After the snow, the rain, and then the thaw, came the cold. With skiers in in New England, the background frequency as winter picks up from Thanksgiving on is always steady. Energy and excitement. A season ahead. The weather though? Well, it can give, and it can take away.
The weeks leading up to the opening day of this year’s Eastern Cup put skiers through this freeze-thaw of the Earth, and freeze-thaw of expectations that goes with it, in a quintessential way. Snowstorm. Rainstorm. Thaw. On Wednesday of last week though, those things started to fade back towards the background frequency of the moment. A snow hit the Northeast Kingdom on Wednesday and lingered on and on towards the weekend. The lows started to get lower. And most importantly, “It’s December in New England, what can you expect?” started to fade from being the go-to aphorism form skiers across the East. In its place, another adage rose up: “Cold weather, hot racing.”
The Bill Henchey Memorial Eastern Cup opened the 2024-25 edition of the East’s premier race series with dual Classic Sprint and 10 k Skate weekend that featured over four-hundred skiers. With it, came a reunion of those things that make it feel like an Eastern Cup in Craftsbury. Wax trailers from our familiar clubs and the EISA played battleship in the Craftsbury parking lot. Eric Hanson and the Craftsbury Operations crew meticously marked out a course and a stadium that looked something like a World Cup. Ed Despard and Bullit Timing set up shop, and Craftsbury Chief of Competition Ollie Burruss went about producing an event the Craftsbury way: no detail left unattended, all hands-on deck, with a little experimentation in the critically thought through details. Through it all, the clouds of fog from buff-covered faces cleared to reveal smiles from racers, coaches, spectators, and skiers alike.
Classic Sprint
Saturday’s Opening sprint was the product of one of those freeze-thaws of expectation leading up to this Eastern Cup Opener. The shortest day of the year would play host to the longest Eastern Cup day, with a Classic Sprint that wound its way through the Craftsbury man-made loop from the stadium and back. The course configuration made for a down, then up, proposition. A fast-moving start gave way to a gradual but long stretch of uphill, punctuated by a final climb that allowed for racers to pick how they attacked. Some could power through a double-pole on the gradual uphill. And some, could unleash an “Ogden” run on the very hill where Ben Ogden cut his teeth with the technique. A final sprint to the final sprint.
The Open Women’s field was the first to qualify, and after the dust had settled on a quick and fast qualifying lap, a quick glance at the results reminded you of one of the cooler aspects of the Eastern Cup Opener every year. Topping the field by six seconds was Dartmouth’s Ava Thurston, back on the Eastern Cup circuit, and on the results sheet, for her home club Mansfield. A reminder that affiliations can be loose and additive. Once a part of the ski community here in New England, you’re always part of it. Other notable skiers from the qualifier included a Middlebury trio of Quincy Massey-Bierman, Sofia Scirica, and Shea Brams.
The Men’s race that followed was also a EISA-heavy field. Luke Allan from Dartmouth and Jack Christner from Middlebury would split hairs at the top of the field, with Allan the top qualifier by a whole 0.9 seconds over Christner, setting up potential for action in the final. Charles Martell, fom the University of New Hampshire, qualified in third.
Open heats action would lead back to a EISA heavy conclusion as well. The Open Women’s Final featured the same mix of Middlebury, Dartmouth, and UNH that had emerged in the qualifier. In it, a mix of Quincy Massey-Bierman, Ava Thurston, Sofia Scirica (Middlebury), Amelia Tucker (Dartmouth), Emma Charles (UNH), and Shea Brams (Middlebury) would stay close through the fast-moving rollers that punctuated the first half of the course. When things started to tip up on course, however, Massey-Bierman, Thurston, and Scirica started to gain some real space over their three other rivals, until the climb from the lower stadium to the upper would prove a decisive ground for Quincy Massey-Bierman to gain an advantage. Across the line, Massey-Bierman secured the win, with Thurston and Scirica splitting a close sprint to come second and third, respectively.
The top Junior women would all race out of the Open heats as well, with UVM’s Greta Kilburn in first, Green Mountain Valley School’s Ava Schneider in second, and Colby’s Maddie Hooker in third, all out of the Open semi-finals.
The Open Men’s Final would see some more color added to the EISA suits present in the Women’s Final, with Luke Allan (Dartmouth), Jack Christner (Middlebury), Finn Sweet (UVM), and Charles Martell (UNH) being joined by the purple and gold of Williams with Keelan Durham and the Green, White, and Blue of Mansfield present with Anders Linseisen.
In the Final, Allan and Christner would make a fast start to gain a degree of separation over the field that threatened to come back, but never completely did, as the two sorted out their close qualifying bid in a furious final sprint. Allan would again gain the advantage to take a win on the day, with Christner close behind in second place. Finn Sweet remained the closest in contact of the rest of the field, to round out the podium in third place.
