The Bridger Ski Foundation’s Nordic athletes traveled to the mythical land of skiing known as Sun Valley, Idaho, for the opening of the Intermountain Division’s season and the second stop of the North American SuperTour Race Series.
Racing kicked off with a 15km classic mass start that was won by BSF Pro Team athlete Finn O’Connell in 41:16. Reid Goble, also of the BSF Pro Team, finished fourth at 41:50.
BSF Comp Team skiers Max Kluck finished in 46:04 and Phineas Fischer clocked 46:37 to finish second and third in the U20 age group.
The women’s 15 km classic mass start was won by Hailey Swirbul of Alaska Pacific University in 47: 31. BSF Pro Team skier’s Mariah Bredal was fourth in 49:44 and Sarah Goble finished sixth in 50:12.
In the junior men’s 10 km, BSF Comp Team skier Landon Wyatt started his season with an impressive third place performance finishing in 30:29. Woody West was close behind in sixth at 30:43.
In the junior women’s 10 km, BSF’s Natalie Nicholas led the charge finishing eighth in 37:42.
In the U14 3 km classic race, BSF athlete’s Eli Bruce took the victory at 9:59 in the boys race and Tula Higman finished second, just one second off the top spot in 10:55.
After a rest day on Friday, a major snowstorm set in over the Wood River valley. Over the next two days, the race courses received well over two feet of snow. Perfect conditions for powder skiing and extremely challenging for Nordic. Good thing these are some of the toughest athletes in sport.
The final day of racing almost didn’t happen. Nonstop coldsmoke fell from the heavens and made for a challenging morning of digging out vans and blowing parking spots.
After a one hour delay, racers tackled four laps on a challenging 2.5 km freestyle (skate) loop with ultra soft conditions and low light to boot. Alexandra Lawson of The Green Racing Project took the women’s 10km in 33:54. All three of BSF Pro Team’s female athletes finished in the top ten. Led by Mariah Bredal in sixth at 35:15, Sarah Goble in seventh at 35:36 and Hannah Rudd was ninth at 36:34.
.jpeg)
Nathalie Nicholas was again BSF’s top junior female skier with a strong third place finish in the U18 age group in 39:34.
The men’s race was a nail biter for BSF Pro Skier and US Ski Team member Finn O’Connell. O’Connell was vying for the final spot at the World Cup Tour du Ski event with Johnny Hagenbuch of Dartmouth College/SVSEF. Whoever finished in front of the other would claim the spot. O’Connell’s fifth place finish at 30:24, one position ahead of Hagenbuch, was enough to send him to Europe.
Max Kluck was again BSF’s top finisher placing fifth in the junior men’s U20 category with a time of 34:11.
BSF’s Necia Nicholas finished third in the girls U16 5km race with a time of 20:17. On the boys side, Sam Madsen was BSF’s top finisher in 13th place at 19:41.
Tula Higman of BSF took the top spot in the girls U14 3 km race with a time of 10:43. Eli Bruce was third in the boys 3 km event at 10:34.
