Report from Glenn Randall at Junior World Championships, 2005  

I left my home in Collbran , Colorado on March 14 to come to Junior World Championships.  I had been here two years ago, but had failed to qualify last year, so I thought I had some idea of what to expect.  I was just getting over an illness, and was on an antibiotic and a mucus pill.  My flights to Chicago were uneventful.  From Chicago to Stockholm , I had trouble sleeping, but wasn’t too worried.  Our flight into Stockholm arrived late because of unexpected headwinds, and we had a tight connection to Luleå.  

At baggage claim in Stockholm , I was the last person at the belt.  My bag still wasn’t there, but in a panic, I ran through the airport to catch up and hopefully make my flight.  We were to drive from Luleå to Rovaniemi, where the event is being held, immediately upon arrival, and I didn’t want to spend the night in Luleå after missing a flight.  When I finally found the team, I discovered that we had missed our flight.  

I took this time to report my bags missing, and discovered that it had been routed to Copenhagen .  Apparently, I had been on United Airlines flight 944 to Chicago , and SAS flight 946 to Stockholm .  My bags were put on SAS flight 944 to Copenhagen .  Soon, my bags were rerouted to Rovaniemi.

On the drive to Rovaniemi, we were all supposed to stay awake.  My lack of sleep on the flight to Stockholm hurt me, and I kept dozing off, only to be awakened within seconds by Mike Sinnott.

The next few days were fairly uneventful.  I trained, ate, slept, and watched movies on my roommate, Tyson Flaharty’s, computer.  The biggest event was watching World Cup races from Falun.  We watched a men’s and women’s double pursuit, which I would do only days later, and a men’s and women’s relay.  I had some digestive problems from the antibiotic, but was able to stop taking it and the mucus pill on March 18.  

The Opening Ceremony was well put together.  We walked into the town center in a group of Americans.  Coaches and competitors from other nations did the same, as we filed in alphabetical order, with our hosts, the Finns, coming in last (this was not part of some Finnish alphabetical order.  The host nation always enters last).  Speeches were kept to a minimum and were short, although delivered in many languages, allowing me to get home early and prepare for the next days race.  After the speeches, there were demonstrations of Finnish pop dancing and native Lappish dancing, and because Rovaniemi claims to be the home of Santa Clause, Chris Cringle made an appearance.  

I raced in the first event of Junior World Championships, the 10 km + 10 km double pursuit on March 21.  This exciting race involves a mass start and 10 km of classic technique, followed by a ski and pole exchange and 10 km of freestyle technique.  The first person to the finish wins.  I had done my fair share of double pursuits, most against tough competition in Super Tours and US Nationals, but most of the other American skiers had never done a double pursuit.  In each race at World Juniors, every country gets to ski four boys and four girls.  As our team has eight boys and six girls, four boys and two girls have to sit out during each of the four races.  

I felt fairly nervous before the race, but thought that I had my nerves under control.  I was able to avoid my usual scramble to make my start, and had a lot of time to make everything perfect.  I had a very good start position, in the second row behind the third ranked junior in the world, a Swede.

My start was not all that good.  I was soon skiing with people from the sixth row out of the stadium.  I started to move up during the first uphill, and held a better position into the first downhill.  Going up the next hill, somebody (possibly even me) stuck his pole between my legs.  I fell and was passed by around twenty people within the short time it took me to get up.  A kilometer later, I had to stop at a haring-bone uphill.  The course was filled with skiers, and as they slowed down, traffic came to a stop, much the way automobile traffic does in large cities.  

I steadily moved up, although not as much as I would have liked, during the classic leg.  I came into the exchange zone in 60th place, behind my expectations.  I was a little bummed out at the time.  I changed my skis, although not with any real speed.  I stayed even with those around me, but the top skiers gained time on me.  

I started the skate leg hoping to gain on skiers around me, but soon was passed by Mike Hinkley, another American who I had been with during the classic leg.  I did not know that he was having a very good skate leg, so when I couldn’t stay with him, I got more bummed out.  I soon passed a European, but he passed me back within half of a kilometer.  To add to my bad feelings was the feel in my legs, an utter burn that accompanies going from skiing hard classic to hard skate without having skated before that day.  I was steadily passed by more skiers, and despite my best efforts, failed to keep up with any of them.  During the last kilometer, I was passed by two skiers, and stayed with them for a little while, but it was too little too late, and they soon gapped me.  Full results in PDF format can be found at http://www.fis-ski.com/pdf/2005/CC/2231/2005CC2231RL.pdf.  

After the race, I felt sad.  I had not come close to meeting my expectations, and still wonder whether I will race again this week.  Being the third American in the double pursuit does not help my cause very much.  This was definitely not a good race for me, and I will spend much time in the future thinking about this race.  I am remembering the classic quote from Judge Smails of “Caddyshack:”  

“It’s easy to grin

When your ship comes in,

And you’ve got the stock market beat,

But a man worth while

Is a man who can smile

When his pants are too tight in the seat.”  

Later that day, I talked to a Czech that I met at Spring Series last year.  He had been fourth, and told me about a time during the skate leg when he led and a reindeer ran out in front of the competitors.  They chased it for about 300m, it ran off the course, and then back on at a later point, when they chased it for an additional 100m.  

Overall, my experiences so far at Junior World Championships have been worthwhile, especially considering the generous contributions of the National Cross-Country Ski Education Federation and the Rocky Mountain Division.  I have met many skiers from across the country, and the world, and got to see northern Finland .  I will write again about more races on this trip, hopefully including Junior Worlds races, but definitely including Swedish Junior Championship Series races in Luleå , Sweden after Junior Worlds.