Anders Linseisen took fourth in the final, making the MNC skier the only Junior to punch their way through to the Open Final on Saturday. By doing so, he won the Junior category, with Emile Daigneault in second place and Colby College’s Ellis Slover in third place out of the semi-finals.
The U16 heats that followed mid-day saw two skiers pull clear ahead of the field. In the Girls race, it was Ford Sayre’s Olivia Hanna, taking the final win, and in the Boys field it was MNC’s Jorgen Pirrung.
The Girls full podium included: 1) Olivia Hanna (Ford Sayre), 2) Lucille Dent (Ford Sayre) and 3) Caitlin Craddock (SMS). The Boys full podium was 1) Jorgen Pirrung (Mansfield), 2) Matthew Northcott (Caldwell Sport), and 3) Antoine Fontaine (Fondeurs-Laurentide).
10 k Skate Individual Start/5 k U16
Saturday night, the skies cleared out over Hosmer Point, which sent temperatures low, and the full-on winter factor at Craftsbury high. No doubt there were a few wax technicians that arrived early Sunday, searching for the the long-forgotten box of Polars and Greens that they rarely get to use in New England. It all made for a classic day of ski racing, even if it was set to be a skate race.
Saturday’s Women champion Quincy Massey-Bierman was the early pace setter in the Open Women’s 10 k, skiing with bib 7 through a 2.5 k course that included much of the challenging terrain of the Craftsbury 5 k just a little more often. Massey-Bierman posted a time of 29:13 on the day, setting a benchmark that would remain high through the whole of the race.
Massey-Bierman’s teammate from Middlebury Shea Brams, bib 22, would emerge in the field as her closest challenger. Splitting splits with each other through the early part of the race, before Brams pushed through the line just 2 seconds off the pace of Massey-Bierman to slot into second place. With another Middlebury podium skier from Saturday still to come in Sofia Scirica, the chances for a sweep were looking good for the Panthers.
Then, a flash of green started to move through the lap checkpoints fast. It came in the form of Ava Thurston, from Dartmouth/Mansfield Nordic Club, who put a late surge in to come across the line 2 seconds ahead of Massy-Bierman and claim the win in a time of 29:12. Sofia Scirica would have another good day as well, and Thurston’s teammate Amelia Tucker would split time with her as well.
The split splitting had led to a all Dartmouth and Middlebury top 5, which if nothing else, reiterated that when the EISA Carnival circuit picks up again in a month, it is going to be fun.
The Men’s race would hold to a similar pattern, with an added jolt from the University of Vermont Catamounts coming in too. A tight group of starters with Luke Allan (Dartmouth), Jack Christner (Middlebury), and Finn Sweet (UVM) would wind up being the splits to watch, with Sweet setting pace through much of the race to then see Christner and Allan challenge his mark.
Luke Allan would take the win in a time of 24:30, a nearly 45 second gap over the rest of the largest field of the day. Jack Christner would come in second, and Finn Sweet would make it an all EISA day by winding up third place.
Top juniors in the Open field on Sunday included Women’s: 1) Greta Kilburn (UVM), 2) Ruth Krebs (Craftsbury Ski Club), and 3) Annelies Hanna (Ford Sayre). In the Men’s: 1) Luke Rizio (UVM), 2) James Underwood (Ford Sayre), and 3) Chad Walsh (Fondeurs Laurentide).
The U16 Girls field saw a close race between Olivia Hanna (Ford Sayre) and Antonia Schramm (SMS), as the two went back and forth on the 5 k version of the loop that the Open field skied. Hanna would edge out Schramm for the win by a single second, with a 14:14 besting a 14:15. Mia Gorman (Mansfield) completed the podium in third place with a time of 14:40.
The U16 Boys saw Foster Whitworth (Holderness Nordic Club) take a 5 second win over Patrick Holland (Prospect Mountain), with times of 12:54 and 12:59, respectively. Max Fey (NYEF) completing the podium in third place in 13:02.
There’s No Place Like Home For The Holidays, and Craftsbury for the Start of the Season
If this time of year is all about the journey home to remind us of what is important, than an Eastern Cup at Craftsbury to start the season seemed especially important to set the tone for the 2024-25 Eastern Cup season.
There’s more than just the charm found in winding your way past the Genny, up and down the snowy fields from the Common to the Outdoor Center, and to a spot in the woods where, in the winter at least, everything is all about nordic skiing and lessons gleaned from it for life.
In each smile shared around a dining hall table, by a seasoned volunteer with a racer, or across the snowy confines of a stadium that stretches out through the trees, there’s a physical inhabitation of the values and passions of a nordic community that stretches across New England. Being together, doing the sport that we love: skiing better together. It can all seem like stuff out in the ether at times. On opening weekend of the Eastern Cup though, those things that make skiing a special sport to spend the winter with, got pulled down to the ground, like the snowflakes falling into a thick blanket of snow.
More Photos from Sam Geissinger:
More Photos from Daryn Slover:
