The end of one year/start of a new year is often thought of as a time for family, friends, and gathering away from sport. Unless you’re a nordic skier or biathlete, that is. For those groups, the holidays signal “trials season” where athlete from across the country gather to race for spots on championship teams like World Juniors, U18 Scandinavian Cup, Junior IBU Cup, and more.
As MNC has grown, more and more of our athletes have made long journeys over this timeframe. Not to mention all of our alumni competing for various colleges and post-grad programs that also continue to race.
Biathlon trials took place in Soldier Hollow, UT where Seven Bowen earned the chance to compete in Poland and Germany this January in the IBU Junior Cup! She’ll do 6 races in 11 days, and travels out across the ocean in a short week’s time. Pat Frazier also competed for the Pugs out in Utah, where familiar faces like Taylor Carlson and Virginia Cobb were also making waves!
Right after biathlon trials ended, US Nationals began in Anchorage, AK. If you’ve ever been to Alaska, you likely haven’t forgotten it…if only for the immense amount of travel required to get there. Can you believe that Alaska and Florida both exist in the same country? It’s actually a bit wild to think about.
Anyway, MNC is represented on this trip by Jonah Gorman and Emma Crum. Emma is an MNC alum who currently races for Bowdoin, but as that team is not making the journey, we were happy to take Emma under our wing (paw?) for the races. We also teamed-up with Ford Sayre for the second year in a row, making a New England powerhouse squad!
Before the racing started, we dove a ways outside of the city to Hatcher Pass for what was, personally speaking, the best Nordic skiing experience of my life! Bright sun, tons of snow, an epic mountain pass with the sun rising between the peaks to bathe us in golden light, and Pisten Bully-groomed trails through an abandoned turn-of-the century mining ghost town…it was mind-blowing.
Naturally, we actually classic skied for about 20 minutes, and then spent over an hour blasting through powder, whooping with joy, and filming it all:
And then we eventually did have to start racing…a lot! Jonah made the Junior rounds in the classic sprint, which is an awesome accomplishment for a first-year U18. And with one race to go Emma Crum is in contention for U23 World Championships! Ford Sayre athlete Annie Hanna qualified for the U18 Scandinavian Cup, and everyone on the trip has at least a race or two they felt really good about.
Back home, there was great local racing at the Bogburn, and soon all of our Juniors will turn their attention to the second Eastern Cup in Lake Placid, NY!
Jonah and Taylor (who is doing a PG year at Sun Valley)
MNC alums Emma (Bowdoin) and Ava (Dartmouth) both kicking butt!
Brooke Greenberg, who moved to Utah when her dad became the new boss of Salomon USA…but is still a Pug at heart!
