Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Points racing at Canmore for Nordic team

Classic in Canadian Rockies


Developed for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games, the Canmore Nordic Center in Alberta, Canada had the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., on its collective mind last weekend.

There, Canadian cross-country skiers competed for 2010 Olympic berths and some visitors from the U.S. and the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Olympic Development Team piled up FIS race points to help them in their quest for the Winter Olympics.

Classic sprints, an Olympic event, featured preliminary sprints and elimination rounds Saturday and Sunday in Haywood Nor-Am Teck Sprints.

"Our big focus was skiing the prelims fast because that's where you earn FIS (International Ski Federation) points," said head SVSEF ODT coach Travis Jones. His team finished up a two-week competition trip to Western Canada and headed for home Sunday evening.

Sunday, Mike Sinnott (3:55.56) placed third overall of 64 racers, the second American, in the Senior Men's 1.7-kilometer sprint. Colin Rodgers was 14th and Erik Fagerstrom the top junior in 37th overall.

Both Sinnott and Rodgers made the quarterfinals of the afternoon round won by Canadian Drew Goldsack. Former Sun Valley skier Chris Cook was second in the "B" final.

Jones said Kate Whitcomb and Nicole DeYong "had a really scrappy performance" in Sunday's women's 1.45k classic. Both made the "B" final, Whitcomb placing ninth overall and DeYong 10th. They were the second and third Americans. Teammate Adele Espy made the quarterfinals.

On Saturday, Simi Hamilton was the first American, in sixth place in the morning prelims. Hamilton, Rodgers and Sinnott made the quarterfinals, Canadian Stefan Kuhn winning. Again, Fagerstrom captured the junior round championship. DeYong, 13th in prelims, the third American, made the quarters with Whitcomb.

Jones said the ODT skiers will do light volume training the next few days and rest up for the 2010 Conoco Phillips U.S. Cross Country Championships Jan. 2-8 at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Alaska.

The schedule is: Saturday, Jan. 2, freestyle sprint qualifications and final rounds; Monday, Jan. 4, 15k/10k freestyle races; Wednesday, Jan. 6, 30k/20k mass start classic; and Friday, Jan. 8, sprint classic qualifications and final rounds.




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