The 2023 Mike Elliott U14 Youth Ski Festival Presented by Winter Park Competition Center and Rocky Mountain Nordic is at Snow Mountain Ranch on March 4-6, 2023 — three days of Nordic FUN! The festival is meant to be a set of fun events after the season’s more serious racing is over, a chance to wind down and enjoy themselves.
LOCATION: Snow Mountain Ranch – YMCA OF THE ROCKIES, 1101 County Road 53, Granby, CO 80448
● Race Headquarters: Legett Building
Youth Festival Race Registration is CLOSED.
● Race Participants MUST register individually ONLINE for the Classic Race & the Relay
Race Entry Fees (NON-Sanctioned Event / USSS Membership NOT Required):
● U8 / U10 $10.00 – Classic Mass Start Race
● U12 / U14 $35.00 – Classic Mass Start Race
● U16 / U18 / U20 $45.00 – Classic Mass Start Race
● Relays / All Grades $10.00 – Per Athlete
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
● 12:00 PM – RMN Wax Protocol Call – All events are fluoro free; including kick wax
● Online registration will close at 11:59 PM – Race Participants MUST register individually
Thursday, March 2, 2023
● 4:00 PM Registration List Available
Friday, March 3, 2023
● 12:00 – 4:00 PM Course Preview
● 1:00 – 4:00 PM Ski Erg Challenge (Legett Building)
● 5:00 PM Coaches Meeting (ZOOM + Legett Building)
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Bib Pick-up at Race Headquarters – Legett Building 8:00 – 9:30 AM
Classic Mass Start Distance Race
● U8 / U10 / U12 / U14 – Saturday Classic Race seating based on RMN Points
● U16 / U18 / U20 – Saturday Classic Race will not seat athletes
Distances
● 2K U8 + U10
● 4K U12 + U14
● 5K U16
● 10K U18/U20
Start Time
● 10:00 AM U14 Boys
● 10:15 AM U14 Girls
● 10:30 AM U12 Boys
● 10:45 AM U12 Girls
● 11:00 AM U8/U10 Boys
● 11:15 AM U8/U10 Girls
● 12:00 PM U16 Boys
● 12:10 PM U18/U20 Boys
● 12:20 PM U16 Girls
● 12:30 PM U18/U20 Girls
Recognitions & Ice Cream Social
● 6:00 PM – Legett Building
○ Ice Cream Social
○ Recognitions & Awards
○ RELAY Teams and Bibs Available
Sunday, March 5, 2023
● Team Sprint Freestyle Relays
○ ALL teams will consist of 2 skiers
○ Each skier will ski non-consecutive legs of the relay
○ Relay Categories will be based on athlete grades as follows:
■ Grades K – 1
■ Grades 2 – 3
■ Grades 4 – 5
■ Grades 6 – 8
■ Grades 9 – 12
○ Teams will be randomly assigned within Relay Categories
○ Teams may be male, female, or mixed
○ First place team awards will be given for each Relay Category
○ Races are not timed, first across the line for each category are the winners.
○ AWARDS – Following the completion of ALL relays
Relay Start Time
● 10:00 AM Grades 6 – 8 Each athlete skis 3 alternating 1K laps
● 10:45 AM Grades 4 – 5 Each athlete skis 3 alternating 1K laps
● 11:30 AM Grades 2 – 3 Each athlete skis 2 alternating 1K laps
● 12:15 PM Grades K – 1 Each athlete skis 1 alternating 1K laps
● 1:00 PM Grades 9 – 12 Each athlete skis 3 alternating 1K laps
● 1:30 PM AWARDS – All Grades
** Relays will be skied to completion – times may be adjusted as necessary.
PARKING
● A map will be provided with several parking options
● Snow Mountain Ranch Nordic Center (1K ski to the Start/Finish Stadium
● Snow Mountain Ranch Baseball Field
● Upper Lot of the Legett Building
Spectators Access: Walking path from Legett & Nordic Center to the Start / Finish Stadium.
HISTORY: RMN Mike Elliott U14 Youth Ski Festival
Mike Elliott is a native of Durango, Colorado, and a fourth-generation Coloradoan. He started skiing when he was six years old and went on to compete in national level cross-country skiing. A protégé of Adolph Kuss, a Colorado Ski Hall of Famer, Mike was introduced to skiing and coached by Kuss in Durango’s Junior Program, at Fort Lewis College, and on the U.S. National Ski Team. He became the Junior Rocky Mountain Division Cross-country Champion in 1958, and from there went on to win Junior National Championships, NCAA Cross-country Championships (twice), represented the U.S. on FIS Ski Teams (three times), represented the U.S. on Olympic Ski Teams (three times), served on President Ford’s Commission on Olympic Sports, served on the Executive Committee of the USOC and won ten National Masters Cross-country Championships.
While competing at Fort Lewis College, Elliott won the only NCAA individual titles in school history by capturing the NCAA cross-country skiing championships in 1965 and 1966, earning All-America honors each season. He graduated from Fort Lewis College in 1966 with bachelor’s degrees in English and history. Mike Elliott was inducted into the Fort Lewis College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981, becoming the school’s first-ever student-athlete to achieve the distinction.
Elliott had his competitive ski career interrupted during a three year tour of duty as an Infantry Officer in the US Army, which included a year in Vietnam in 1968-69. After an honorable discharge from the US Army, Mike attended graduate school at Colorado State University and continued skiing and competing on the United States Olympic Cross-Country Ski Team. He competed in the Winter Olympics in the 15 kilometer, 30 kilometer, 50 kilometer and cross country relay events in 1964, 1968 and 1972.
Mike Elliott is father to Tad Elliott, Former U.S. Ski Team member and a three-time World Championship team skier, and Paige Elliott, a development coach with the U.S. Paralympic Nordic Team. The Elliotts are a unique family in the world of U.S. Cross Country Skiing and have been a special part of the Durango Nordic Ski Club.
