This past weekend Prospect Mountain hosted the U16 Championships in the beautiful Woodford, Vermont. In addition to our four New England States (MA, ME, NH and VT), teams also came from New York, Ontario and the Midwest. Congratulations to all of the athletes who qualified for and competed at the U16 Championships! And thank you to all of the amazing volunteers (led by Amie Smith and Dave Newell) who came out to help Prospect put on an amazing event.
Teams arrived around noon on Friday and got straight to it with a 5km skate race in the afternoon. Adding to the fun of U16s, the first three races all begin with a wave start, one athlete from each state or province. This format allows races to go off quickly and it also gives athletes a feel for head-to-head competition. Team rosters are 24 boys and 24 girls, with the top 20 athletes from each team scoring points for their state. This format means that every skier matters and it makes it exciting for athletes in each wave to try to out ski the athletes from rival states.
Saturday morning teams arrived back at the venue for a 5km classic race in the morning and then turned it right around to do a freestyle sprint in the afternoon. These events offer athletes a chance to meet people from other states and countries; it was heart warming to see the respect athletes had for each other at the finish line.
Saturday evening we all descended upon Mount Anthony Union High School for a taco dinner followed by a bib draw raffle and awards for the first three events. In addition to awarding the top ten skiers from each event, the top three boys and girls from the cumulative three individual races were also awarded. After two days of competition, New Hampshire was in the lead for team scores and Vermont and Massachusetts were nearly tied for second place. The scene was set for an exciting relay day on Sunday!
Sunday did not disappoint, the winds that had been blowing all weekend at Prospect died down and we were greeted with a gorgeous day. The mixed relay is the prime event of the weekend – gold goes to the team that can put together four strong legs (Boys Classic, Girls Classic, Boys Skate, Girls Skate). The U16s relay has the perfect combination of tag zone mayhem and fast, exciting racing! At the end of the day, Team Ontario took the top step of the relay podium and Team New Hampshire got to hold the trophy for the top overall team on the weekend.
Click here to see the NENSA Relay Day Reel by Mackenzie Rizio
This Championships truly shows off the depth of athletes in New England. While twelve U16s are in Utah competing at Junior Nationals, another 233 U16s got to descend upon Prospect for a full weekend of racing and merriment. Thanks to everyone involved!
Click here for results – Thank you Bullitt Timing!
Click here for incredible photographs (available for sale and download until March 21st) – Thank you Josh Hummel!
Click here for the NENSA photos and video clips from the weekend
