GRP Skiers Start Season At Canmore NorAm/SuperTour; Patterson Races Lillehammer World Cup

Ben Lustgarten cresting a hill during Friday’s freestyle sprint in Canmore, AB (Photo Doug Stephen)

Over the weekend of December 6-8, Green Racing Project (GRP) skiers competed in the opening NorAm/SuperTour in Canmore, Alberta as well as on the FIS World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer was the second weekend of World Cup racing, and like most Scandinavian World Cups, had a very strong and deep field on both the men’s and women’s side.For the domestic athletes, the Canmore races were the opening weekend of their season, and featured strong fields of Americans, Canadians, and college athletes.

The Lillehammer World Cup started on Saturday with 15/30k skiathlon races, a race format where athletes transition from classic gear to skate gear halfway through. Caitlin Patterson of the GRP finished in 46th place. The following day she was a member of the USA II team in the 4x5k relay. Although only three athletes on the USA II team were able to start (the 4th skier was sick), Patterson skied the 2nd leg, and the team was in 10th place after 15k.

Meanwhile on the other side of the pond, racing kicked off Friday in Canmore with a 1.3k freestyle sprint. On the women’s side, Kaitlynn Miller qualified in 19th place, followed by Liz Guiney in 21st. On the men’s side, Ben Lustgarten took 25th in qualifying, followed by Akeo Maifeld-Carucci in 45th, Raleigh Goessling (GRP biathlete) in 56th, Braden Becker 57th, and Adam Martin 73rd. In the heats, Guiney made it to the semifinals where she placed 5th, good for 10th overall. Miller advanced to the A Final where she placed 5th. Lustgarten took 6th place in his quarterfinal heat, and ended up 29th overall.

Saturday was a 5/10k classic individual start. On the men’s side, Lustgarten led the way with a 3rd place finish, with Martin not far behind in 4th. Becker took 21st place ,followed by Maifeld-Carucci in 52nd. On the women’s side, Miller had a solid race finishing in 6th place, with Guiney taking 17th. The final race was a 10/15k freestyle individual start. Lustgarten improved on his previous day’s finish, winning the men’s 15k. Martin was the next GRP finisher in 11th, with Maifeld-Carucci close behind in 13th. Becker took another 21st place, and Goessling was 68th. In the women’s race, Miller finished in 8th place and Guiney took 18th.

Kaitlynn Miller and Liz Guiney in the semifinal heats of the freestyle sprint in Canmore (Photo Anna Sellers)

Results from the Canmore NorAm/SuperTour are available on Zone4.ca, results from the World Cup are on FIS-Ski.com. The SuperTour continues this weekend in Sun Valley, ID, while the World Cup moves to Davos, Switzerland.