US Nationals Day 1 is in the books. The race trail survived a couple days of warm temps and light rain. It looks like it will stay cold now and conditions will only improve – with a lot of snow making and shoveling – throughout the week.
The East is known for extremely variable weather conditions and yesterday’s race was no exception. Despite the fact that the race trail was a lot more brown than white, the track was really fast, making for some fun classic sprinting.
Leading the heat - Photo: Ian Harvey - Toko
Toko’s Ian Harvey was on hand taking photos of the action. We had 5 CXC athletes make the heats, keeping coaches Jason and Gus busy all day. I’m pretty sure they were more exhausted than the athletes after the long day of racing. The course finished with a long downhill and we opted to sacrifice a little kick for faster glide going into the stadium and it paid off. Winning the B-Final was a nice consolation, but I’m looking forward to even stronger finishes in the days to come.
Cruising into the finish - Photo: Ian Harvey - Toko
No racing today. Some of the athletes drove across state lines into New Hampshire for some skiing. I opted to ski the 500m wax test loop for an hour or so. There was practically no one at the race course today and the race trails were all closed. Volunteers and race officials were out shoveling snow onto the course while snow guns blasted snow onto other parts.
Race course: Highlighted. Needs shoveling: Highlighted.
I was really impressed by how good the trail looked today. Although it sounds like we’ll be competing on a short 3km loop, the trail should be in good shape.
View of the stadium: perfect untracked corduroy
Everything else might be bare, but the course looks like it’s in good shape. Can’t wait to get out and race some more later this week!