The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Big races this weekend on The Bench
by Than Acuff
Big things are afoot for the Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) this year, joining forces with the Gunnison Nordic Team as well as hosting the Solstice Showdown, a Junior National Qualifier event, this Saturday and Sunday, December 21-22 on Ruthie’s Run on The Bench.
Last year, head coach Molly Susla had a young squad of four skiers on her race team, with the focus on development more than just results as they skied through the winter.
“The season went really well,” says Susla. “We got some girls and some younger kids interested and we kind of started something I think.”
Well, based on numbers, they definitely started something as the race team has grown this year to 16 skiers ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old. While the effort of Susla and her coaching staff did play a part in the massive upshot in numbers, there is another detail that played heavily in the growth of the program.
For years both Crested Butte and Gunnison have had junior Nordic race teams with Ingrid and Kendall Butts coaching in Gunnison and Molly Susla, among others, coaching here in Crested Butte. The Butts retired from coaching in Gunnison this past year and the two programs decided to join forces.
“It’s better because we’re two small communities so it makes sense to join forces in a collaborative way,” says Susla.
To help carry the load of coaching the burgeoning program Susla has Greta Anderson as her assistant coach and also hired Western Colorado University Nordic team athlete Oliver Hinebauch to run training sessions one afternoon a week in Gunnison.
The three coaches have been running their athletes through a rigorous training program over the course of the pre-season. They started the kids with dry land training until the snow fell, sent four skiers to West Yellowstone for a Thanksgiving Camp and races, and have them training six days a week now with two extra morning sessions focused on strength and conditioning and developing a new approach to Nordic training.
“The training has been going really well and conditions are fabulous here now,” says Susla. “We do a lot of functional body movement, teaching them how to isolate different parts of their bodies. It’s important because that’s how you learn technique and this is the first year we’ve put a lot of focus into that.”
Susla gives a lot of the credit on that front to Anderson, as the two are able to team up to bring the training to a more individualized level.
“I’m really good at the big picture things and she been great at individualized training for our athletes,” says Susla.
The team is led this year by two u18 skiers, Sarah Bivens and Skye Bleakley. They’ve got a solid core of u16 racers in Katie and Piper O’Neill, Oliver White and Ruby Pendy, and the future looks bright with eight athletes competing in the u12 and u14 divisions. And already across the board Susla has seen the skiers progress at a faster rate with the race season on the near horizon.
“The team is further along in their technique and fitness at this point in the season than in years past,” says Susla.
The proof is in the pudding though, and the CBNT skiers will get their first test this weekend as Crested Butte Nordic is hosting the opening Junior Nordic Qualifier (JNQ) event of the 2019-2020 season, dubbed the Solstice Showdown, on Saturday and Sunday, December 21-22.
Crested Butte Nordic last hosted a JNQ in 2018 and Rocky Mountain Nordic is bringing the event back to Crested Butte.
“They rotate between different clubs each year,” says Susla.
Nine ski clubs along with coaches, parents and supporters will be rolling into Crested Butte this weekend for two days of Nordic racing, including some collegiate athletes such as former CBNT skier Woody Martineau, who now skis for Williams College.
Saturday will be Freestyle sprints all day, starting at 9 a.m. on The Bench with skiers going head-to-head six-wide for one kilometer, with the top two advancing to the next round until a winner emerges.
“The athletes go all out for one kilometer,” says Susla. “It’s all in, hammertime.”
Sunday will be the classic races on Ruthie’s Run on The Bench, our very own homologated trail deemed fit for competition according to the Federation du Ski Internationale Cross-Country Homologation manual. In a nutshell, courses created “that take care of the best traditions in Cross-Country skiing, are suited for all modern competition formats and techniques, and provide safe conditions and fair chances for all competitors.”
The racing Sunday starts at 10 a.m. and will vary in length from one kilometer for the youngsters all the way up to 10 kilometers for the older racers.
“I’m really excited to watch them race,” says Susla.
The team continues training through the holidays and will return to the racing schedule January 18-19 when they head to Steamboat for the next JNQ. As for qualifying for the National Championships, Susla feels that a handful have a legitimate shot at qualifying but it is not the sole focus of her coaching.
“I’m really looking for them to go after their own goals and we just help them get there,” says Susla, “and continue to foster an outstanding team dynamic.”
