GRP Skiers Take 1st and 2nd in Truckee SuperTour; Sargent and Guiney Race in Ulricehamn

Kaitlynn Miller (2nd), Caitlin Patterson (5th), and Heather Mooney (6th) on the podium in Truckee (Photo Jennie Bender)

Last Updated: 23.Jan.2017

Green Racing Project skiers had a successful weekend of racing in California, picking up two podium spots at the Truckee SuperTour. The GRP also had two skiers compete on the World Cup in Ulricehamn, Sweden.

Truckee SuperTour Classic Sprint

The theme of the Truckee weekend was snow- an abundance of it falling from the sky and on the trails. The races were originally scheduled as a classic sprint Saturday and 5/10k freestyle Sunday, but the organizers had to cancel the second day’s races due to unsafe road conditions up to the venue. In the women’s classic sprint qualifier, Kaitlynn Miller took the win by over 3 seconds, followed by Caitlin Patterson in 6th, Heather Mooney in 14th, and Mary O’Connell in 16th. Ben Lustgarten was 4th in the men’s qualifier. They improved upon those results in the heats, with Ben taking the victory in the A Final. It was his first sprint A Final appearance ever! In the women’s A Final, Kaitlynn took 2nd, Caitlin P. was 5th, and Heather took 6th. Mary kept her qualifying position of 16th in the heats. Qualifier results are available on SportStats.ca, bracket results on the Auburn Ski Club site. The GRP skiers will travel back to Craftsbury now to get in a training block before the SuperTour resumes in Ishpeming, Michigan in late February. Caitlin Patterson is headed overseas to race World Cups in Falun, Sweden, and PyeongChang, South Korea.

Ulricehamn World Cup

Ulricehamn, Sweden hosted its first ever World Cups this weekend, and the fans turned out in hordes, with over 55,000 spectators over the weekend. On Saturday, the women raced a 10k freestyle, and Liz Guiney placed 52nd in her first World Cup start. For Sunday, she and Ida Sargent teamed up with US Ski Team members Kikkan Randall and Sophie Caldwell for the USA II Relay team. Ida had the 8th fastest leg in the second classic leg, and their team went on to place 12th overall. The USA I team took 4th place. Results from Ulricehamn are available on FIS-ski.com. The World Cup travels next to Falun, Sweden for a freestyle sprint and 15/30k mass start classic.