Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Natalie 4th at Owl Creek Chase

Woody Creek Racing once again had a great weekend here at home. The annual Aspen Nordic Festival and Owl Creek Chase are two of the highlights of the season for us and this year was no exception. Although Mike Trecker is out with a knee injury, Natalie (Ward)Trecker took up the slack and thrilled the hometown crowd with a couple of fun and inspiring races.

On Saturday Natalie bolted out of the gate and brought the spectators to a fever pitch as she took the early lead at the 1.5km mark in the 5k classic AVSC SuperTour event. Natalie eventually succumbed to an over aggressive race plan and faded to 9th place, but it was still an amazing day for her, competing in front of the home town fans.

On Sunday Natalie again took to the trails against some of the best skiers in the country. She skied solidly and finished in the money in 4th place. The 21km Owl Creek Chase is one of the premier events in the country and also part of the USSA SuperTour and it was fantastic to see Natalie skiing so well.

On a special note, Polly Tucker from Swix, loaned Natalie a pair of the new Swix Triac poles that are currently being used at the Olympics. Said Natalie about the new poles,

"Right away, double poling out of the start, I said to myself, these poles are awesome, I don't have to be as careful, I feel like I can really get after it. They are really light and stiff."

Thanks Polly for the help this last weekend and to the whole staff at Swix, one of Woody Creek Racing's biggest supporters.

Pictures on the way, stay tuned.
Above Left: Madshus skiers Kristina Trygstad-Saari, Glen Randall and Natalie Ward
Above Right: Natalie skis through the half-way point in 4th place
Left: Natalie previewing the classical course on Friday