Junior Joanne Reid, who holds the fourth fastest record in the nation for the 15 and under five kilometer skating race, has been cross country skiing for more than a decade.

Reid started skiing when she was two on the Swedetown trails in Calumet, Michigan. Coached by her parents, Reid practiced with a team called the “Ski Tigers” every day until she moved to California when she was eight years old.

In California, it was harder for her to practice, but Reid trained hard and evetually qualified to join the Far West Nordic Ski team when she was 13 years old. Her family drove hours up to Truckee every weekend in order for her and her two older brothers to perfect their skills. Reid also goes roller skiing using cross country skis on wheels for at least an hour every day.

For the Reids, skiing was a sport the whole family got involved in. In fact, it was Reid’s two older brothers who first got her excited about cross country ski competitions. “When I was ten, Junior Nationals was held in Fairbanks, Alaska,” Reid said. “Being too young to go, I watched jealously as my brothers left for Alaska, missing a full week of school, and came back full of stories of the cold and beauty of Fairbanks.”

It wasn’t until Reid turned 13 in 2006 did she finally get the chance to compete. “I petitioned as a thirteen-year-old to go, and as a skier who had never, in five years, lost in her age group, I was immediately cleared to compete for [the] Far West [team] by the skiing committee,” Reid said. That year, the Junior Nationals were held in Michigan and Reid won an All American honor and placed in the top 20 and top 25 for two techniques, skating and striding, respectively.

After 2006, Reid trained harder than ever, and in 2007 when the Junior Nationals were held in Soldier Hollow, Utah, she achieved a life long goal and became the fastest 14 and under in the nation for the five kilometer skating race and the fourth fastest in the nation for the 15 and under division.

Reid’s talent was obvious to her family from the start. “Joanne was able to master skiing techniques at a very youn age and by 10, we realized that she had the interest and potential to be a national caliber racer,” Joanne’s mother, Beth Reid, who won a bronze medal in the 1980 Olympics for speed skating, said.

Despite Reid’s talent, Beth is not sure she wants her daughter to pursue a career in skiing. “I’m not convinced a career in sport is such a good thing,” she said. “In the higher levels it encourages misbehavior such as using [performance enhancing] drugs,” Beth said. “Joanne will probably use her skiing as a way to get a scholarship for college.”

The fast, competitive life of a serious athlete has its tolls. Time is an issue for Reid, who is still a full time student and a member of the track and cross country teams. Juggling school, sports and her friends can get tough. “Sometimes people just don’t understand why I wake up every day at 5 a.m. to train and run intervals everyday,” Reid said. “It’s also hard when I don’t have time for schoolwork or when my friends get upset with me when I can’t hang out with them.”

Despite some of the sacrifices she has to make, skiing brings joy to Reid. “When I ski, it’s really quiet and I feel like I’m in my own separate world.” Reid said.

While Reid may not pursue a professional career in sports, Jeff Schloss, the coach for Reid’s current team, Far West Nordic, believes she has the potential to go far as a competitive skier. “This is a sport that takes a lot of training over many years to reach your best,” Schloss wrote in an e-mail message. “Joanne has the right attitude, the right work ethic, and a great supportive family to help her reach a very high potential.”