Marion Wood is a sophomore at Dimond High and competes against many others for cross-country skiing. “I was six years old when my dad first put skies on me,” said Wood. “ For the first two weeks of skiing I wasn’t a big fan until I had gone to my first ski race at Kincaid Park, after that there was no one to get me off my skies,” Wood said. A few years later Marion had been picked to ski for the Junior Nordic team for Alaska. Wood began to win all over Alaska in her J1 league. She figured skiing was something she could do for fun but also go far with. “I have been all around the world for skiing and enjoy every second of it. From Fairbanks to Minnesota to Rumford Main and even Sweden, I have so much fun competing,” Wood said. Just a few weeks ago Marion Wood competed at the J1 level against high school kid’s from all over the U.S at the Junior Olympics. “I was actually thirty seconds behind the girl that was in first place and pretty nervous too. I ended up passing the girl at the very end by six seconds. I was impressed,” Wood said. Not only did woods compete all around the world but also she has made it to the junior Olympics for her age group and competed in Sweden for the junior Scandinavian cup. As far as the comp skiing goes, Marian is also very successful in her high school skiing to as well. Dimond cross-country skiing is very competitive with other schools. “ For Dimond, we had a great season. “ I love being around the team and coaches they’re amazing,” Wood said. “My coach is also a great coach. He knows a lot about skiing and I have always looked up to him and soon my work will pay off because of him,” Wood said. “It’s almost amazing how good Marian Wood has become”. Normandin Says. With all accomplishments there’s always hard work that comes with the fun. All the practices and extra training can be very hard on the body and the mindset of skiing. “ I don’t ever really get tired of skiing but there are those days were you just want to go home and relax after a long day of school. I don’t have a lot of down time but I love to ski so that’s all I do,” Wood said. “Ever since I was little, skiing has always been a passion of mine. I always tell myself that I do it for fun and not as a job,” she said. Marian believes that the attitude she has carried on got her very far and continues to get better everyday while winning medals from around the world.