Parkite Olympian Rosie Brennan roller skis at Soldier Hollow’s Shutzenski Festival

Olympian and Park City athlete Rosie Brennan. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

MIDWAY, Utah — The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation’s Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, a 2002 Olympic venue, hosted its annual national Shutzenski Festival on Friday and Saturday.

Clubs and colleges from Alaska, Montana, Vermont, California, Colorado, and beyond participated in roller ski and running races held across various weekends in October. Among them were athletes from the Park City Ski and Snowboard Nordic Team (PCSS).

Two-time cross-country Olympian Rosie Brennan, a Treasure Mountain Junior High and Park City High School graduate, competed alongside her U.S. Cross Country Ski Team teammate, Jessie Diggins. Diggins took first place, while Brennan finished second.

“One of the greatest motivators to continue my career past when a lot of my peers did,” Brennan said the day prior to the event at Park City’s U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team’s Center of Excellence to reporters and supporters. “was feeling an immense amount of responsibility to pass that way of being a teammate on to the younger generation, and make sure that that there isn’t a gap where we lose some of that really internal kind of knowledge and and way of being that has been so important to our team’s success over the years.” 

Several local athletes also turned in strong performances. Elsa Futch and Ian Carmack from PCSS, along with Martin Radu from the Soldier Hollow Team, achieved notable finishes against some of the top skiers in the country.