Saturday, the Wasatch Citizen Series kicked off with a classic sprint at Soldier Hollow. This format was new to the Wasatch Citizen Series and worked great with the limited machine made snow at Soldier Hollow. The U14 skiers all skied a mass start .8km course from the stadium part way up the hollow did a hairpin and then went up to the lodge. It was a challenging and exciting course! The U14 and older skiers followed the same course but did an individual start qualification round followed by a mass start "heat" with the skiers in their category. It was very fun to watch everyone battle up the hill for a spot on the podium!

Team Soldier Hollow had a strong showing with many podiums throughout the age categories. Starting with the U8 boys Jacob Chamberlain and Eli Sullivan finished 2nd and 3rd. In the U10 girls Montana Leonard finished 2nd. On the boys side Team Soldier Hollow had a U10 sweep with Phillip Radu, Maddux Leonard, and Easton Boyer! Sophia Burkemo and Reed Chamberlain both stood atop the podium in the U12 girls and boys categories.

The U14 and older skiers got to ski the course twice. The first time was an individual start time trial and the second was a heat with the top 5 or 6 skiers in the category battling head to head for out for the win. In the U14 boys Mason Heimburger continued the Soldier Hollow podium streak finishing 3rd. In the U16 boys Xander Burkemo and Spencer Brosnahan took 1st and 2nd. On the girls side, Ingird Norton finished 2nd in the U18 girls category. Fischer Heimburger finished and Adam Brown finished 1st and 3rd to round out the day for Team Soldier Hollow.

The racing continues on Saturday with a skate race at White Pine Nordic Center in Park City. For more information go to the calendar page. Full results from Saturday's race can be found HERE. 

Below are the slides from the parent meeting. The links can be found in the caption for each image. Rules at the bottom of the page. Please let me know if you have any questions. morgan.smyth@soldierhollow.com 

Team Soldier Hollow kicked off the cross-county ski season with the Intermountain Season Opener races in Jackson Hole, WY last weekend. Despite very limited time on snow the team posted many top 10 finishes and 1 top 5.

In Friday’s 5km classic race, Xander Burkemo led the way for Team Soldier Hollow with a 4th place in the U16 boys category. Fischer Heimburger notched a top 10 with 8th in the 7.5km U18 race. On the women’s side, Ingrid Norton finished a strong 8th despite tricky classic waxing conditions.

On Saturday, the races switched to a mass start skate format. The head to head competition made for some very exciting and tight finishes. Norton demonstrated consistency by once again finishing 8th. Heimburger also squeeked out an 8th place after a tight sprint finish with Park City’s Alex Jackson. Burkemo rounded out the day with a 12th place for Team Soldier Hollow. 

Full results can be found HERE. Stay tuned for more race updates soon!

Photo Credit: Kerry Morgan

Mother Nature has thrown us a curve ball but we are still training hard and getting ready for ski season! After an awesome camp in West Yellowstone, Team SoHo has returned to rollerskiing, running, bounding, strength, and a little snow skiing! 

A few extra photos from West:

After West the Devo and Comp Team both returned to dryland training. The crew seemed to have a renewed energy knowing that winter and racing is right around the corner. Devo Team looking fit and fast doing some relays in Midway. 

A few of us were able to get on SNOW at Solitude Nordic Center last weekend. It is a long drive around to the top of Big Cottonwood but it was worth it:

In other news, it was officially announced yesterday that Soldier Hollow will host the start and finish line of stage 4 of the 2015 Tour of Utah! Some of the Devo Team members and Charter School students got to join us for the official announcement! Stay tuned for more details on this exciting event in August!

Do a snow dance and get those skis waxed! Winter is coming and we will be ready!