Fourth and Team Namings!

Michael soaking in the glorious sun at the C-hole on the Yampa.

Back from another successful NoCo week in Steamboat.  This was my seventh straight Independence Day  spent in Steamboat.  It's always a great week of Nordic Combined and summer atmosphere.  

We kicked things off with the annual Fish Creek Time Trial.  It's pretty much all uphill; maybe not the most fun but a great way to measure fitness. Here's Brett Denney leading Michael Ward, with Sommer Schrock and Ben Loomis trying to hang on in the background.  We had a good mix of junior athletes that raced in the TT with us. 

Sommer and Ben, looking for the finish.

Koby Vargas, SSWSC.

A few of the braver (or dumber) of us sped back down after.  

The day after the TT we sat down as a big group and looked at videos from the race.  Our coach, DJ, gave a great talk to the juniors and then we went out to make the changes.  This was definitely a highlight of the week.  We paired up younger athletes with national team members and made some great improvements in a short time.

Friday was the annual main street sprint race.  After a good jump comp the day before, I put down a solid race to finish third overall.  Taylor Fletcher screamed by me early on to take an easy win, and Brett Denney took second.  

Ben Berend leading a charging crowd off the line.

T. Fletcher exceeding the speed limit down Main Street.

Jasper Good, ready to fly. Nathaniel Mah Photo.

After the roller ski race, we went straight to the jump hill for the Elimination jump competition.  I made it through all 4 rounds to the final 6, but didn't have the distance in the end to crack the podium.  Jake Locke (one of the younger "dark horses" from PC) through down some long jumps and took the well deserved win.  Not surprisingly, my brother, Ben, put down the long jump of the day in round two, but touched on the landing and was thus eliminate early. 

Finally, towards the end of the competition, they announced the newly structured national team.  The A-team consists of Taylor Fletcher, Bryan Fletcher and Bill Demong.  The B-team members are Brett Denney, Michael Ward, me and (new to the B-team) Ben Berend.  They also named a new development team, the C-team.  Jasper Good, Aleck Gantick, Nicholas Madden, Erik Lynch and Ben Loomis were named to the C-team.  

I want to throw out a congrats to all the guys rounding out this strong team, especially new members Ben Berend and Ben Loomis.  I hope they're excited as I am to have them on board!

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The US Nordic Combined Team: excelling in jumping, xc skiing, patriotism and style.

Until next time!