Slipping and Course Inspection

A couple of notes in slipping/course inspection during practice:

When coaches instruct athletes to “slip” the course at the beginning of practice or after a reset, the athletes should also be inspecting the race course on their own. This is not a time to just ski the course slowly, but to look at the course and push away any soft or loose snow to improve the surface for racing. This should be done slowly, and nobody should be skipping gates or neglecting the last few gates of the course. As coaches, we have been noticing that many athletes are not paying attention the course at this time, but simply going through the motions and it shows on the first training runs.

If coaches ask for a slip run between training runs, we typically expect athletes to push any loose snow or piles that may be building up out of the race track. Again, this is something that should be completed slowly in order to improve the race surface. It is not time for free runs or to skip the slip run and go inside to warm up.

Lastly, racers SHOULD NOT HIT ANY GATES during inspection. During practice this is a safety issue as the gates recoil and may hit an unsuspecting teammate (usually in the face). At a race, hitting gates during inspection can result in disqualification. Any athletes that are repeatedly asked not to hit gates during slip runs or inspection may be asked to complete repeat slip/inspection runs prior to resuming race training.

-Coach Johnathan