GRP Ski at NorAm/SuperTour in Gatineau, Quebec

Ben Lustgarten (2nd) on the classic pursuit podium in Gatineau, Quebec

Kaitlynn Miller on top of the "time on day" podium in Gatineau (Photo Becca Rorabaugh)

Last Updated: 06.Feb.2018

While the cross country FIS World Cup took a pre-Olympic break this weekend, the domestic GRP skiers raced at combined NorAm/SuperTour races in Gatineau, Quebec just across the border from Ottawa. Nakkertok Nordic hosted a three race mini-tour for Eastern Canadian Championships, and most of the US SuperTour field showed up to race. Meanwhile, in Craftsbury GRP biathlete Hallie Grossman hopped in the UVM Carnival/Eastern Cup races.

Gatineau NorAm/SuperTour
The race weekend kicked off on Friday, February 2 with a classic sprint. The GRP put three skiers into the rounds, with Liz Guiney taking 2nd and Kaitlynn Miller in 3rd in the women's qualfier, and Ben Lustgarten taking 2nd in the men’s qualifier. Adam Martin was 36th, less than 0.2 sec from the top 30. Both Guiney and Miller made their way through the rounds to the A Final, where Miller took 2nd and Guiney was 4th. Lustgarten had to navigate a crash in his quarterfinal heat and finished 5th, for 21st overall on the day.
The following day racers took on a 10/15k individual start freestyle race. For the men, Lustgarten finished 6th and Martin took 16th. In the women’s 10k, Guiney placed 5th with Miller not far behind in 7th. The final day of racing featured a classic pursuit, with the start order and time determined by the previous day’s freestyle result. In the men’s 15k pursuit, Ben Lustgarten moved up from 6th placed to 2nd with the 3rd fastest time of the day, while Adam Martin had a standout day with the 2nd fastest time on day, moving up from 16th to 7th. In the women’s 10k, Miller skied the fastest time of the day to move up from 7th place to 3rd, while Guiney finished 6th with the 6th fastest time on day.
Results from the Gatineau NorAm are available on Zone4.ca. The SuperTour resumes next on February 15 in Ishpeming, MI. In the meantime, the Olympics start on February 10, and GRP skiers Caitlin Patterson, Ida Sargent, and Kaitlynn Miller are slated to represent the US there, so stay tuned for reports from their races in Korea!

UVM Carnival
Back in Craftsbury, Hallie Grossman hopped in the UVM Carnival and Eastern Cup as tune-up races for her biathlon NorAms this coming weekend in Jericho, VT. She placed 14th the first day in the women’s 5k classic against the full college field, and the next day skied to over a 40 second victory in a 10k mass start freestyle. Results from the Eastern Cup are available on BartTiming.com.