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Race Report
Race Report: Val di Fiemme, Italy
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\r\nTESERO di LAGO, ITALY – Today the world cup race organizers in Val di Fiemme hosted the first ever (in recent memory) coaches and service staff race.
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\r\nRace format was a three-by 500 meter relay. There were many different levels of fitness involved in this race, so what was for some a mere sprint was darn near a middle distance race for others.
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\r\nMany teams were involved. Host country Italy had several teams competing, all made up of coaches, waxers, and other staff. There were also many ex-champions competing, including Peter Schlickenreider, Alexi Prokurorov, Jochen Behle, and more notably the US contingent of Peter Vordenberg, Trond Nystad, and Roar Lillefjell.
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\r\nThe field was large. Rough estimate put the size of the field at nearly sixty teams(?). The race loop circled the stadium, and the race was held in the evening under the lights. The atmosphere was electric. Teams were cheered by nearly all the athletes who will be competing here over the weekend and the fans were kept abreast of the action by an announcer. Several TV cameras (no joke) circled the area interviewing racers and athletes.
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\r\nThe start for this race turned out to be crucial. With a large field and racers allowed to skate from the start, there was predictably mayhem from the get-go. Some Swedes got to the front early and never relinquished the lead, but the real action was a little further back.
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\r\nTrond started for our team. He muscled his way to the front and center of the start line and was well positioned for the starter’s yell of “GO”. He got a little tripped up from the start and had to take a knee, but got back into the fight without losing much ground. Not know for his skating prowess, Trond impressed fans by fighting his way back towards the top ten before being taken out at the far end of the course by a skier of considerably less skill. Again, he showed remarkable moxie and skied fast (faster than I knew he could) back to the tag zone. An impressive leg, made even better by a face plant in the tag zone that successfully took out a few other racers. Pete took the tag.
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\r\nPete actually didn’t take the tag. Trond fell in the vicinity of Pete but not close enough to tag him. They made eye contact. Close enough.
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\r\nPete skied a quick leg, moving up several spots. They didn’t have the scoreboard running for this race so it was tough to tell who was where, but Team USA was solidly in the top third (maybe top quarter) of the field. At only 500 meters, Pete didn’t feel that the race was taxing enough to really test his true strengths. Next time maybe they’ll add a pectoral and bicep strength and girth component.
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\r\nPete entered the tag zone and Roar, AKA Colter Smith, took the reins. In keeping with their strategy Pete never tagged Colter, and Colter wasn’t intending on waiting for the tag anyways. He was off.
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\r\nFor those of you who don’t know, Colter is a big guy. Tall. And big-boned. It takes him a few meters longer than most to get up to speed, but his top end pushes a big gear. He trained hard for this race, skiing upwards of twice this season before his warm-up. He skied like a locomotive, and a fast one at that. Not sure of his split time but he kept our team close to the front.
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\r\nAll-in-all, it was a good day. Our guys had hoped for more (the winners were awarded a case of local wine) but this was a solid start. Trond could race a little cleaner, Pete’s pecs don’t need to be quite so big, and next time Roar needs something longer than the classic poles he used today. Not the perfect day, but let’s look on the bright side. How often can you race a relay and never have to tag a teammate?
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Team USA. Colter, PV, Trond.
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\r\nStayed tuned over the weekend for World Cup updates from Val di Fiemme. Saturday is a skiathlon (30 K for men, 15 K for the ladies) and Sunday will see a day of distance relays. We’ll have four men and Wendy going tomorrow, and a men’s team on Sunday.
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Written By: petevDate Posted: 12/10/2004Number of Views: 243
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