Young skiers waiting for the white stuff World Cup, SuperTour focus of XC schedule

PRESQUE ISLE – When there’s no snow on the ground, life gets pretty quiet at the Nordic Heritage Center. Just the whoosh of roller skis on pavement, the subdued chatter of a few athletes and their coach, and birds chirping in trees.

These athletes, who are among the top cross country skiers in the country, are eager to hear different sounds – the crunch of snow under foot and the roar of stadium crowds.

The five cross country athletes training at the Nordic Heritage Center, one of the facilities under the auspices of the Maine Winter Sports Center, are gearing up for the start of the ski season. Although they’re entering an Olympic year – the 2006 Winter Games will be held in Turin, Italy – their main focus is on the World Cup, which has two stops in Canada this year.

The U.S. team will get more spaces in the Canada competitions, which gives Nordic Heritage Center athletes Colin Rodgers, Brayton Osgood, Steve Scott, Tom Keefe and Kate Whitcomb a good chance to make the team.

Three of the skiers working out one recent morning concede that the Olympics are a bit of a stretch for them this year. Most of the world’s elite cross country skiers are in their late 20s and early 30s, and none of the Nordic Heritage Center skiers is older than 25.

So this December’s World Cup competitions in Vernon, British Columbia, and Canmore, Alberta, are the focus, as are the U.S. cross country championships in January and the SuperTour events this winter.

The top-level competitions are just weeks away now. The World Cup starts Oct. 22.

Almost everyone has a solid chance to make the World Cup roster for the Canada stops. Selection will be based heavily on results in the SuperTour, one of the top U.S. tours.

Osgood is the 13th-ranked U.S. Skiing Association athlete in distance competition, while Rodgers is ranked 21st. Scott is seventh in sprint, while Rodgers is ninth and Keefe is 22nd. Among the women’s rankings, Whitcomb is 14th in the distance and eighth in sprint.

“It’s a big point in our careers because we’re young and we have a lot to prove,” said the 22-year-old Scott, who likely will compete in the Under-23 world championships. “In all of these races other than the Olympics, we can create opportunities for ourselves in years after this by proving to the U.S. team coaches that we’re worth molding into future Olympians.”

The SuperTour starts Nov. 5 and winds through Alaska, Montana, Utah, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado before finishing in Presque Isle March 19-26. The national championships will be held Jan. 3-10 in Soldier Hollow, Utah.

Performing well in those competitions is the biggest motivation for the athletes’ summer workouts, which can seem monotonous. They spend several hours each week touring the Nordic Heritage Center course on roller skis.

On this particular morning, Scott, Osgood and Rodgers sprinted around the 1.3-kilometer loop under the watch of coach Jens Johansson, who shouted out the skiers’ times as they passed him at the starting line.

Johansson watched one round and then participated in the rest of the workout during the hot, humid morning. The group did four intervals with 10 minutes of rest in between. Each interval took a little more than three minutes.

The team workouts are held three times a week, but each athlete tries twice a day to do some kind of individual workout like more roller-skiing on the track or hiking, jogging or kayaking.

“You can’t miss any parts [of the training],” Johansson said. “You’ve got to be really focused, with just a few months until the ski season starts.”

But motivation also comes from the small strides these skiers see each summer.

“It’s good to feel like I’ve made some improvements and gotten a little better,” Rodgers said.

The individual workouts also give the skiers a break in the monotony of the loop. Some of the cross country skiers participate in races up nearby Mars Hill Mountain. Scott and Keefe are two of the top canoeists in the state.

“At this point in the year, you definitely try to search out the hills and do a lot of different things,” Osgood said. “You have to be creative.”