My Season Goals, Plans, and an Opportunity to Support
- rganderson915
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Hi!
The latest
We’ve had 2 weekends of “pre-season” racing so far. These races are just like any other ski race, but they aren’t qualifiers for the World Cup circuit, Olympics, etc. so they tend to provide a nice, low pressure environment to get things rolling.
This past weekend’s races were official FIS races, meaning the race courses met certain standards, and the results contributed to each skier’s overall national ranking determined by FIS points. There was a 10km skate individual start and a 7.5km classic individual start at Kincaid Park. The field was mostly made up of skiers from APU, UAA, and UAF, and Alaska Winter Stars. Here are the classic results, and skate results.
I’m not going to compete forever. I’ve always known that, but I’d never given it more than a passing thought until this year. At almost the moment I truly considered retiring, my mindset profoundly shifted away from pressure and toward appreciation. I have been enjoying training, racing, and every step of the ski life to a new level lately and feeling exceptionally grateful that I get to do it.
Season Plans
The SuperTour starts December 6-7th in Fairbanks, Alaska. There’s another SuperTour in Anchorage December 12th and 14th. I’m really looking forward to more local racing. We’re headed to Lake Placid in January for US Nationals, and it’s all up in the air after that depending on how the races go!
Goals
My goals are to enjoy ski racing, provide some entertainment for people who like to follow skiing, lift people up around me, appreciate it all, and keep the joy alive through all the twists of a long ski season.
These goals aren’t as objective as they’ve been in previous seasons. I’m thankful to feel satisfied with my ski career and ready to ride out the unpredictable journey of a new season without result expectations.
Opportunity to Support
There’s a fundraiser happening right now for the National Nordic Foundation (NNF), who is my and many other US skiers' biggest financial supporter each season. Over the past 2 years, NNF has directly covered 70% of my total World Cup bills (which are usually around $5,000) because people like you helped me get to my $1,000 fundraising goal. In other words, those dollars went a really long way.
If you want to support my season, or if you want to support US Skiing as a whole, it would mean a lot to me if you’d consider donating to my athlete page here:
Thanks for checking in this week.
-Renae
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