Be it an Olympic venue or your local parks....

...get involved to ensure the sustainability and viability of these important parts of our communities.

Friend, fellow skier and Olympic Medalist, Bill Demong, just passed this Climate Bill Petition on to me to sign and pass around: http://action.earthday.net/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2732

This April the 2010 Winter Olympians will be visit the White House and President Obama, and some of us will extend our trips to support causes that are important to us, not just as Olympians, but as people who are invested in supporting that which is important to us and our communities. Bill will stay to help celebrate Earth Day in the National Mall. My self, on the otherhand, will arrive early to visit local Washington, D.C. schools with the USOC's Team for Tomorrow.

Lake Placid Olympians in support of ORDA

Currently, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) is facing severe state budget cuts. Fellow Lake Placid Olympians are lobbying for support, and concerned citizens are writing letters as the state budget is posed to pass this coming week.

Lake Placid News Article with Representative contacts

Adirondack Daily News Article

This is a huge issue not only facing athletes in the Adirondack region because ORDA is a primary vehicle for events and tourism in the North Country. Check out these articles and send in your letter!

1st classic race down...

Fast and Female event in Madawaska, ME

New group photo!

Chandra Crawford's (2006 Canadian Olympic Gold Medalist in skiing) program Fast and Female was brought to Madawaska today via our top US nordic skiers and biathletes. We put aside our race bibs today and dawned SKIDA hats, ISIS vests, handmade name headbands and formed little teams of girls from the Madawaska Elementary School and surrounding towns like Presque Isle and Fort Kent. The mission of Fast Female is to unite girls, give them a fun and encouraging experience on skis, and inspire their confidence and journey to reach their own goals. The participants range from 9 to 19, and the instructors range from local skiers and moms, to elite club skiers, National Ski team members and Olympians; together it forms an invigorating nordic love fest and demonstrates all sorts of reason to get into nordic skiing if you live in cold wintery places like northern Maine. Not only that, when asked why we love to ski, many of us cited to that it is a healthy and lifelong sport that keeps your body, mind and heart strong and dominating.

Kikkan Randall kicks off the morning with an inspiring talk.

Then we head out to the soccer field for a game of sharks and minnows, obstacle courses, ski technique, sprints, and a couple downhill course where our speed was clocked with a radar.

I took a hot chocolate break with Noelle and Grace.

....marshmellows and all.

The elementary school is just down the road from the Four Season Trail center where our weekend races will be held and tomorrow's classic race will be my first in many years.

Let the klister begin.

Teammate Susan, a fellow Fast and Female instructor, and I waxing up before our ski.

The stadium and newly built Four Seasons lodge.

"The Maine Way"

Northern Maine is unique place, and after spending a few years here with the Maine Winter Sports Center, it is also a place that I am very fond of. I just came across an article by Bill McKibben about the impact of nordic skiing and biathlon on Maine's Aroostook County: "The Maine Way: Aroostook County, Maine Winter Sports Center reawakened a skiing heritage" It offers a good background on MWSC, a glimpse into the inner workings of using skiing as a successful economic vehicle in this part of the country and a taste of the local culture. Over the past three weeks the County has hosted XC Junior Olympics, US Biathlon National Championships, US XC Long Distance 30/50km Championships, and soon the SuperTour Finals. Looking ahead to next February, Fort Kent will host its 2nd Biathlon World Cup.

The 30 and 50km marathons were this morning. As I knew it would be, I really enjoyed racing the 30km. And after last week it was nice to start each 10km lap without a penalty lap handicap. Photos will come soon, as the snow piles up and the wind blows as if it were mid-winter, not the end of March.

2009-2010 coming to a close...

Sunday marked the official end of my biathlon competition season with the Mass Start and the first day of spring with a sunburnt face. I was really glad to be here for US Nationals and to get a chance to race some low key races on a former "hometown" course. After a great week of training at home and a solid lead into the race week I really enjoyed the first race. I gave my self the best chance of putting together a good race series, but the length of the race season, the heights of the Olympics and the lows of poor performances have really tested my ardor for competition this season. Coming back to the County was the right place to be to rekindle my enjoyment for racing and ending the season on a good note. Despite some tough races this week, it was in those trying moments that I found that there is still a lot of work left to be done. After some fun xc races this week and a healthy spring break, I will get another chance to pick back up where I have left off.

Racing in Fort Kent four years ago. Source: Bangor Daily News article

Racing resumes this Wednesday with the US Distance National 30km and 50km skate race.

www.supertourfinals2010.com

Crust cruising on frozen potato fields and racing

Today was a training day in between yesterday's Sprint and tomorrow's Pursuit, and a good day to take advantage of freezing temps overnight and clear blue skies this morning. A huge crew ventured up to the open, frozen fields on top of the Perley Brook Roads to ski on the perfect spring snow crust. The effortless and open range skiing was a nice change after racing in slushy conditions in yesterday's sprint.

Teammate Annelies, and I.

The southern Maine contingent.

Teammates Annelies and Walt.

Melinda and I skiing through the birches.

North American and US Biathlon Championships will continue this weekend with a Pursuit and Mass Start.

Fasterskier article

An eagle on the streets of Vancouver during the Games.

Back in the "County"

Fort Kent, the northern most town in an area affectionately known as "The County," was my home for a couple of years while I skied on the US Biathlon Development Team and for the Maine Winter Sports Center. It is great to be back up here to finish out my season with US Biathlon National Champs and US XC National Champs. Not only is it nice to enjoy racing after a long Olympic year, it has also been invigorating to catch up with old friends and loop back through one of the places that was integral to my ski career. I'll be sure to get some photos up here soon, so stay posted for another update.

In the meantime.....
www.10thmtskiclub.org
www.fasterskier.com