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Methow Valley grooming Olympic legacy in cross country

It's a place that can claim more Olympians than stoplights.
Methow Valley, Washington. (Credit: KING)

It's one of Washington state's great tales: how the Methow Valley became the stuff of Olympic dreams.

Tom and Mary Bjornsen moved here 30 years ago.

"With hopes that there would be a big ski resort right behind us, which never materialized and, I have to say, thankfully so, " said Tom.

Instead, they discovered a Nordic community like no other. One that attracted two-time Olympian Laura McCabe. She recruited her teammate and three-time Olympian Leslie Hall.

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"She said we found this great area for Nordic Skiing and I don't want to tell anybody about it because I don't want everybody to move there but we decided to move here anyway," Hall said.

Here is where Tom and Mary's kids, Sadie and Erik, come in.

"So to have two Olympians -- one lived 100 meters below and the other lived 100 meters above us," Sadie said. "So we were surrounded by this inspiration."

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BIO: Erik Bjornsen

Inspiration -- and coaching. That pushed Sadie, Erik, and Methow Valley teammate Brian Gregg to the Olympics as well in 2014. Sadie and Erik are back for the 2018 Games.

The Methow Valley can claim more Olympians than stoplights. It is a remarkable success story for a valley with less than 2,000 full-time residents

"Everyone knows that they're kind of a part of this greater thing that's greater than themselves," said James DeSalvo. He's executive director of Methow Trails, which has created a 120-mile cross-country ski trail system. "We have four snow cats that go out every night. We have five PistonBully 100 snow cats."

There is also a sense of pride that the community has collectively groomed the trail to PyeongChang, South Korea. And perhaps there is also a sense of knowing the run which started in a place nestled in the North Cascades has no end in sight.

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