Recap provided by Amie Smith
On Sunday January 29, Prospect Mountain hosted the Freestyle Sprints, part of the NENSA Popular/Community Race Series. It was done in the Royal Court format, meaning that it was not a “one and done” Sprint qualifier with only the top 30 advancing to the heats. In the Royal Court format, everyone advances to the heats, allowing for each athlete to experience what it is like to do a full Sprint race to the finals. This makes for both a really fun event, and for a great athletic experience. The heats of 6 athletes each are run based on your finish order from the qualifier, then the top 2 advance to the next top heat, and the bottom two advance to the lower bracket heat, and the two in middle stay where they are – but everyone races again (and again!).
We would like to thank the athletes from Stratton Mountain School, Green Mountain Valley School, Dublin XC and Colby College, as well as the 5 Masters who all braved 4 rounds of racing this very challenging 1.2k sprint course. We had racers from high school through 70+(!)
Congrats to our top three male winners on the podium ~ Tabor Greenberg (GMVS), Aiden Jacobus (GMVS) and Micha Bruner (SMS). And to the top three female winners ~ Miley Bletzer (SMS), Sage Freeman (Colby College) and Elise Creagan (SMS).
The top Masters were Sam Calmes Quintal, Putney Ski Club (30-39), Sam Veggeberg (20-29), Andrew Nesbitt (30-39), Vinny Vienneau (70-79) and Sheila Lanman (50-59).
All age group winners took home Vermont Maple Syrup from Mance’s Tree Farm in Shaftsbury. Full results at bullitttiming.com
Prospect Mountain Association (PMA) is a non-profit organization that runs Prospect Mountain Nordic, a cross country ski center located in Woodford, Vermont. Prospect Mountain provides cross country skiing for all ages and skill levels. Open daily 9-5 (or sundown) in season as conditions allow. The Prospect Mountain Ski Club provides fun opportunities for learning to ski and racing for BKL youth, Juniors and Masters. More information on this gem of a cross country ski center can be found at https://prospectmountain.com/about/