There are many opportunities for Nordic ski racing in the PNW. There is a thriving scene on Mt Hood alone for Junior racers, and for those willing to travel Bend and WA your aspiring skier can race nearly every weekend between Mid December to March. In addition to different race venues, Junior athletes have also found opportunities to form new friendships with their regional peers. Unfortunately there has not been a single resource to understand these different opportunities and this document is intended to put this info all together. We have been working to keep our website up to date with the schedule of all these different dates.-https://teacupnordic.org/pages/events-race
These races are not “junior races” however the 5k distances are dominated by junior racers.
These take place at Teacup and Mt Hood Meadows. Historically The Teacup Classic has taken place the second Sunday of February (Superbowl Sunday) and the Glides of March Skate Race in March.
Meadows Nordic offers a three race Slide and Glide Series of skate races on Saturdays in January and Febuary. Proceeds benefit the Hood River Valley High School Nordic team.
This series is run as the High School League and culminates with the State Championships in Bend at the end of February. These races are fun and have been a welcoming venue to a wide variety of abilities. For many kids in our Programs, these are the best intro to Nordic Ski racing. There are races throughout the state but the ones our athletes generally complete in are in the Northern League with Races on Mt Hood, Hoodoo, and Mt Bachelor including a classic interval start race at Teacup in early Jan. a Relay at Mt Hood Meadows and in Bend. You can find the entire Schedule here.
The local high schools who compete are Hood River Valley High School and St Mary’s Academy. We are currently working on additional club options for Portland area skiers. It should be noted that the Teacup Coaches have worked closely with both schools, offering coaching services to help with technique. We have found two ways for our athletes to compete in these races without attending these schools. You can compete as a Guest skier or a Provisional Skier. As a racer, you don’t collect points for the Series but can compete at the races. The difference between the two is a guest skier would have a registered Guest Coach (like one of the Teacup coaches) as the responsible party. The Provisional option is more inclusive to participate as a member of one of the Teams. The school coach is responsible for and represents the skier. We have been able to enter racers who have the ability but are not High School age to race this way.
This series does use a unique way of signing up for the races. You enter yourself on the website at the beginning of the year, then the designated coach indicates to the organizer which ones you will be attending. This procedure is easier for the athlete, just takes a little different up front work at the beginning of the season and then communication throughout the season.
For Junior Racing this is the hallmark of our region. The umbrella organization for these races is US Ski and Snowboard and these events have been the development pathway for the likes of Jessie Diggins, Gus Schumacher and other Americans who compete at the World Cup Level. Teacup/Mt Hood Nordic is a registered club with US Ski and Snowboard. At a Regional level we compete in the PNW region against skiers from Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Essentially there are 4 race weekends that count as qualifiers and junior racers accumulate points at each of these races with the goal to be selected for the PNW Team that attends Junior Nationals Championships (JN’s).
Details-
Link to Membership descriptions- A license is required to compete and collect points at this level. For the athlete hoping to qualify for junior nationals, the Competitor License is needed. With the license you are ranked both regionally but also nationally (NRL) NRL points are important because they determine your start position which can make a huge difference at large NRL mass start races. How many points you accumulate is based on your finish but also the competition level of the race. Whether or not you need this license is probably an additional conversation with Karl, Kelly, or Jason.
There are age categories at these races, U12, U14, U16, U18, and U20. For each category the athlete’s age is one and two less than the title, ie, U16 athletes are ages 14 and 15. Important to know that at JN’s the category starts at U16, but the U14 category in our regional races has been a well attended development stage. And some venues will have categories as low as U10. The U10 and U12 races are not to be dismissed, as the race organizers try to make those levels fun
The General Member license is also an option for those interested in only racing at the regional level. It does not give you access to the national ranking points system.
The race venues the PNW uses for NRL points are at Bend, Soldier Hollow Utah (Super qualifier), Methow Valley, and Spokane. The Super Qualifier in Soldier Hollow is an outlier. Its a bigger race including the Intermountain region among others. If racers are traveling out of their region to Utah they are high level so the competition is tough. Our region is ranked individually amongst the results. An athlete might be 18th on the day but if they are 1st in the Division they get 1st place. Also doing really well here may give you an automatic qualification to JN’s.
This is a new series our region has created to increase competition amongst skiers who may not be interested in pursuing skiing at the Junior National level. The schedule is currently made up of all the JNQ races, the two races on Mt Hood over the weekend of Jan 11 and 12, and an additional race in March in WA. All races count to your point total.
Hopefully that gives you a better understanding of our local racing scene and if you have additional questions, email kelly@teacupnordic.org or karl@teacupnordic.org .
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