This is a reader-funded website. Virtually all of my income (for perspective: I took home less than $5,000 from Nordic Insights last year after paying staff) comes from reader contributions, which I sincerely appreciate. If you would like to support the site, including helping us get to the Olympics in February, you may do so here. Thank you.
KINCAID PARK, Anchorage — On a very Alaskan day at Kincaid Park, the venerable venue at the western edge of the state’s largest city, the Alaskans showed up.
Winds gusted to 35 miles per hour during the heats of the classic sprint. Planes coming into the nearby airport — where an official weather station clocked sustained wind speeds of 33mph, gusting to 49mph — altered their approach to descend from the south, rather than the standard flight path from the west that would see them buffeted by a strong crosswind. Murphy Kimball, who qualified fourth in this event on this course at U.S. Nationals earlier this year, was an atypical 59th in the qual, after being charged by a moose midway through his lap…