Off to the Races: Season Opener in West Yellowstone

Racing kicked off last weekend in West Yellowstone Montana during the annual Yellowstone ski festival.    I love skiing in West Yellowstone.   I love the trails, I love seeing my ski friends, and I love the feeling of anticipation that accompanies the first races of the season.  While living in Bozeman, I have attended the festival 5 times and most often have been the lone Canadian skier in the races.   This year was a different story.  Quite a few Canadians came down to race in west, making it a true Nor-Am event.   The National Development team (my team), the World Cup Academy (Rhonda’s team) and  some of the Rocky Mountain racers made the trip – it was great.

I was happy with how my races went.  The reality is that we're both going to have to get faster if we want to make the Olympic team – but it was a good, promising start for both of us.

Our results were as follows:

Classic Sprint Qualifier: Shayla 3^rd  (2^nd Canadian), Rhonda 12^th (4^th Canadian)

Skate 10km: Shayla 16^th, Rhonda 23^rd

Classic 5km: Shayla 4^th (3^rd Canadian), Rhonda 24^th

Below are some photographs from the races, courtesy of my boyfriend Matt.

Shayla in the Skate Race	I was happy to be finished racing for the weekend, but wish I could wear Sauce hats!
Rhonda skiing strong up the last hill!	Shayla in the classic race