At Quarry Road, the love for nordic skiing grows steady, and just snowballs from there.
As the Roy Varney Memorial arrived for stop two of the 2025-26 Fischer Eastern Cup Series, nothing less than winter itself seemed to hold onto that rhythm. Skiers woke up Saturday to a snow shower that was supposed to linger and leave. Instead, it picked up into a snowstorm which stilled the world while ski racers drove straight through with energy and passion. Read another way, it seemed that even the weather had picked up on the spirit of Roy Varney that the weekend of racing at Quarry Road was meant to honor. One sign of winter, and he was off. One more sign of winter, and the whole New England ski community was off with him.
The 2026 Roy Varney Memorial seemed especially imbued with the steady Maine nordic community Roy grew up in. During the quiet interim between stadium set-up and race start Saturday morning, a dedicated set of volunteers led by longtime standby Peter Koons stopped and contemplated Quarry Road in all its busy hustle of a race day morning. The newly expanded parking lot gave way to a broad stretch of white running up the familiar Quarry Road ridge, where the one time Colby ski hill has recently been revived. Peter traced out how he’d grown up taking after school ski lessons there, and pointed out in the narrow treeline where a set of 20m and 30m ski jumps had once played host to the other type of nordic skiing too. More memories flowed from Peter and from the rest of the crew. Dylan Cayer, in his first assignment as Technical Delegate, compared notes on growing up racing out of Rumford with Mountain Valley high and the Chisholm Ski Club. It was a moment to remember the steady growth which had revived and grown the ski community in Maine…and then, like ski races are wont to do, the races ushered forward a new generation of skiers into chasing their dreams in the sport.
When the NENSA community travels up I-95 (or down, shoutout all our Penobscot and County folks!) to meet up at Quarry Road, the Maine nordic community springs into their hard-working, humble, ways. The bibs get sorted, the Quarry Road yurt gets well-stocked with coffee. Pat Cote and Hans Albee set miles of V-Board just so. Ted Hall sets the starters. Daryn Slover captures it all with his wonderful photos. What flows in between great racing and great efforts by hundreds of athletes though, is the hard-won reflections of a community which has worked hard to keep skiing as much a part of the Pine Tree State tradition as Moxie, Lobster, and taking I-295 rather than I-95 to save a few bucks on tolls. For some fifteen years, the little ridge line above Waterville that is Quarry Road has kept that tradition vital, and the NENSA Community ushered it on into another wonderful wintery weekend in Maine.
Roy Varney Memorial at Quarry Road Fischer Eastern Cup Race Recap
On Saturday, skiers raced a 7.5k individual start skate race, with the whole field (U16-M4) back together again on the same start list. In the Men’s race, a pair of Colby Mules came down from Mayflower Hill to take their first race in two weeks at home (with the Colby Carnival set to kick off this Thursday at Quarry Road) by storm. James Underwood, fresh off of qualifying to represent the US at Junior World Championships in Lake Placid last week, took the win, while his teammate Ben Lewis finished 2nd. Matthew McIntosh (GMVS), who also qualified to represent the US at the U18 Nordic Nations trip in Lake Placid, rounded out of the podium in 3rd place. Lincoln Miller joined his GMVS teammate on the Junior podium in 5th overall. The top 3 U16s were 1) Wren Chalmers (SMS), who took the win by less than a second over 2nd) Jorgen Pirrung (Mansfield Nordic), with 3rd) Isaac Nadzam (Craftsbury).
In the Women’s race, Maggie Wagner led the way for Mansfield Nordic Club, with Acadia Enman taking 2nd overall, winning the U16 category, and adding another podiumist for Mansfield. Mary Harrington rounded out the podium for GMVS in 3rd, while Clara White joined Enman and Harrington on the Junior Podium in 3rd place for Orono High School. Mia Gorman (Mansfield) in 2nd and Emma Kennedy (EMXC) completed the U16 podium.
The snowfall Saturday made Sunday a great day for a Classic race. And a Mass Start at that. In the Men’s 10k, a tight knit lead pack matched skiers of all ages together, with Matous Matousek (Colby), Matthew McIntosh, Henry and Sam Swartzentruber (Stratton Mountain School) and Justin Freeman all trading leads deep into the race. On the last lap, Matousek made a play on the long-winding Quarry Road South Loop climb which stretched the field and came away with the win, while Joey Sluka (Ford Sayre) closing strong and brought Sam Swartzentruber with him to finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
In the Women’s Open race, an early lead pack gave way to a two-way battle between Astrid Longstreth (Mansfield) and Clara White (Orono), before Longstreth opened a gap on lap 3 on the South Loop hill. Longstreth would take the win, with White in 2nd, and Lea Perreard (Ford Sayre) winning a tightly contested battle for 3rd alongside Mary Harrington.
In the U16 Boys 5 k Mass Start, Wren Chalmers of Stratton Mountain School pulled away early and pushed to a victory, with Isaac Nadzam opening a gap on the field to take 2nd. Beau Sanders (Berkshire Trails) proudly fought to a 3rd place podium spot, all while sporting what can only be assumed is his first headwear sponsor – the fine folks at Stewart’s Shops. In the U16 Girls race, Mansfield teammates Mia Gorman and Acadia Enman led early and pushed on together through much of the race. Gorman opened up a gap to win it, with Enman in second. Emma Kennedy pushed to a 3rd place finish.
Sunday also honored Roy Varney with the Roy Varney award, given to the top 3 Maine high school skiers in the Open 10k. Jon Leif Hellstedt of NonStop Nordic won in the Men’s field, with Sam Geissinger and Owen Beale Tate in 2nd and 3rd for Quarry Road Ski Club. Clara White of Orono High School took home the Women’s field honors, with Gould Academy skiers Mallory Raymond and Grace Scott in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Full Results and JNs Team Standings
Full Photosets
