US Cross Country Team Gets Their Vegetables at New Zealand Camp
Fri, Aug 11, 2006 - By US Ski Team
WANAKA, N.Z. (Aug. 11) - A handful of U.S. cross
country skiers are back on snow for the first time since the end of last season,
midway through the Ski Team's fifth consecutive preseason trip Down Under while
other athletes nominated to the 2007 squad are training at home.
"It's awesome. The weather's been super again," Head
Coach Pete Vordenberg said Friday at The Snow Farm. "We've had tons of skiing
and there's more snow than ever; really, this is our best year in terms of snow.
The training's been perfect...and, maybe most important, all the athletes are
healthy. It must be our clean living."
Two-time Olympians Andrew Johnson
(Greensboro, VT) and Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA) are joined by their '06
Olympic teammates Chris Cook (Rhinelander, WI) and Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT)
plus Morgan Arritola (Sun Valley, ID) and Liz Stephen (Montpelier, VT), who
sparkled at Junior Worlds last season as well as the U.S. championships. Each
has been nominated for the 2007 Ski Team, which is expected to be finalized by
late summer.
"Yeah, it's only August, but I'm really pleased with what
I've been seeing," Vordenberg said. "And The Snow Farm is like coming home -
great trail prep, super hearty meals - vegetables, lotsa of meat, great hearty
stuff. It's good sheep herder food...and perfect for us."
While the
athletes are piling up on-snow time, Vordenberg said others nominated to the
U.S. Ski Team are training on their own or with their home clubs. Two-time
Olympian Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) is training on his own, Vordenberg said,
while Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), another two-time Olympian, is training in
Alaska.
"We left a lot of people home. Some need to focus on their base
fitness, and travel like this makes that more difficult. You have to have a lot
of self-discipline to treat yourself right but not overdue it," he said.
Some members of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation program also are
training at The Snow Farm, led by Coach Abi Holt. "It's awesome to have other
clubs down here," according to Vordenberg, "because they get to see what we're
doing, we can all work together...and it adds to the sense of our nordic
community."
The camp runs for another 10 days, Vordenberg said.