Sorry this is late, that was the BNC’s fault.
One can still contribute to Kelsey and the Anne Gini Elite Skier fund at https://bouldernordic.org/anne-gini-elite-skier-fund/
Greetings from Finland!
I joined the U.S. Ski Team for a pre camp in Rovaniemi for the first week overseas to get some time on snow and get used to the time change. Unfortunately, even though we were up in the Arctic Circle, the weather was very warm and the 9km man made loop they had laid out melted to about 1km by our third day over here. We still were able to ski a bit and it was cool to see the Russian, Italian, and French teams on the trails prepping for the first World cups. Outside of skiing, there were wonderful running trails and since we are still in running shape, it was easy to get out and explore on the trails for afternoon workouts, which felt more like evening workouts due to the dark sunless skies.
We decided to come to Ruka-Kuusamo, where the first races will be held on Saturday and Sunday, earlier than we initially planned to get on better snow. The loop here is a bit longer with 3km available and definitely deeper than what we had in Rovaniemi! While there still hasn’t been any natural snow fall, we have had a few days of sunshine since we arrived – which I’ve been told is very unusual for this time of year so it’s good to be thankful for any sunny days we can get. The sunsets over the lake have been beautiful and strange since the sun will start setting around 2pm and the sky maintains a soft glow for over an hour after that. I’m only skiing the classic sprint this weekend and then I’ll be cheering my teammates on for the distance classic on Sunday. All that’s left to do now is test skis and do pre race, it’s crazy to me that it’s already race season again. As more teams arrive, I feel more and more excited with some nervousness as well. I feel unbelievably lucky to be here with such an awesome group of people and I can’t wait to see what we all can do in the races!
Thanks for your support and for following along on this World Cup journey, I couldn’t do it without all of you!
