On a beautiful sunny December day, skiers descended upon the trails at Quarry Road, where the snowmaking crew had worked their magic to create a loop for the first race in NENSA’s season long Popular Race Series. We saw lollipop skiers, middle school, high school, collegiate, seniors and masters in action at the event. The return of spectators to ski races was marked by a sizable cheering squad of parents, coaches, and teammates.
Even with 157 racers, there was ample room on the course. Granular snow made for fast and fun conditions. The stars of today’s race showed their alacrity of keeping up with the glide speed of the snow. They were also challenged by the lap lane’s hairpin turn.
While all the skiers were happy to just be on snow wearing racing bibs, as evidenced by their smiles at the end of day, we did have a large number of age group podiums contested.
In the middle school girl’s race, Quarry Road Ski Club teammates Brynn Newsom and Evelyn Burnes topped the field in first and second respectively, with Reed Proscia of Freeport not far behind in third. For the boys, it was Auburn Middle School’s Orrin Slover edging out Nonstop Nordic’s Tait Harvey for first and second places, while Samuel Geissinger of the Farmington Area Ski Team powered his way to the top.
Quarry Road Ski Club’s Emma Charles started fast and didn’t look back, eventually finishing on top of the podium in the high school girl’s race. Meanwhile her teammates, Brynne Robbins and Bridget Reusch put in a strong performances for second and third. In a closely contest boy’s race, Quarry Road Ski Club teammates set the pace, with Benjamin Condit coming in third, Ellis Slover slotting into second and Caden Cote setting the pace in first.
In the open women’s race, Cipperly Good took first place in the M3 category. A large group from Colby, Bates, Bowdoin & UNH made for some highly competitive racing. In the senior category, UNH’s Luci Anderson managed to hold off strong performances from Colby skier Erin Bianco and Bowdoin’s Renae Anderson for the win. UNH skier Jasmine Lyons topped the podium in the junior age group, with Colby’s Rose Clayton and Bowdoin’s Agnes Macy taking second and third.
The open men’s race saw Gregory Harkay take first place in the M2 category, with Hans Albee and John Lamneck finishing first and second in M3. Ian Burnes coasted to a win in the M4 division. The senior age was dominated by the collegiate racers, with UNH’s Scott Schulz rising to the top, while Colby’s Kerker Foss and another UNH skier James Schneider rounded out the podium in second and third places. The junior age group was also thick with collegiate racers. UNH skier Taschi Klaschka snatched up second place, with Colby’s Victor Sparks in third. Colby skier Jack Young topped the podium.
After one race in the Popular Series, University of New Hampshire takes the early lead in the Club Standings. Quarry Road Ski Club, Colby College Nordic Ski Team, Bowdoin College, and Bates College, follow closely behind and show the breadth of Eastern ski community — something we are promoting this year with Club Cup Standings. Rounding out the top-6 in just their second year – Nonstop Nordic showed up in style too. Nonstop is also hosting their own four race series this winter, and helping boost competition in Maine.
Link to Race Results
Link to Flying Point Road photos
Link to Zak points (live 12/9)
Up next, the NENSA Popular Series moves to Craftsbury for the Rodrigues Sprints on December 11th and the Kendall Classic on the 12th.