Nordic athletes from Bridger Ski Foundation traveled all the way to Midway, UT for the IMD Youth Championships race weekend at the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center. We had 25 U14, U12 and U10 athletes make the journey south for our favorite race weekend of the year - where the infectious positive and sparkly team atmosphere highlights the spirit of Nordic.
Many teams drove into Soldier Hollow Nordic Center from all over to compete in classic, skate and skier cross events - there were over 200 racers! During all three of the race events, coaches saw the athletes bring out the best in themselves by working hard and having fun together.
In order to bring the most fun, each year the BSF team has a costume theme - this year was Bumblebees! The kids (and coaches) enjoyed crafting their Bumblebee costumes in order to to Bee their Best all weekend.
Saturday brought nothing but blue skies, sunshine and team fun! The athletes participated in an interval-start skate race in the morning. Parents laid out a tasty and healthy lunch in the parking lot for the athletes and coaches to fuel up for the afternoon. After lunch, the athletes completed a timed obstacle NordicX course. The highlight of the NordicX course was cheering on all the racers to do a trick off the table top. BSF teammate Cody Lux successfully landed his 360 and the crowd went wild!
The team had amazing catered dinners that they were able to enjoy together before their team meeting each night. The coaches would cover the day's highs, L.O.s (learning opportunities) and any shout outs.
Talk about teamwork: BSF coaches worked with coaches from the Bogus Basin Team on Sunday morning to pick out the best kick-wax for the day for the classic mass start race. And after races were completed for older athletes, you could find the BSF athletes running alongside other racers cheering loud and hard!
BSF showcased an especially strong U14 team this season with four girls (Tula Higman, Jude Haggerty, Neva Halverson and Hazel Gault) and two boys (Eli Bruce and Ross Bowman) all in the top 10 for the IMD U14 Cup! BSF was the 2nd place team overall for the Youth Champs Race weekend. Congrats to all our athletes for working hard, setting a positive example and Bee-ing the best teammates. We really are better when we're all together.
Many of our BSF athletes were taking on the challenge and thrill of traveling for the first time with the team. Opportunities for learning were plentiful, and we are thankful for our U14 athletes for helping out the younger athletes during a race weekend. Huge thank you to coaches, athletes and parents for coming together in co-creating this special race weekend where we grew a life-long love of skiing.
