Great races on great days at Eldora, held by the Boulder Nordic Junior Racing Team. Former Rocky Mountain Nordic/Durango skier Jamie Wienk brought Team Telluride to their first Junior Olympic Qualifier races, the weather was unusually good (“This is the best morning I’ve ever seen at Eldora” — Boulder coach Eric Pepper), the courses were tough and the banquet was outstanding.

Many thanks to race organizers and volunteers.

[All photos courtesy Jane Gerstenberger]

A short breakdown of Friday and Saturday’s events:

Results from this morning's classic, interval-start races, held at Eldora Nordic Center, are available for download.

Click below to link to Information/Forms and download the results:
(Also available in in non-downloadable form in Results.)

There's been a bit of a buzz on e-mail about prequalification of skiers for Junior Nationals. To clarify: Rocky Mountain (and every other region) may send up to 42 skiers (21 male, 21 female) to JOs not counting skiers who either a) are on the US Ski Team, b) attend World Junior Championships, c) attend J1 Scandinavian Cup, d) are the top five juniors in their NCAA region, e) are in the top 20 junior ranked at Senior Nationals, f) are Nordic Combined skiers who place in the top 10 at their World Junior trials or g) Biathlon skiers who place in the top 10 at their World Junior trials

For the official USSA rule, see the Nordic Competition Guide or click on the link below and consult rules 70.1.1-5:

Read the rule

USSA has released its list of the top juniors from Senior Nationals.

The top 20 boys and girls, plus any World Junior or Scandinavian Cup selectees, are automatically qualified to attend Junior Nationals.

Seven of the 22 qualifying boys were from Rocky Mountain Nordic: Glenn Randall (Collbran/Dartmouth), Noah Hoffman (Aspen Valley Ski Club), Tad Elliott (Durango Nordic), Brandon Cooper (AVSC), Sylvan Ellefson (Ski and Snowboard Club Vail), Colin Struthers (Boulder Junior Nordic Racing Team) and Ian Havlick (BJNRT).

Jamie Woelk (Crested Butte/Gunnison) and Laura Van Alst (University of New Mexico) qualified on the girls' side.

[Glenn Randall hooking it, 01.08.06 10km skate -- photo: Jane Gerstenberger]

Five juniors from Rocky Mountain Nordic were selected to represent the United States at international events last evening.

Full teams for World Junior and Scando Cup are listed as well -- these may be adjusted if some of the World Junior team decides to join the U23 team.

Photos, courtesy of Jane Gerstenberger, from Saturday's classic race at Soldier Hollow. More will be posted this evening.

Results from this week are available at Summit Timing.