Cross-country FIS races

The past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (6th, 7th, 8th) I competed in the Cross-country FIS races up at the Snow Farm, here in New Zealand.  Canadians, Americans, Koreans, Japanese, and Australians were all racing in these races- which made it pretty exciting.

Friday was the 10km classic and it was my second classic ski of the season! But, I decided to do it anyways- Why not!?!?! My skiing actually felt really good, which was a surprise, and I placed 7th, which was the top Kiwi placing. The snow was great and our Russian coach, Alexei, did a great wax job.

Saturday was the sprint day! The usual sprint course here in NZ is usually 800m, but for this race day they changed it to 1600m- perfect for men, but a bit long for women. The weather was crazy! It was great weather for the qualifier, but then the forecasted storm arrived and from then on it was full-on blizzard! It was poor visibility and painful on the face for the rest of the sprints. It was definitely a fun challenge. I won the B-final sprint, which was great.

Sunday was the last day and it was crazy! The race was delayed 2 hours because of the amount of snow that had fallen and the track could not be groomed. Also all cars required chain fitting because of the conditions. The course was changed because of all the snow, so men ended up doing 5 x 2km loop and women did 3 x 2km loop. It was a tough course, with a big up-hill and soft snow, but it was great. I ended up 3rd, which was exciting as a Kiwi was on the podium. Woohoo!

It was a great weekend and I am excited for the biathlon races coming up on Sunday!

Take care, have fun and smile!

Sarah