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Pitturina Ski Race

Racer Profile – Meredith Edwards (USA)

February 25, 2014 By Stano Faban Leave a Comment

mere raceMeredith Edwards is a fellow Dynafit USA athlete based out of Jackson Hole but currently spending a season racing in Europe. She is the lone athlete representing Team USA on the World Cup so far this season and has performed admirably despite that. We tracked her down coming off the most recent World Cup in Italy for a quick racer profile so we all know who is standing up for North America in Europe. Read on…

In her own words:

My background and favorites

I am originally from Pennsylvania but based out of Jackson, WY. For the 2013/14 winter I am splitting my time between Chamonix and Beaufort, France.
My Favorite place to ski in the US is Grand Teton National Park – Teton Canyon, Table Mtn to be exact. In Europe, I have really enjoyed my time in Beaufort. It’s everything you would hope France would be. Beautiful town, great mountainscapes and wonderful people.
For the past 5 years I have worked with mental and behavior kids at a school in Jackson. Basically, I teach life skills. I have a degree in Exercise Physiology from University of Louisville. I was a two time Division 1 athlete in Field Hockey and Track & Field.
I started skiing at the age of two and started racing around 8. My father was my coach when I was in my teens and I raced till I was 18. When I moved to Jackson in ’07 everyone told me I need to do the skimo race at the village. It took me a couple of years to get the gear but my first skimo race was at Grand Targhee with powder skis mounted with race bindings and second hand race boots 🙂 Pretty much after that I was hooked.

mere beaufort

I had some injuries a couple of the years but as of last year I started to take it seriously. I’m an ultra-runner during the summer and skimo is the perfect sport to stay in shape in the winter and easy on the body. I feel it’s a perfect fit for me.
My favorite race in the US is a hard choice between Jackson Hole and  the Wasatch Powder Keg in Utah. I think Chad Brackelsberg puts on a hard but fun race. The course is a lot of fun with different terrain and technical climbs. It’s also great to have three days of racing – sprint, individual, and teams. As for Jackson, climbing out of Corbets Couloir is always fun and Alta Chute and Tower Three are always a great ski. In Europe, the Verbier World Cup (next year’s Worlds course) is great. It’s steep right from the start to a gliding section to a beautiful peak. It’s long and technical. I think its going to be a great course for Worlds.

This season and racing in Europe

mere rope skiI am currently a Dynafit summer athlete and sponsored by my home gym: Mountain Athlete. They have been great at making me strong and getting me back into shape. I was unable to run this summer due to ankle surgery and they really worked hard with me to keep me strong and going. You can check them out on Facebook. I ride on all Dynafit equipment and really love how they perform. I race on Dy.N.A. and train on PDG. I love my PDG’s – I literally take them down everything and anything.
I find the courses in Europe are very technical for me. I have worked very hard this season to change my stride. I don’t glide well and when you have a course like this past weekend where it is very flat you need to glide.
The Pitturina World Cup went ok for me. The sprint is not my race but I am definitely improving. I missed the semi-final by a couple of seconds and I just need to get faster at my transitions. In the individual race, I had a great start and was in a small pack of women but on the start of the second ascent I broke my pole. I didn’t receive one till the top transition. I find for me, coming from the US, it’s hard to compare myself to the top women but if I look at the gap between me and them and focus on closing the gap, I see that I’m improving a lot and closing in on time. I was 16th in the  sprint and 15th in the individual.
Overall, it has been my hardest season but also a great learning experience. I have never had gear issues before racing in Europe but this year I have broken three poles and a binding! It’s a huge part of racing. Every race is filled with new experiences and things to learn and it has helped my overall ability.
Up next, I will be coming back to the States to race the North American Championships (Wasatch Powder Keg) and US Nationals (Crested Butte). I thought I would do only three World Cups but looking at my overall ranking there are four  women with the same amount of points and I think if I finish out the next two races, I will definitely be in the top 20 (currently I am 22). I would love to do Pierra Menta but I am looking for a partner, and the week after I will be doing Tour du Rutor.
Thanks Meredith and good luck!

