Methow Valley Supertour

The Supertour circuit continued last weekend in the beautiful Methow Valley of Washington. The weekend featured a 1.3k sprint and distance classic race. The final sprint result couldn't have been better as far as Wenatchee's Northern Fruit Co. is concerned. Laura Valaas (right) and Katie Ronsse (left) are the Northern Fruit Co.'s sponsored athletes who finished 1-2 respectively in the sprint A-final (Ed Stockard photo).

In addition to financial support, the Northern Fruit Co. has generously been fueling the APUNSC elite team by shipping us boxes of highest quality of apples as we have been traveling to different race venues across the US and Canada. Valaas and Ronsse in West Yellowstone, MT with a few fresh, crisp high octane "Pink Lady" apples.

Caitlin Compton (CXC), Rhonda Jewett (Alberta World Cup Academy), Laura Valaas (APUNSC), and Katie Ronsse (APUNSC) round the first turn in the women's A-final of the Winthrop Supertour race (Magic bus photo).

Drew Goldsack (Canadian National Team) and Torin Koos (US Ski team) cruising under a banner of flags in the mens sprint final (Ed Stockard photo).

In the classic distance race we raced through the woods up and down an Alpine hill since there wasn't quite enough snow in Winthrop to make a classic track, even with all the shoveling work of the volunteers. It was a great test of making the best with what you have and making things work in conditions that are very tricky. I was humbled by the skiers who made this look easy.

Overall, it was a great weekend of racing and I'm looking forward to exploring more of the trail system in my next trip to Winthrop!