Saturday and Sunday – JacksonXC Jackson Jaunt and White Mountain Classic, New Hampshire
High up in the White Mountains, there’s a particular section of a particular course that’s been a traditional jolt for New England skiers of all generations. The wave, hidden in a pocket of woods across form the Eagle Mountain house, has featured on everything from wood ski citizen races in years gone by, high school races, and NCAA Championships. Icy, fast and fun, its a metonymy for the particular challenge New Englanders pride themselves on in their practice of the sport.
Rarely though, does so much of our community ride the wave together. In previous editions of the Jackson Jaunt and White Mountain Classic, that’s been simply because of snow. But, as Tom Bartol’s photo album captures, after a few lean snow years, the wave returned in Jackson this weekend, and that marked a return of full-fledged, fun, community racing in Jackson.
The two-day Jackson, New Hampshire weekend featured the Jackson Jaunt Freestyle Saturday, before the White Mountain Classic, including the One Day State Championship, made its return on Sunday. For the second consecutive year, the Jackson weekend also featured a USCSA Eastern conference race, bringing skiers from Paul Smith’s Clarkson, club teams from Colby, Dartmouth, Middlebury, and more, into a field stocked with NENSA’s tried and true Masters.
A good example of the weekend’s wide-reaching community racing came in the Women’s field on Saturday. On the top step of the podium stood Paul Smith’s Rowan Tanguay, fresh off of qualifying for the IBU Youth Biathlon World Championships in Lake Placid before the new year, while Jessie Donovan led a strong field of Masters in second place, and Dana Hatton, Clarkson’s new Head Coach, rounded out the podium. Donovan would add to her honors for the weekend by winning the first NENSA Marathon of the weekend on Sunday, with Sarah Pribram (NWVE) and Annavitte Rand (Drifter XC) rounding out the podium in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Top honors in the Men’s field for the weekend went to Nate Livingood (N0 Limits), who posted the top time in the Jackson Jaunt Freestyle and the full marathon on Sunday. Clarkson’s Matthew Clarner took runner-up both days as well, while teammate Torsten Brickley took 3rd on Saturday, with Thomas Clayton 3rd on Sunday in the marathon.
The White Mountain Classic also marked the beginning of the NENSA Marathon Series, with skiers Senior through M9 registering their first race towards earning their Marathon Challenger Skida hat for the season. Some age groups just had a way of grouping up to push each other: the Male M1 trio of Chris Burnham, Dennis Page, and Michael Dillon all finished within 4 minutes of each other, with Burnham taking the win. The Male M9s were even closer, with David Roberts and Dhyan Nirmegh skiing to within 15 seconds of each other off, with M8 Johnathon Rodd right with them too! John Wigglesworth and Roger Wilson paralleled their peer efforts in the shorter distance, skiing to within a minute of each other in the short course.
Results sheets can capture the dynamic of a community racing to some extent, but the array of suits, smiles, and skiing through the ups, downs, and waves of the White Mountains spoke to a wonderful weekend of the NENSA community, racing together.
One Day Club and State Championships
The other great tradition to return to the White Mountain Classic this weekend was the NENSA Masters Committee’s One Day Club and State Championships. The rules for which are found here. Tallied in real time after the race and before the traditional town hall Lunch, this year’s Club Champions were the crew from Northwest Vermont Endurance, who helped lead Vermont to a States Championship as well. A close pitched battle between New Hampshire and Massachusetts for second went down to a tie-breaker as well.
Full Results:
Men Club
1. NWVE
2. Gunstock
3. SDXC
Women Club
1. NWVE
2. CSU
State
1. Vermont
2. New Hampshire
3. Massachusetts
4. Maine
Community Race News
Wherever there’s snow on the ground in New England, our community is probably trying to race on it. This is a new round-up section of the week in community racing from across the region. Have a recap you’d like listed here? Contact Ben Theyerl, ben@nensa.net
Dublin Headlight Hustle Series Recap | Results
Sights and Sounds
Thanks to Tom Bartol for capturing and sharing this weekend’s action! His full album is available on his website here.
Including…a few wipeouts (no skiers were harmed in the making of this weekend’s racing).
Results and Rankings
NENSA Results | Results on Bullitt Timing
NENSA Zak and Club Cup Rankings
Preliminary NENSA Rankings for the weekend are updated by 12pm Tuesday on the NENSA Rankings Page. A 48 hour protest period is open until 12pm Thursday. There will be no retroactive scoring of races after this per the Zak Cup scoring rules posted here.
