Cross-country Junior Olympics preview

2008 USSA Cross-Country Junior Olympics

Overview

The cross-country Junior Olympics are returning to Anchorage’s Kincaid Park this season, for the first time since 1999. Kincaid Park has always been an outstanding venue for high level cross-country racing, and was a World Cup organizer already back in the early 1980’s. Recently, Kincaid has unergone a number of significant venue upgrades in preparation for the 2008 Junior Olympics.  The stadium area and several large sections of trail have been modified to accommodate mass-start races, and a new world-class sprint course has been constructed and tested for the first time in December.  Other facillity upgrades, including spectator bridges, new state-of-the-art grooming equipment, and a permanent LED scoreboard in the stadium have modernized Kincaid Park and will provide an incredible venue for this championship.

Athlete qualifications

The 10 division/district teams have completed their team selection processes, which took place regionally throughout Janury and February. Each team is allowed to enter up to 21 young men and 21 young women across the three age classes (OJ, J1 and J2).  Additional athletes, who have qualified to compete in international competition with the U.S. Ski Team, or who have qualified highly in the NCAA Championship qualification process, can be entered by their teams outside of the normal quota.  Of the approximately 10,000 cross-country skiers nationally who are active in the development pipeline, fewer than 500 will be entered in the championships in Anchorage, creating a true national championship event.

Field size

The field for the event is approximately 440 athletes from nearly 20 states.

Rewards for top performers
In addition to junior national championship titles, there are a number of special awards presented based on the results of the Junior Olympics, including the Roger Weston High School Team Award (for the nation’s best boys’ and girls’ high school teams), the Junior National Club Team Awards (for the nation’s best boys’ and girls’ club teams), the Alaska Cup Award (for the top divisional team), and the prestigious Dave Quinn award for sportsmanship.

Local Web site that will be hosting results and photos.

https://www.anchoragenordicski.com/jo2008/index.html