U.S. Cross-Country Ski Championships presented by L.L. Bean: Day One Recap
Caitlin Patterson taking the win. Photo: John Lazenby
Dan Cnossen, men's Para winner. Photo: John Lazenby
Men's podium with GRP's Adam Martin. Photo: John Lazenby
Women's podium with GRP skiers Caitlin Patterson and Kaitlynn Miller. Photo: John Lazenby
Last Updated: 03.Jan.2019
Racers gearing up for the first day of U.S. Nationals at Craftsbury woke up to five fresh inches of soft, powdery snow on the ground, just in time to kick off a week of racing. Though the new conditions presented a challenge for racers and waxers, excitement was high as the nearly 600 competitors took to the tracks today to tear up a 10/15k (and Para-Nordic 5/7.5k) classic individual start.
The morning started off with Para-Nordic racers taking on a 5/7.5k classic.The men’s Para race was won by Dan Cnossen by over two minutes, with Cnossen finishing in 25:09.9 to Aaron Pike’s 27:12.6. Both men represented the US at last year’s Paralympic Games, and Craftsbury was excited to welcome Dan back, as he trained with us throughout last winter in preparation for the Games. Third place went to Canadian Paralympian Yves Bourque, who finished in 30:21.0.
One the women’s side, the top two podium spots were again shared by two 2018 US Paralympians, Oksana Masters and Kendall Gretsch. Both women won gold medals in Pyeongchang last year, and finished with strong results today – Masters with first place in 19:38.9, and Gretsch in second with a time of 21:16.7. Third place for the women was also a Canadian, Lyne Marie Bilodeau, with a finish time of 26:52.5.
The next race of the day was the men’s 15k classic. Racers started on 15 second intervals, with the top three settling out to Kyle Bratrud taking first in 41:41.8, Craftsbury’s own Adam Martin in 42:12.8, and Kris Freeman in 42:27.6.
The day of racing concluded with the women’s 10k classic. GRP’s Caitlin Patterson won convincingly in 30:44.7, followed by Jessica Yeaton in 31:05.5 and GRP’s Kaitlynn Miller rounding out the podium in a time of 31:22.1. However, since this is US Nationals and Yeaton is Australian, the official U.S. National Championship podium was Caitlin Patterson, Kaitlynn Miller, and Julia Kern (who placed fourth overall in 31:33.9). All of today's podium finishers went home with prizes that included maple syrup from Butternut Mountain Farm and hot sauce from Vermont Maple Sriracha.
Keep following along on our website, Facebook, and Instagram for updates, and come visit to watch the racing live!
Notes from the stadium:
Multiple volunteers stated how impressed they were at the racers’ comportment at the finish: “It was so much fun being at the finish when all those kids have just finished an incredibly tough race and were still so overwhelmingly polite and thankful,” said Lindy Sargent.
Unprecedented traffic for start lists and results led our timing contractor, Bullitt Timing, to upgrade their website to a new server. Please be patient as things catch up, and clear your browser cache if you have trouble seeing their website!