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ANCHORAGE - Anchorage will play host to the U.S. cross-country skiing championships for the next two years, according to a local ski association.

The Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage announced Monday that the city's Kincaid Park will be the venue for the national championships for both 2009 and 2010.

The latter will help determine members of the 2010 U.S. Olympic team.

The championships will bring about 300 out-of-state skiers and an estimated $1 million into the Anchorage economy for each event.

Alaska skiers also will have the opportunity to ski on familiar trails as they vie to make the Olympic team.

"I've always looked at 2010 as my Olympics, the one to win a medal in, so to be able to be here at home to prepare for that is just a dream come true," said Anchorage's Kikkan Randall, a two-time Olympian and the only American woman to win a World Cup cross-country race.

Conoco Phillips will pay $60,000 to be title sponsor of both events.

It costs about $150,000 to stage the championships, said Joey Caterinichio of the Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage, and the cost will be covered by entry fees and sponsor donations.

The Westmark Hotel will provide rooms for members of the U.S. Ski Team.

Randall will skip the Westmark to stay in her south Anchorage home. The biggest aspect of a home-snow advantage, she said, "is getting to sleep in our own beds."

Last season, Randall left Anchorage at Thanksgiving and did not see her own bed again until March.

The championships next year will be the first in Anchorage since 1994. Those races also served as the Olympic trials for the Lillehammer, Norway, games.

More recently, other venues have pursued the big events.

The Junior Olympic championships with about 400 teenage skiers returned to Anchorage this year. Before those races, trails were widened and a sprint course was built.

"Just having the infrastructure for more elite racing has put Anchorage back on the map," Caterinichio said. "And the success of the Junior Olympics was the icing on the cake. A lot of coaches were worried about the JOs being in Anchorage, but they left wanting to come back."

John Farra, the Nordic program director for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association in Utah, said Kincaid's trails and the Nordic ski club volunteers made Anchorage a popular choice.

"The coaches are psyched about it," he said. "Anchorage is one of those venues that is absolutely world-class."

Calum Clark, the event director for the USSA, said a few details remain to be worked out but he expects them to be finished this week. So does Jeff Scott, the NSAA president.

"I have a contract in front of me to sign and send off," he said.

There's a chance Anchorage could wind up with two national ski championships next season, Clark said. The USSA is negotiating with Alyeska Resort for the 2009 U.S. Alpine Championships. They have been held in Girdwood twice in the last five years.