The Telemark SuperTour in Cable, WI was another successful weekend of racing for the CXC Team Vertical Limit.  Bryan Cook won the Men’s 10K Classic race on Saturday, followed by Matt Liebsch (CXC Team Vertical Limit), Brian Gregg (CXC Team Vertical Limit), and Chris Cook (Steinbock Racing).  Rebecca Dussault (CXC Team Vertical Limit) won the Women’s race followed by myself (Maria Stuber–CXC Team Vertical Limit), and Melissa Schwarts (NMU Ski Team Alumni SuperStar), and Laura Dewitt (NMU).

Five of the top eight athletes at the Telemark SuperTour were CXC Team Vertical Limit athletes and five of the top eight athletes were Northern Michigan University graduates!

My classic race went really well.  I went out fairly conservatively, thinking only about my technique (as I have done in many classic races this year).  It was a hard race, but I love the Olympic loop at Telemark Resort and was excited to have a good race there.

Stay tuned for Sunday’s race report and lots of photos from Telemark.

Women's Race at about 1K

Rebecca Dussualt, followed by Maria Stuber (both CXC Team Vertical Limit athletes)

Maria, Lap 2

After 24 hours of rain, calling the trails at Theadore Wirth Park sloppy was an understatement.  Skiers were pulling out there super course grinds and coaches were blistered and sticky from klister.

CXC Team Vertical Limit’s Brian Gregg received his first ever individual SuperTour victory in the Men’s 15K Classic race.

Brian Gregg (CXC Team Vertical Limit) finishing strong

Gregg summarizes the Men’s race here: “There are two 180 degree corners in the first 500m so it was an exciting start. Thankfully the group skied relaxed and there were no big crashes. The first lap was certainly the fastest and we more or less formed a big train. The entire course is double tracked and there were plenty of opportunities to pass. We all led for a bit, but Chris Cook did the majority of the pace setting and brought the lead pack to five. At 9 km, Martin Banerud, a Norwegian red-shirt from NMU broke away and put a 20-30m gap on the field. My teammate Bryan Cook led the chase pack and with 1km to go I surged to bridge up to Martin. We skied together into the finish and I just went as hard as I could.”

Martin Banerud ended up finishing 2nd place, with Bryan Cook in 3rd.

After the men thrashed around the course three times and temperatures got even warmer, it was the women’s turn.  The women’s race played out much differently with CXC Team Vertical Limit’s Rebecca Dussualt taking the lead early on and skiing alone to the finish.  I was able to stick with her for about 5K of the 10K race.  Then I fell off and skied alone to 2nd place on the day.  I was 17 seconds behind Rebecca and 48 in front of 3rd place UAF Skier Aurelia Korthauer.  Although this was a very good race for me, I owe a huge thanks to our coaches for the really fast skis.  I’m very excited that my classic skiing is finally coming along.  The above photos in this post are courtesy of www.skinnyski.com.  There are hundreds more great photos of the Mayor’s Challenge SuperTour/JOQ at www.skinnyski.com.  Thank you to all of my friends and family that came out to watch!

Maria Stuber, Mayor's Challenge SuperTour (photo courtesy of skinnyski.com)

CXC Team Vertial Limit take 4 of the top 5 spots! (photo courtesy of my Aunt Kim and Uncle Bill)

Women's Podium, 10K Classic (Aunt Kim and Uncle Bill Photo)