World Cup Szklarska Poreba, Poland

Posted on February 24, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

Last weekend the World Cup circuit moved to Szklarska Poreba, Poland for two days of sprint and distance racing. Australia’s regular World Cup athletes, Callum Watson and Esther Bottomley both competed. This World Cup weekend also saw Bottomley’s distance World Cup debut on the second day of racing in the 10km classic.
In the freestyle sprint race, Bottomley finished 56th from 61 finishers. The women’s final was won by Sweden’s Ida Ingermarsdotter. In the men’s event, Watson finished in 70th in the qualification round. Canadian Devon Kershaw was the winner of the men’s final event. While Callum held his starting rank in the sprint, he said the race was an example of ‘small dog syndrome’: “I felt strong but got mauled by the big dogs!”
Making her distance World Cup debut, Bottomley finished in 60th place in the women’s 10km classic event the next day. Not surprisingly, the podium was taken by a trio of Poland’s Kowalcyz and Norwegians Bjoergen and Johaug. Norway also rounded out the top 5.
In the men’s 15km classic, Callum Watson placed 62nd from a field of 68, 4:45 minutes off the winner Johan Olsson of Sweden. Switzerland’s Dario Cologna and Russia’s Alexander Legkov rounded out the men’s podium. Watson’s result earned him a solid 98 FIS points.

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Aus Team for Erzurum 2012

Posted on February 14, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

The Australian Team for the upcoming World Junior and Under 23 Championships has now been confirmed. The following athletes will compete in Erzurum, Turkey:

Under 23:

Callum Watson
Phillip Bellingham
Paul Kovacs

Junior:

Mark Pollock
Alasdair Tutt
Hamish Roberts

The Under 23 athletes are fully qualified, while the junior athletes will contest one event each.

For furtherdetails on the events, go to: http://www.erzurum2012jwsc.com/en-EN/HomePage/

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Moscow & Rybinsk World Cups

Posted on February 14, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

The next city sprint in the World Cup circuit was held in Moscow, Russia. Three Australian athletes took part in the sprint- Esther Bottomley, Callum Watson and Mark Van der Ploeg. The conditions for the sprint were cold with cold, dry snow making times slower and the field spread out.

Esther Bottomley finished 54th in the women’s time trial, with the final event being won by Poland’s Justyna Kowalcyz. Callum Watson and Mark Van der Ploeg finished 63rd and 64th respectively, equal to the bib numbers they wore on the start line. Teodor Peterson of Sweden was the men’s final winner.

Coach Finn Marsland said, “I had high expectations for this event that were not met. The location was great but the crowd was disappointing, and unfortunately all three of our athletes there picked up a minor cold as we left Austria. It was very cold and slow snow, which helped to spread out the time gaps.”

After the sprint in Moscow, Callum Watson and Mark Van der Ploeg headed for Rybinsk to contest the 15km Freestyle Mass Start event there. Conditions were also cold in Rybinsk, with the race held at -18 degrees on very dry, slow snow. The course was held next to a scenic frozen lake, approximately 30 minutes out of Rybinsk. Finn Marsland commented, “In contrast to Moscow the atmosphere in Rybinsk was incredible. Great crowds and carnival feel, despite -20 degrees in the middle of nowhere.”

“The boys recovered quickly from their colds and skied reasonably well in the 15km. Callum would have liked to have hung with the main pack for longer but he didn’t quite have the extra gear. It was a good effort from Mark to avoid being overlapped on the 2.5km loop.”

Callum Watson finished in 59th place, 5:43 minutes off the race winner Canadian Devon Kershaw. Mark Van der Ploeg was next in 60th.

The team is currently completing an altitude training block in Livigno, Italy. Some of the athletes will then move to Erzurum, Turkey for the World Junior & Under 23 Championships.

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Austrian Championships, Bad Ischl

Posted on February 2, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

The Australian Team had good representation at the Austrian Championships in Bad Ischl with 11 athletes competing over the three days of racing. Esther Bottomley started the racing with a bang, qualifying first in the women’s freestyle sprint event with a 4 second gap to the second qualifier. Read more »

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Estonian World Cup

Posted on February 2, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

Catching up on the last few weeks of international racing action, during which Australian athletes have competed in the Estonian World Cup races at Otepaa and the Austrian Championships in Bad Ischl.

In Otepaa, Esther Bottomley made a gutsy effort in the classic sprint– the only woman who opted to forego the grip wax to double pole the entire course. Read more »

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British Championships

Posted on January 24, 2012 by ausjuniorxc

On Sunday a team of junior skiers and JC drove to Ruhpolding in Germany from our base in Seefeld for the British Championships.

The team consisted of Dyllan Harmer, Hamish Roberts, Nick Montgomery and Alasdair Tutt. The foremost was racing the open men’s 10km and the latter were all racing the junior race over 7.5km. Read more »

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Milan City Sprint

Posted on January 18, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

The World Cup circuit made its way to Milan, Italy for a weekend of sprint events, and with it the Australian contingent of Esther Bottomley, Callum Watson and Phillip Bellingham (along with coaches and support crew). The races were held on a purpose-built loop of snow trucked in to the city centre, making for a flat course.

First up was Esther Bottomley in the women’s Freestyle Sprint qualification, which had a relatively small field. For Bottomley, Milan was the second sprint race of the season, and she reported feeling not quite in top form yet: Read more »

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Athlete Profile: Alex Gibson

Posted on January 11, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

For the first of what will hopefully be a series of articles featuring various athletes on the Aus XC Team, AUSXC had a few questions to put to 17-year-old Alex Gibson, who will represent Australia along with other young athletes at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck. Gibson, along with team mate Lucy Glanville, will compete in this inaugural event next week in Austria. Gibson will compete in both the men’s 10km Classic on the 17th and the Freestyle Sprint event on the 19th. Gibson has been preparing for the games training and competing in the US, and took some time out leading up to Innsbruck to share a bit about himself with AUSXC:

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German Cup Races

Posted on January 10, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

The first of a two day series of races in the German Cup at the Notschrei in the Black Forest was a sprint held on Saturday. Five Australian Team memebers contested the sprint, with Esther Bottomley joining the boys for her first race of the season. The sprint field was comprised almost entirely of German skiers (surprise), with a few Canadian skiers and a Brazilian in the mix. Read more »

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Swiss Cup, Campra

Posted on January 1, 2012 by AUSXCracereports

The Australian Team group training in Davos, Switzerland, headed towards the Italian side to Campra for the annual Swiss Cup races there. Campra is a favourite with many skiers on the team, not least due to the hospitality (read: food) they always receive. The courses have some decent hills, and never see the sun during the winter months (due to the depth of the valley), so make for interesting skiing. The team was joined by support and wax crew Ben Sim and Fabian Mauz for the races, with the boys glad to have some splits and waxing.

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