With the finish of Johnny Spillane in the silver position plus Lodwick finished back in fourth place overall & the sixth place finish of Bill Demong. This is nearly (winter sports will never be as popular as summer sports) as explosive a motivator as the finish of Shorter 1st, Moore 4th & Jack Bacheler 9th place finishes in the marathon of 1972. Many young strong kids will drop running & pick up skiing with a passion, mark my words!
This won't happen. Main reason is that the majority of the population don't live near XC skiing facilities plus it is a seasonal activity. The only HS programs that offer XC skiing are mountain communities or communities relatively close to high-snow/cold areas (think Anchorage).
actually i think they might do both
+1.
Please read what I wrote; It will never be as large a sport or sporting movement as running, but it will drive our success in nordic skiing for many years to come!!
Running and skiing have totally different entry costs. Pretty much impossible for Nordic Skiing to ever take off countrywide.
Not true for 2 reasons.
!. You need to live where there is sufficient snow.
2. You need to have money to xc ski. It is an eliteist sport. You need equipment, you need to get to the races, always located at upscale resorts and you need lodging at the resort. I coach a runner who just happens to be a skier along with her brother, her family spent 10 grand last winter getting to races.
For these reasons this will never be a highly competitive sport.
In Maine and Minnesota maybe
For example, I know several families that live in the Dolomites and have their kids xc ski (and run xc as well!) in the winter and run in the summer as routine after school activities. Little compares to the economies Running can produce, Still xc skiing is considerably cheaper than alpine skiing where lodging is not an issue (talking about residing in a place not going there to do the sport.)Elitist just doesn't sound right.
Climate is obviously a major limiting factor. But still it would be a worthwhile exercise to evaluate the benefits of cross training with xc skiing. Good performances can only help.
watchful eye wrote:
With the finish of Johnny Spillane in the silver position plus Lodwick finished back in fourth place overall & the sixth place finish of Bill Demong. This is nearly (winter sports will never be as popular as summer sports) as explosive a motivator as the finish of Shorter 1st, Moore 4th & Jack Bacheler 9th place finishes in the marathon of 1972. Many young strong kids will drop running & pick up skiing with a passion, mark my words!
Although there have been a number of people asking me where to get cross country skis since yesterday's race, and a response similar to the running boom of the 70's would be nice, no way it will happen. As has been pointed out, the opportunity to nordic ski doesn't match up well with the population distribution of the US. How are you going to get kids in CA and TX to nordic ski? It would just be nice to have guys like Garrett Heath - a MN native and a great HS skier - choose nordic skiing over running. Maybe this result will have impact on some kids in the upper midwest, but that will probably be about it. Of course, with snow in 49 states...who knows? We need another ice age!
That was a fabulous race, by the way - even Americans can get excited about the sport watching that.
I live in Michigan, near a free county park that has miles of groomed trails. You can skate ski or regular cross country. Equipment is not that pricey it is a great family activity if you live in a place that offers it.
What DOES crack me up is the old dude skate skiers..they must ride bikes in the summer. They are all decked out in their fancy clothes, looking like they do races, just like they do in the summer in their gaudy bike shirts. No way do those 60 something guys compete....
I hope it does get more popular it is an awesome sport.
Beats being inside in the winter.
You don't think those "60 something guys compete" - think again! You must not ski much - try racing them sometime, you will be very surprised. Nordic skiing tends to "skew old" - take a look at the Birkie results sometime and see how many 50+ guys finish in the top 200 with some blazing times. Technique matters a lot, and that is something you can always improve. Plus, it is easy on the joints and so you can hammer away for years and years - and plenty of guys do.
And Right now all 50 states have snow so maybe it will happen!
The bigger question is how come the actual Nordic countries, plus the other Euros, kind of suck at Nordic skiing all of the sudden.
And just like in American running they will lead races and do most of the work only to fade at the end.
Huh, think again...who won gold yesterday?
Pad Berson wrote:
The bigger question is how come the actual Nordic countries, plus the other Euros, kind of suck at Nordic skiing all of the sudden.
Bill Koch won an olympic medal, pretty much inveted skating, and it didn't start a boom, I would bet the house there will be a boom now, sorry
Click Here
Bill Demong and Tim Burke were on the same HS XC TEAM. I just caught that snippet on the NBC broadcast. Apparently they were both a part of the 1996 New York State Champion Team from Saranc Lake NY. The roster apparently was full of US Athletes...
1. Zach Handler
2. Matthew Dougherty (US Triathlon Team)
3. Matt Cook ( US SKI Team and Current US Ski Coach)
4. Sean Burke (US Ski Team B Level)
5. Billy Demong (4x Olympian 6th Place Yesterday in Nordic Combined)
6. Tim Burke (Current #5 in the World In Biathlon)
7. Chris Morris
Pretty Stacked Right ?
Read more:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3417443#ixzz0fdZ36Rkp
Buy your shoes from LetsRun and save 20% everday
happy guy wrote:
Huh, think again...who won gold yesterday?
Pad Berson wrote:The bigger question is how come the actual Nordic countries, plus the other Euros, kind of suck at Nordic skiing all of the sudden.
A guy from Missoula, MT won the event (albeit he lives in France).
Jason Lamy Chappuis's Dad is French, his Mom is American.
He has lived in France since he's 5 and he competes for France.
Look like a pretty cool guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Lamy-Chappuis
Awesome finish!