Hi All, This is Elliot Ketchel with BSF collegiate team. This year we have an awesome squad of collegiate skiers with a wide range of ages and hailing from schools all across the country, literally, from Maine to Alaska and many places in between. We do most of our training with the BSF pro team, although sometimes our race and travel schedule is a little different. For instance as I write this Andy is with the pro team and a few others in Colorado while Heather is back in Bozeman with the rest of the group. It's been quite a time finding races and making time trials and events happen this winter between Covid restrictions on ski areas and covid safety for everyone else, but we have been making the most of the year and are putting in some serious work training to make the season without many races really count

We on the collegiate side had a fairly busy beginning to the winter, a few time trials in west yellowstone and some races in sun valley, then travelling with the pro team to Soldier hollow a couple times in january. Most recently we had a couple races here in Bozeman, an IMD JNQ (Inner Mountain Division Junior National Qualifier). The first race was a skate 10k for men and women, although it was closer to 11.5km. Lots of fresh warm snow, rising temperatures, and sun made for a sticky time, which combined with a course with minimal rest made for a very tough day. Regardless there were many strong showings from both Collegiate and Pro teams, with Finn from the pro team taking second place. Day two's sprint course was a small portion of the distance course, which had equally little rest. It was a very short race, and the Pro Teams Logan Diekmann took the win, with collegiate skier Emil in fifth place. Some super speedy juniors out there as well, so our collegiate competition will only get tougher in the coming years.

After last weekend we have a pretty solid chunk of time without a real race, so most of the collegiate team is hanging in Bozeman putting in a solid training block and ripping some time trials. This week we have a choose your own adventure sort of week, where people can choose to do a higher volume week, a medium week, or a light rest week, depending on how you've been feeling in the recent races. We started off the week with an easy own your own day on Tuesday, then some classic speeds on Wednesday followed by strength in the afternoon. Some folks took Wednesday to travel down to Colorado for some races in Aspen, but most of us stayed in Bozeman. Then thursday was another easy skate ski, and friday was on our own again. We are gearing up for a nice 30k time trial on Saturday, which is very exciting for me as I have never raced a 30k before. We will then round out the week with some (probably light) strength on Saturday afternoon, and a nice long ski on Sunday.

This week is pretty representative of a normal week out here with BSF collegiate, regular training and some good hard workouts on weekends, but plenty of time to do your own thing and enjoy the winter. The free time is definitely necessary for those athletes who are also taking classes online or in person, but there is a good number of us, myself included, who are just taking the year off from school so we have plenty of time to work or do fun things. So far the winter here in Bozeman has been relatively low snow, although things are just starting to take a turn this week. Avalanche danger is pretty real out here right now, so backcountry adventuring is a little limited, but I still do my best to get out and enjoy the mountains as much as possible. So far its been a ton of fun, and the winter is just getting started, so there is much more to come.