Lots of Races, Lots of Places
Reese Hanneman
What a whirlwind this winter has been so far! It makes me tired just thinking about all of the races I have done, places I have gone, and the endless hours of traveling I have endured since the snow began falling. Looking back, I realized that I have been in Alaska for six days between November 19th and now, February 3rd. And I still have a few more weeks of racing to do before I come home for a short mid-season break!
It started off in the Lower 48, with the big season opener SuperTour races in West Yellowstone around Thanksgiving. The snow conditions were surprisingly good, and we actually got stuck in a few serious blizzards! I had some pretty good results, but the thin air up there at such high altitude made it a very tough series of races.
Next, it was on to Canada for the NorAms, which are probably the most competitive races in North America. The best skiers from the US and Canada are pitted against each other for a few weekends in a row, and most of American and Canadian Olympians were there, making the racing super intense! I had a 9th and 10th place finish in the sprints, which I was really pumped about, considering that I was competing against some of the fastest guys on the continent. I hope that next year I can beat a lot of them! But we will see...
After spending a week in Fairbanks for the holidays, I flew out to the middle-of-nowhere Maine for US National Championships. Having never been to that part of the rural East coast, it was certainly a new experience for me. The snow was a little thin which made things sort of sketchy, but they were able to hold all of the races. I was feeling really, really good in the classic sprint, which is probably my best event, and I was thinking that I could have a really great race. However, in one of my heats, I was involved in a big crash, where another racer took me down from behind. I was pretty bummed, but that is just a part of sprint racing I guess!
Luckily, I did well enough at Nationals to be named to the US Under-23 World Championship team. That meant that I left directly from Maine, and flew to Helsinki, Finland for a week-long training camp. Training in Finland reminded me a lot of skiing in Fairbanks; fairly, cold, dark, and even the trees looked similar.
Next, it was on to the ferry, across the Baltic Sea, to Estonia for World Championships. There, I focused on the sprint race, and I ended up having a pretty decent result. Although my goal was to be in the top 12, I was happy with 24th place, which is against all of the best sprinters in the world who are under 23 years of age. One of the coolest things about these World Championship races is that they are shown live on Eurosport TV to all of Europe, meaning that millions of people were watching me race right as it was happening!
Right now I am in Latvia, getting ready for some more big races. Basically, all of the best skiers from Europe will be racing, so there will be great opportunities to get some good race experience! I cant wait to throw down with all of the speed that I have!
All of this racing and traveling costs a lot of money; even though I am a part of the US Ski Team and am representing the United States at World Championship events, I still have to come up with all of my own funding. That is why I am especially thankful for Image Optical’s continued support this season! Without their help, I wouldn’t be able to do this!
I am really looking forward to the rest of the season, and there should be lots of exciting racing left!
What a whirlwind this winter has been so far! It makes me tired just thinking about all of the races I have done, places I have gone, and the endless hours of traveling I have endured since the snow began falling. Looking back, I realized that I have been in Alaska for six days between November 19th and now, February 3rd. And I still have a few more weeks of racing to do before I come home for a short mid-season break!
It started off in the Lower 48, with the big season opener SuperTour races in West Yellowstone around Thanksgiving. The snow conditions were surprisingly good, and we actually got stuck in a few serious blizzards! I had some pretty good results, but the thin air up there at such high altitude made it a very tough series of races.
Next, it was on to Canada for the NorAms, which are probably the most competitive races in North America. The best skiers from the US and Canada are pitted against each other for a few weekends in a row, and most of American and Canadian Olympians were there, making the racing super intense! I had a 9th and 10th place finish in the sprints, which I was really pumped about, considering that I was competing against some of the fastest guys on the continent. I hope that next year I can beat a lot of them! But we will see...
After spending a week in Fairbanks for the holidays, I flew out to the middle-of-nowhere Maine for US National Championships. Having never been to that part of the rural East coast, it was certainly a new experience for me. The snow was a little thin which made things sort of sketchy, but they were able to hold all of the races. I was feeling really, really good in the classic sprint, which is probably my best event, and I was thinking that I could have a really great race. However, in one of my heats, I was involved in a big crash, where another racer took me down from behind. I was pretty bummed, but that is just a part of sprint racing I guess!
Luckily, I did well enough at Nationals to be named to the US Under-23 World Championship team. That meant that I left directly from Maine, and flew to Helsinki, Finland for a week-long training camp. Training in Finland reminded me a lot of skiing in Fairbanks; fairly, cold, dark, and even the trees looked similar.
Next, it was on to the ferry, across the Baltic Sea, to Estonia for World Championships. There, I focused on the sprint race, and I ended up having a pretty decent result. Although my goal was to be in the top 12, I was happy with 24th place, which is against all of the best sprinters in the world who are under 23 years of age. One of the coolest things about these World Championship races is that they are shown live on Eurosport TV to all of Europe, meaning that millions of people were watching me race right as it was happening!
Right now I am in Latvia, getting ready for some more big races. Basically, all of the best skiers from Europe will be racing, so there will be great opportunities to get some good race experience! I cant wait to throw down with all of the speed that I have!
All of this racing and traveling costs a lot of money; even though I am a part of the US Ski Team and am representing the United States at World Championship events, I still have to come up with all of my own funding. That is why I am especially thankful for Image Optical’s continued support this season! Without their help, I wouldn’t be able to do this!
I am really looking forward to the rest of the season, and there should be lots of exciting racing left!
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