Last Updated: 28.Nov.2016

Green Racing Project skiers had a successful opening weekend in the World Cups in Ruka, Finland, as well as a set of FIS Race season openers in West Yellowstone, MT. Although Caitlin Patterson and Ida Sargent have already competed in two race weekends in Finland, this weekend was the official World Cup opener. Meanwhile, in Montana the rest of skiers were testing out their race fitness for the first time this year.

Ruka World Cup Opener
In Saturday’s classic sprint, Ida Sargent joined teammates Jessie Diggins, Sadie Bjornsen, and Sophie Caldwell in qualifying for the heats in 23rd. She took 5th place in her quarterfinal heat, +5.60 from Norwegian Maiken Caspersen Falla, who went on to take 2nd in the A Final. Ida maintained her qualifying position of 23rd on the day. Caitlin Patterson placed 52nd in the sprint qualifier. On Sunday, both Caitlin and Ida raced a 10k classic individual start. Caitlin had a solid race in 28th place, scoring her first World Cup points of the season, and Ida was close behind in 44th place. The World Cup continues with a mini-tour in Lillehammer, Norway next weekend with another classic sprint, a 5k freestyle, and 10k classic pursuit. Results from this weekend are available on FIS-ski.com.

West Yellowstone FIS Races
The rest of the GRP skiers opened the domestic season with two FIS races in West Yellowstone. In previous years the West Yellowstone Thanksgiving races have been SuperTours, but with the SuperTour season starting a week later this year, these races were simply “warm-up” FIS races. On Friday the skiers raced a 5k freestyle for women and 10k for men. Liz Guiney had the top women’s result in 4th, followed by Kaitlynn Miller in 9th, Mary O’Connell in 17th, and Heather Mooney in 26th. On the men’s side, Ben Lustgarten placed 5th, 30 seconds from the winner. The following day the women raced another 5k, this time classic, while the men again raced 10k. The women improved on their previous day’s place, with Liz taking 1st place, Kaitlynn in 6th, Heather in 17th, and Mary 22nd. Ben hit the podium in the men’s race with a 3rd place finish. Next weekend, the skiers will start out the SuperTour season with a freestyle sprint and 10/15k classic, also in West Yellowstone (moved from the original venue in Bozeman due to lack of snow). Results from the opening FIS races can be found on Sportstats.ca.