The Alaska Nanooks Nordic skiing team is set to compete at the Denver Invitational this weekend, with races scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7 and Sunday, Feb. 8. Due to snow conditions, the event has been moved from Maloit Park Trails in Minturn to the Frisco Nordic Center in Frisco, Colorado.
On Saturday, athletes will participate in the 10-kilometer classic mass start races. The competition concludes on Sunday with a 7.5-kilometer freestyle interval start.
In their previous outing at the Utah Invitational two weeks ago, the Nanooks finished fifth overall with 215 points across two events: the 7.5k freestyle and 15k classic races. The men’s team earned third place with 137 points while the women finished fifth with 78 points.
During that meet, Ben Dohlby and Philipp Moosmayer achieved top-10 finishes in the men’s 7.5k freestyle, placing fourth and eighth respectively. Dohlby completed his race in 18:03.3 and Moosmayer followed at 18:22.4. Blake Hanley recorded his best collegiate result by finishing twelfth in 18:38.1. For the women’s team, Piper Sears led with a twenty-first-place finish (23:10.9), closely followed by Õnnela Rodendau (twenty-second) and Viktorie Kahounova (twenty-third) who made her debut for Alaska.
In the men’s 15k classic event, Dohlby matched his earlier fourth-place finish with a time of 36:47.1—less than four seconds from a podium spot—while Hanley placed thirteenth at 37:37.7. On the women’s side, only two skiers competed; Sears finished fifteenth (46:03.3) and Kahounova twentieth (50:18.6).
Rosie Fordham from Alaska has qualified for the upcoming Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games where she will represent Australia starting February 7th in Italy’s skiathlon event through February 22nd; former Nanooks Kendall Kramer (USA), Mariel Pulles (Estonia), Mike Ophoff (Czech Republic), and Joe Davies (Great Britain) have also been selected to represent their countries.
Currently, Alaska ranks sixth in RMISA Nordic standings after two invitationals with a total of 445 points—253 from men’s results (fourth place among men’s teams) and 192 from women’s results (sixth among women’s teams). Utah leads these standings followed by Colorado, Alaska Anchorage, Montana State, Denver, then Alaska.
After this weekend’s competition in Frisco, the Nanooks will remain in Colorado for another week to participate in the Colorado Invitational at Steamboat Springs on February 13-14.
Fans can follow updates on social media platforms including Instagram (@NanookSkiing), X (@NanooksSki), and Facebook (Alaska Nanooks XC).
