Junior Nationals wrapped up in Fairbanks last week with mass start skate races on Thursday. Junior girls raced 15 kilometers for, I assume, the first time in JNs history; they proved themselves more than capable of skiing that far.
New England won the Alaska Cup (header photo), for top region, again, with Intermountain close behind in second and Midwest somewhere farther back in third. Athletes from Loppet Nordic Racing scored the most points of any single club, with Alaska Winter Stars second. The top two high school teams in the country were, again, both from Anchorage, this year West first and Service second. My sincere congratulations to all athletes who simply qualified to compete.
The races are a few days gone now, but I was off ski racing all weekend, so here is a better late than never roundup of some photos to close out our Junior Nationals coverage. Notably, there are links here to galleries from three different photographers, not only Eric Engman, whose shots I have previously featured, but also Mark Lindberg and Tobias Albrigtsen. Most of these galleries have very reasonable prices for prints and downloads; consider paying these men for their time spent standing around in cold temperatures last week by purchasing a photo of you or your favorite skier.
— Gavin Kentch
Eric Engman
Mark Lindberg
Tobias Albrigtsen