Filed Under: People (Interviews) Tagged With: Dynafit, Meredith Edwards, Mountain Athlete, Pitturina Ski Race, Profile, skimo World Cup

Feb 8-9 Weekend Skimo Racing Roundup

February 10, 2014 By Stano Faban 5 Comments

World Cup

Big, big congrats goes to Melanie Bernier (CAN) for her bronze medal from the skimo World Cup Pitturina Ski Race which is the first ever podium placing on a World Cup level for a Canadian skimo athlete!
pitturina-womens-podium
After the Italian Pitturina race got postponed by a week, due to a big snow storm that rolled over the Dolomites on Feb 1st, Melanie felt that the extra days between her races will only do her good. Here’s an update on Melanie’s Euro campaign she sent us last week.
On Friday, Feb 7, Melanie captured the first ever Canadian medal by finishing third in the sprint event, behind women’s World Cup dominating Laetitia Roux (FRA) and Maude Mathys (SWI). Meredith Edwards (USA) continued to collect valuable World Cup experience and finished 16th.
In men’s sprint race, first went to current sprint World Champion Josef Rottmoser, and second to his German teammate Anton Palzer who actually still belongs to the espoir (under 23) category! Third went to current individual World Champion William Bon Mardion of France.
» Sprint race results – All categories (PDF)
Here’s a short video of the sprint race. You can see Melanie on the podium at 1:32.

The next day at Pitturina race, Kilian Jornet (ESP) took over and comfortably captured his second individual race win of this season. He was followed by every week improving William Bon Mardion (FRA) for second and Damiano Lenzi (ITA) for third.
In women’s category the first two podium spots were captured by the same athletes as in the sprint – Laetitia Roux (FRA) took first while Maude Mathys (SWI) took second. Third went to Sophie Dusautoir from Andorra! Melanie Bernier had a good race and finished sixth, and only by 1 sec behind fifth and 20 sec behind fourth. Meredith Edwards placed 15th.
» Individual race results – All categories (PDF)

North America

After the cancellation of the Ken Jones Classic race at Lake Louise, AB no racing took place in Canada this weekend. But there was plenty of action in the US.
There is a new skimo centre growing in the US and this time in New Mexico! And the past weekend saw two races taking place there – Saturday in Santa Fe ski area and on Sunday in Taos Ski Valley.
UPDATE – Feb 11: Disregard the comments section at the bottom of this article as there was confusion with the results. The following is now correct.

Santa Fe Fireball Rando:
1. Jon Brown
2. Bryan Wickenhauser
3. Scott Archer
1. Stevie Kremer
2. Lindsay Plant
3. Kate Zander
[end-column]
Rio Hondo Rando Raid:
1. Jon Brown
2. Bryan Wickenhauser
3. Brian Edmiston
1. Stevie Kremer
2. Lindsay Plant
3. Kate Zander
[end-column]
Combined 2 days
1. Jon Brown
2. Bryan Wickenhauser
3. Scott Archer
1. Stevie Kremer
2. Lindsay Plant
3. Kate Zander
[end-column] The below results (reflecting overall ranking) were put together from photos sent in by Tim Zander. Thank you very much Tim.
new-mexico-cup-2014-results
Burke Mountain skimo race:
We had a race on the other side of the country, in Vermont, happening last weekend as well. There will be more juicy details from Jonathan Shefftz coming for this one but here are at least some stats for now. Main men’s race was won by George Visser, second went to Phillipe Deguire, and third to Josh Flanagan. In women’s race category Danielle Deguire took first, Isabelle Marcotte second, and Karina Lewis third.
» Results Burke 2014 (PDF)

Upcoming Races – Feb 15-16 weekend

There will be a break on the World Cup scene this weekend because there will be lots of big racing going on in Andorra that will host the 2014 European SkiMo Racing Championships between Feb 14 and Feb 16. The Euro Champs alternate every second year with the Worlds taking place on odd years.
In the United States there will be two races taking place on Saturday, Feb 15:

  • the CROWBAR Backcountry Ski Race in Utah
  • and the Monika Johnson Memorial Rally as part of Vertfest Alpental near Seattle, WA

No racing in Canada this weekend but coming back on Feb 22.

Filed Under: Reports & Results Tagged With: Kilian Jornet, Laetitia Roux, Melanie Bernier, Pitturina Ski Race, Roundup, skimo World Cup, William Bon Mardion

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