End of the World Champs and a new direction for a new season.

Apr 12, 2015
3 min read

I am sorry it has been so long since I have had a chance to write about the end of my season and the second half of the world champs. Ever since my last race in Sweden life has been full on with several Snow Farm projects in the works. However with the first snow dusting the hills here in New Zealand this morning I figure better late than never.

To recap the World Champs I had two remaining races after the skiathlon. These were my two targeted races for the entire season so I was excited to see what I could produce. The 15km individual was first up and the race went fairly well. Falun had been struggling with warm, humid weather and this was starting to take its toll on the trails. The organizing committee was using salt in selected areas but outside of those sections the trail was extremely soft, boot deep in many spots! Regardless I studied the footage from the previous races in the week and noticed that many of the best skiers were using the ‘one-skate’ or ‘v2’ technique for large portions of the race course much more so than they would in firm conditions. I decided I would adopt this same strategy for my own race. I was happy with how I managed to keep to my plan but I certainly could feel myself being bogged down on some of the softer flat sections. I ended up finishing in 69th spot. Why this was not the result I was after I was happy to be the fastest Australasian skier and to be within spitting distance of strong skiers such as Peter Northug from Norway and Kris Freeman from the United States.

[Starting strong during the 15km - Photo Alexei Sotskov]

The final event of my season was the 50km mass start. This was the event I had been most looking forward to for the entire season. Unfortunately it didn’t go the way wanted. Conditions were unbelievable and unlike anything I had skied in before. The slush was knee deep in some spots. Everyone was struggling to simply stay on their feet myself included. Conditions aside the 50km event at the World Champs is quite unique in that you are now allowed to change skis several times throughout the race. This is an absolute game ender for small teams like New Zealand as we simply don’t have the staff to be able to wax/rewax skis and hand out feeds all while the race is going on. Alexei did his best and my first pair of skis had good grip which was useful on the huge climbs, however when I changed skis at the halfway stage I ended up on a pair with very little grip. Given I was already a little bit behind the main pack I was never going to catch back up with no grip and it was likely that I would be lapped as I was herringboning the hills. There was nothing to do but to pull out and take the DNF. Something I have tried to avoid for a long time now. I was by no means the only one not to make the distance; out of 58 starters only 45 finished.

[Surviving a tricky corner during the 15km. Photo - Alexei Sotskov]

The 50km wasn’t the way I wanted to end my season but looking back I would say it was a highly successful comeback. Over 12 weeks I raced in 16 FIS sanctioned races, lowering my FIS distance points to a career best 83.11, ending the season as the highest ranked Australasian distance skier. Looking to the future I am excited to keep this momentum going. I have decided to focus my efforts on marathon racing, and am looking to contest some of the major loppets this year, starting with the Merino Muster and Kangaroo Hoppet this August. Its an exciting time and I am enjoying getting stuck into every training session.