This past week was my second trip to Switzerland for the famous Engadin Ski Marathon. Last year I did the race with the goal competing with the top European racers and I was blessed to have my lowest FIS score of my ski career. FIS points are used to calculate a skier’s world ranking and points are given based on the strength of the field and the time back from the winner. Now that I am within the qualification period for the Sochi Olympics I decided to travel back to Switzerland to try and collect another good point race from the Engadin Ski Marathon as FIS points are used in Olympic selection criteria.
I arrived in Europe Sunday before the Sunday race to get adjust to the time change and altitude of 6000ft. Our first day of skiing was a beautiful blue bird day but every day after was overcast with rain, sleet and snow. This year I was able to get into the Elite night sprints on Firday in the downtown of St. Mortiz Bad... it was great fun to race in front of a lot of spectators. I finished 25th in a strong field of elite and World Cup skiers… but no FIS points, the sprints where just for fun.
Sunday was the big day. The Engadin Ski Marathon is a mostly flat race with some good climbing in the middle. Since the first 10km are flat the main pack is huge with lots of crashing and ski poles breaking. The first hills are at about 15km and I was able to move towards the front of the race. As we began to climb through St. Mortiz the pace became so much faster than last year (we had same conditions as last year but the top race time was 3 minutes faster!). I was witnessing past Olympic and World Champ medalists being dropped by the fast pace. Luckily there was a feed zone at 20km and Clarke Sullivan (our team USA wax tech) gave me a feed bottle and the pace slowed and I was able to bridge back to the lead group. I needed to finish very close to the winner for good FIS points so I was relieved to regain contact with the leaders. Looking behind me revealed the damage from the high pace; the lead group was down to only 26 skiers and just a few kilometers before the main pack was at least 200 strong.
The remainder of the race was fairly uneventful. Someone tried a solo breakaway from 10km out but he was caught. The race came down to a pack sprint finish and I didn't have much left in the tank but managed to out sprint the Italian that won this year’s Birkie?! I finished 25th in a very competitive field… 15 seconds behind the winners time which means I had a good FIS point result!
After the race I had 24hrs of travel to get home… lots of planes, trains and automobiles. Now I am recovering and training up for my last set of races. Canadian Ski Nationals are the last week of March and I am looking forward to finishing the season on a high note.
Thinking snow,
Matt
Last year recap
http://www.teamstrongheart.com/2/post/2012/03/race-story-engadin-ski-marathon-by-matt-liebsch.html
Engadin Race website
http://www.engadin-skimarathon.ch
Canadian Ski Nationals
http://skinationals.com/2013/
I arrived in Europe Sunday before the Sunday race to get adjust to the time change and altitude of 6000ft. Our first day of skiing was a beautiful blue bird day but every day after was overcast with rain, sleet and snow. This year I was able to get into the Elite night sprints on Firday in the downtown of St. Mortiz Bad... it was great fun to race in front of a lot of spectators. I finished 25th in a strong field of elite and World Cup skiers… but no FIS points, the sprints where just for fun.
Sunday was the big day. The Engadin Ski Marathon is a mostly flat race with some good climbing in the middle. Since the first 10km are flat the main pack is huge with lots of crashing and ski poles breaking. The first hills are at about 15km and I was able to move towards the front of the race. As we began to climb through St. Mortiz the pace became so much faster than last year (we had same conditions as last year but the top race time was 3 minutes faster!). I was witnessing past Olympic and World Champ medalists being dropped by the fast pace. Luckily there was a feed zone at 20km and Clarke Sullivan (our team USA wax tech) gave me a feed bottle and the pace slowed and I was able to bridge back to the lead group. I needed to finish very close to the winner for good FIS points so I was relieved to regain contact with the leaders. Looking behind me revealed the damage from the high pace; the lead group was down to only 26 skiers and just a few kilometers before the main pack was at least 200 strong.
The remainder of the race was fairly uneventful. Someone tried a solo breakaway from 10km out but he was caught. The race came down to a pack sprint finish and I didn't have much left in the tank but managed to out sprint the Italian that won this year’s Birkie?! I finished 25th in a very competitive field… 15 seconds behind the winners time which means I had a good FIS point result!
After the race I had 24hrs of travel to get home… lots of planes, trains and automobiles. Now I am recovering and training up for my last set of races. Canadian Ski Nationals are the last week of March and I am looking forward to finishing the season on a high note.
Thinking snow,
Matt
Last year recap
http://www.teamstrongheart.com/2/post/2012/03/race-story-engadin-ski-marathon-by-matt-liebsch.html
Engadin Race website
http://www.engadin-skimarathon.ch
Canadian Ski Nationals
http://skinationals.com/2013/
RSS Feed
