Crested Butte Nordic team opens race season this weekend

“I’m really excited to see where everyone is”

By Than Acuff 

While young, the Crested Butte Nordic Team (CBNT) has a lot going for it as they head into their first Junior National Qualifier race of the year this weekend in Steamboat.

For starters, their new head coach Gordon Gianniny is no stranger to the program or the area. After growing up in Durango and racing for the Durango Nordic Team, Gianniny went on to attend and race for Western Colorado University. Upon graduating from Western, Gianniny was the assistant coach for the CBNT when Molly Susla was head coach 2020-2021 and returned for the head coaching job starting in October along with returning assistant coach Vince Rogers.

“He knows the team and the kids really well, so we were able to have good continuity through the summer with training,” says Gianniny.

The team officially kicked into gear with training on November 5 and after one day of dryland workouts, they were able to get on snow and have been skiing as well as doing two days of weight training every week.

“We’ve been on snow for a month and a half which is great going into this first race weekend,” says Gianniny. “I think all of the kids are skiing really well for mid-December.”

There are seven athletes committed to the full CBNT race schedule, two additional athletes that are focused on training and 38 kids in the younger DEVO program under coach Eleanor Skinner. 

“We’re hoping to have them step up into racing the next couple of years,” says Gianniny.

Of the seven racing, Gianniny has two experienced racers in senior Finn Veit and junior Sophia Bender competing in the u18 class. The remaining five skiers are either freshmen or eighth graders who will be racing u16.

“We’re a fairly young team but we got a lot of strong young skiers,” says Gianniny. “A lot of them are stepping up into longer distance races with older kids and there’s a lot of learning opportunities.”

Veit and Bender are on a different track. Both have competed at Junior Nationals and Veit got a taste of racing at Senior Nationals last year. Furthermore, Veit has already been accepted to attend and race for Middlebury College next year. So, Gianniny has them both on course for a full JNQ schedule in addition to Senior Nationals in Anchorage, Alaska the first week in January and, ideally, a return to Junior Nationals at the end of this season.

“Senior Nationals is a big focus for Finn and it’s a great opportunity for Sophia to race with the fastest skiers in the country,” says Gianniny.

The CBNT starts it all off with a JNQ in Steamboat Friday and Saturday, December 20-21 putting their training to the test for the first time.

“I’m really excited to see where everyone is,” says Gianniny.

They have two more JNQ races before a JNQ right here in Crested Butte February 15-16.