6 January 2010 US Nationals Classic 20/30k

All athletes shown are affiliated with Toko

(Commentary below)

Liz Stephen 5th place and Rebecca Dussault 4th place

Caitlin Compton 3rd place, Liz Stephen 5th place, Rebecca Dussault 4th place

Liz Stephen 5th place, Rebecca Dussault 4th place, Caitlin Compton 3rd place

Kris Freeman 2nd place

Bryan Cook 3rd place

David Norris 4th place (as a junior!)

Brian Gregg 5th place

Tad Elliott 7th place

Reese Hanneman 9th place

Leif Zimmermann 11th place

It was 27-28F and snowing during both events.  Shortly before the finish of the men's race, it stopped.  The snow was pretty dry for Anchorage at this temperature and the tracks were not glazing.

Our waxes of the day were for glide: LF Moly followed by HF Red covered by JetStream Red.  For kick: a thin coat of BaseWax Green covered by Carbon Grip Red.  In these non abrasive conditions, ironed in Carbon Grip Blue would have also been a fine base layer.  The snow breaking under foot was a factor today.  This is when the snow sticks to the wax on the ski OK, but breaks underneath creating a slip.  In this situation, it is good to wax a little longer than normal to increase the contact area of the wax to the snow which ought to minimize the shearing (breaking) of the snow.  Some of the women who did quite well added some Carbon Grip Yellow in under foot and were very happy with it.