We have just finished up some racing in Utah which I am happy to recap! Soldier Hollow seems to be one of the only venues that is able to hold races. I think that it is still questionable whether or not Utah should be holding races or not due to the high amount of cases there but the races still went on.

It was a pretty sweet weekend because we have a classic sprint qualifier, 5k/10k skate, and mass start 15k/20k classic. We can’t do heats due to keeping safe. This may seem a little odd given there was a mass start, but for the sprint day there were also a ton of juniors so it makes more sense. Additionally, sprint days are long days so I think they thought of avoiding heats is decreasing exposure periods.

The classic sprint was on a different sprint course that including going 2/3 the way up Hermodes. Personally I think this is a more valuable sprint course than the previous ones at Soldier Hollow because of the significant hill climb. I thought I skied pretty well, I think I could have skied a stronger DP into the finish and work the downhill more. The skate 5k was a decent day too. Erika Flowers pushed hard and lead the girls. The classic mass start was a hard day for me, but we all kept fighting. Hannah Rudd had a great race and lead the girls while  Finn O’Connell lead the boys.

Soldier Hollow is a unique course because it is so hard pack, you really have to ski powerfully and if you don’t have the power by just a little bit then it will show in results, so every second really counts.

I want to thank Soldier Hollow for putting on such a great event in such circumstances. I believe they did a great job. It is crucial if we want to race at all that athletes really do wear their masks in start/finish and try and social distance. I also think that is would be beneficial to have every racer in the US get Covid tested before the races, just to try and bump out any asymptomatic skiers.

The team is now off to Colorado which is pretty exciting to race somewhere new! The races are part of RMISA and RM in Minturn, CO.

Happy Ski Days!

Leah

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