western State), Sarah MacCarthy (Steamboat / utah), Jamie Woelk (Crested Butte / MSU), Josh Smith (Vail / CU), Ian Havlick (Boulder), Colin Struthers (Boulder), Noah Hoffman (Aspen), Sylvan Ellefson (Vail / Bates) and Tad Elliott (Durango).
Coaches (Jesse Crandall (Western State College), Jason Cork (Durang0), Travis Jones (RMN / Steamboat) and Ivana Radlova (RMN / Steamboat)
The camp in the beautiful Wood River Valley kicked off with a day of skate video technique work and a great bounding workout with blood lactate monitoring. A couple of the RMN girls weren't so happy to see the blood, but they got back up and got the job done none-the-less. Everyone emerged from the workout with a sore finger and a better understanding of their bodies, effort levels and fitness.
After a few days of rollerski and strength workouts, we got down to the first of the weeks two time-trial workouts. Rollerski Sprint Relay - and a disclaimer - rollerskis are NOT consistent in speed so the results may not mean all that much. That said, RMN had a great day, with the fastest overall lap times for both men (Sylvan Ellefson - in jeans and with an orange left nipple) and women (Sarah MacCarthy). The relay event went to the the team of Matt Gelso (Far West) and Wyatt Fereday (Intermountain) for the guys and to 100m World Record holder Sadie Bjornsen (Pacific Nortwest) and her teammate Bernie Nelson (Far West).
After an afternoon off, followed by another day of running and rollerskiing, we were ready for the big event. The Harpers Hill Time Trial in Sun Valley has seen over 300 starts over the last 6 years. Olympians, National Champions, NCAA Stars and many other top skiers have tested their metal against the hill.
RMN Athletes threw down the gauntlet on Harpers. On the girls side, Ashley Quiggle won the day, taking both the junior girls victory and the overall victory and setting the 2nd fastest time ever by a woman on Harpers, behind only US Ski Teamer Morgan Arritola. Sarah MacCarthy grabbed 3rd place in the junior girls and the 6 RMN women took 6 of the top 9 spots.
On the boys side, RMN had an even bigger day, with a sweep of the top 3 spots by Noah Hoffman, Tad Elliott and Sylvan Ellefson. On his way to victory, Noah set a new hill record of 12:02, taking the title from fellow RMN Athlete Glenn Randall. Tad and Sylvan's times were the 3rd and 4th fastest of all time, which means that the top 4 all-time records up the hill now belong to RMN Athletes. Good Job!
After the TT, everyone said their goodbyes and headed home to continue to do the hard work that got them to the REG in the first place.
Remember this, all you aspiring REG Speedsters - it's not the 10-20 days per summer that these athletes spend at camps that make them fast. It's the 70+ days that they spend at home, training hard, living like a 24 hour athlete, and getting out the door to do a workout even when they'd rather stay on the couch.
Becoming very good at Nordic Skiing is a simple thing. Get out the door and go train. Do it again tomorrow and the day after that. Keep going until you decide that you're done. You know exactly what it takes to be great - hard work... In the words of the Dali Lama "everyone knows the path, and yet few chose to walk it". Will you be one of those few?
Eye of the Tiger
Trav.