Elizabeth Guiney: NNF Drive for 25!

Hi everyone!

I'm currently in Park City, UT, attending the USST fall camp, and having an absolute blast! More on that later; I will put up a post about the PC camp in the next week, and in the meantime I need to start taking some more pictures. Yikes.

But this post is about the NNF Drive for 25, running from now until November 15th. The National Nordic Foundation (NNF) is a sweet grassroots organization that supports development of nordic skiing in the US. In the past few years, NNF has done an incredible job of fundraising every fall. They do this by getting nordic ambassadors (that's us) to ask friends and family to donate $25 (or more, or less! every little bit counts!) to the cause.

So where the money from NNF go? Well, everyone from junior (under 16) to elite skiers get help from NNF to attend camps and races during the winter. NNF does a great job supporting World Junior and U23 Championships, and they also give money to junior skiers competing in Europe for the first time at Scando Cups, and to aspiring skiers competing at OPA Cups, the level just below the World Cup.

I've been so fortunate to have support from NNF throughout my years of racing, even when they operated under a different name, NCCSEF (National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation). In the past few years I've qualified for U23 World Champs in Liberec, Czech Republic and Val di Fiemme, Italy, and had the opportunity to compete against the best in the world. I also tested myself at OPA Cups in Rogla, Slovenia and Valdidentro, Italy. These trips truly would not be possible without the NNF, and I know that I wouldn't be where I am today, skiing and reaching towards my dreams, without their generous support.

So I'm asking all of you to consider donating as little as $5, or as much as you can, to one of the more worthy and awesome causes around. If you feel like you can't donate, I would really appreciate it you could forward on the link to my fundraising page to anyone you think might be interested. Either way, you'll be able to say that you helped developing skiers in the US get a little closer to international success!

Here's the link to my page:
https://support.nationalnordicfoundation.org/fundraise?fcid=354994

Here are a few snapshots over the years of racing trips I've taken with the help of NNF. Who doesn't love a little throwback?

Katie Gill and I racing for the first time in Europe at Scando Cups in Norway. We got 3rd in this relay!

Scando Trip 2009. Of the boys in this photo, Scott Patterson and Tyler Kornfield are racing for APU, Jake Barton and Andrew Dougherty are on my Craftsbury GRP team, and Max Durtschi was a pro cyclist for several years and is now trying out biathlon with USBA