When we think of Nordic skiing in our area, Craftsbury, Jay Peak Nordic Center, the Memphremagog Ski Touring trails, and even woods or fields near where we live may come to mind.
Dr. Peter Harris, long time and well known internist and pediatrician, has surpassed all of those locations with a winter of Nordic skiing accomplishments. And, when conditions are right he even skis to work at North Country Hospital’s Primary Care.
Three big events set the tone for his skiing in January and February this year. He started with the Mast World Cup in Pillerseetal, Austria. With one thousand racers in all from around the world, you do not need to qualify. About 70 in his age range were at the mass start and in the last race Dr. Harris placed 9th.
Next was the Worldloppett Tour with 2,200 skiers and 100-150 skiers in his age group. This event was at the König Ludwig Lauf and had a very exciting result for Harris – 3rd place.
On February 20, Dr. Harris headed to Hayward, Wisconsin for a point-to-point 50k race with 10,000 in the field, not divided by age group. Once again, he placed 9th in his age group.
This series of races has brought him to lots of venues over the years – Quebec, Lillihammer, Lake Placid and Idaho. It’s nice to think training and every day recreation for this sport can happen right in our own back yard. This may be the longest x-country ski season we’ve had in northern Vermont in quite some time.
Caption: Dr. Peter Harris is at the finish line at König Ludwig Lauf, Oberammergau, Germany with a 3rd place finish.