Goms Swiss Cup, December 1-2

The Australian Continental Cup Team had their first hit-out of the season in the Swiss Cup in the Goms on the weekend. KT Calder had the best results of the four athletes competing, finishing 5th in the 5km Classic and 6th in the 10km Freestyle mass start. Both women's races were won by an "unknown" Russian with no FIS points, however a familiar Russian name was back in the field - Olympic gold medal winner Julia Tchepalova finished 9th in the 5km and 3rd in the 10km. KT Calder sent in this report on behalf on the team:

This weekend's races were a good training hit out for us. I dont think any of us were firing at 100% considering we only arrived in Europe a few days ago, but it is good to have the first races of the season done with and the moral is good. Jetlag has been hilarious since arriving, with all of us trying to out do one another by trying to stay awake the latest. I think the record is 7:45pm. A few more nations than expected turned up to the Swiss Cup races this weekend (Russia, Croatia, Poland, Germany etc.), so it felt more like an OPA Cup race. Without Finn here, we somehow surprisingly managed to do okay with the waxing, which is always a bonus. After being at sea-level a few days ago I really noticed the altitude in the races, but hopefully we'll be a bit better adapted soon. Nick and Darlo were neck and neck in the classic race, and Darlo had the upper hand in the skate race the next day. The boys were a little further back in their races than they would have liked, but it was a good warm up for the races to come. Es skied a very consistent 10km race and is ready to fire in the City Sprints this coming Thursday. Julia Tchepalova raced, and it was pretty cool skiing alongside her in the race today.

For results from all the Swiss Cup races look to the Nordicski.ch website. Next race for half of this crew is the Coop City-Sprint event in Zug on Thursday.

NORAM Continental Cup, Sovereign Lakes, December 1-2

Andrew Wynd opened his season account with a 50th place in the 15km Classic at Sovereign Lake on Saturday. Similar to Paul Murray in Finland, Wyndy felt the effects of his recent illness and was missing that extra gear. Here's is what he had to say after the event:

I started the race still not 100%, but pretty close to it and was hopeful of something special happening. NOT today... I ended up in 50th place, way off the pace behind Ivan Babikov (surprise, surprise) who smashed Dave Nighbor by over a 1 minute. The course was brutal, the World cCp 7.5km loop and the snow was a cold -15, making glide a real problem. Every time I got something like good technique and momentum going, I started to go lactic very quickly in the legs and had to back off. I tried digging deep about 1/2 way through the race, and had nothing.

At least I got a hard workout in and hopefully it won't delay my recovering as a result of pushing hard today. I think I should come into better form for next week at Canmore and hope to have faster skis and more energy reserves.

Wyndy unfortunately had a bit of a relapse of his cold and decided to skip the sprint race on Sunday. He has another three days now to be healthy for the next NORAM races in Canmore beginning on Thursday. Results from the Canadian NORAM races are posted on the Zone4 website.

Ural Cup, Ekaterinburg, December 1-2

In the icy cold of Siberia Ben Sim and Alex Almoukov had tough first races in the Ural Cup events in Ekaterinburg. In the Sprint Freestyle event on Saturday the pair were 14 and 18 seconds off the pace respectively behind Maxim Bulgakov, a podium winner from the World U23 Championships in 2006. In the 10km Classic the next day Simbo was 3 minutes off the pace, with Alex another 2 minutes further back. Though the results weren't what the boys were hoping for, they are in the middle of a heavy training block and not too concerned. In two weeks time Ben will have his first big race of the season, the 30km Freestyle World Cup in Rybinsk.

Courtesy XC Files