Ben Theyerl

Ben Ogden and Julia Kern make being a skier seem pretty fun. When our New England-born World Cup podiumists agreed to take some questions from the skiers at Regional Elite Group (REG) Camp in Burlington, Vermont this week, they provided ready and apt answers to the questions skiers come up against at every corner competing in the sport. What’s your favorite pre-race meal? What was your most memorable race? etc…What made the evening special though, was the depth provided by Ben and Julia, and in the questions themselves, that spoke to the nuance and lived experience of being a world-class skier everyday. With humor, anecdotes about those races where things all come together (and the ones where things fall apart), and some occasional car talk from Ben, the not-so-old pros shaded a pretty simple message to their younger counterparts; we’re just like you, because at one point, we were you. As Julia nicely summed it up, “I come back to an Eastern Cup these days, and it feels like home, and I come back to this camp, and I think about how much it made me want to be a skier.”

Regional Elite Group (REG) Camp is, of course, a competitive camp, with a talented group of juniors who’ve already accomplished a lot in skiing. It has been a successful model of regional collaboration with US Ski and Snowboard, and USSS Development Director Bryan Fish, who helped direct this week’s camp, is a seasoned professional at providing fun-fostering competitive opportunities and tweaking the format that make the camp a great introduction to the national development system for the next Ben Ogden and Julia Kern-type talents in New England. 

The premise of the camp though, isn’t what makes it a perennial highlight for our competitive community. That comes from the unique amalgamation of energy that the skiers from across New England bring to an experience where, for a brief, dreamy few days, they get to focus on skiing and skiing alone from dawn until dusk. From games of dodgeball to rollerski time trials, with a lot of running in between, the nuances of who each skier is as an athlete, and as talented, young people, start to shine through. When REG camp goes well, you get to watch in real time as young athletes glimpse the world of possibilities available to them in our sport, and likewise realize that they can bring (and are already bringing) every bit of their individuality and creativity to the ski community.

As a coach, you get a little extra joy in knowing that REG is often the starting point for lasting connections to the sport and to a community for attendees. You get to observe as future college or national team teammates unsuspectingly meet and form a connection with each other, or smile as a skier makes an improvement to their technique or race strategy based on what a kid from a state or two away is doing. This year, we got to see the Mansfield Nordic Club kids take some extra pride in their home training grounds in the Champlain Valley, and likewise, see kids from across the region explore its lush, hilly, beauty…and its maple creemees, for the first time. As much as REG is an annual ritual that helps set up a wonderful winter of competition, it also ends up being its own unique iteration, shaped by where, and who, takes the time to make it special.

This year, a whole lot of its success has to be credited to University of Vermont (UVM) Coach Brandon Herhusky, who worked incredibly hard the last couple of months to put on a few excellent days for campers on the UVM campus and across the Champlain Valley. The coaching staff, including Audrey Mangen (Craftsbury), Cami Thompson (Dartmouth), Avery Ellis (Eastern Mass), Steve Monsulick (Williams), and Bryan Fish (USSS) also all stepped in to provide creative training opportunities for skiers. An additional thank you to Patrick Weaver (UVM), Kate Johnson (Middlebury), and Colin Rodgers (GMVS), who all made guest appearances throughout camp too!

One big departure from previous REG camps was a focus on giving campers an opportunity to do some focused rollerski racing efforts that more closely resembled the competition formats they’re used to competing in on snow. This stands in contrast to the traditional model of using fun “challenge”-type efforts like an agility race or uphill running time trial. The goal was to provide skiers with a good “snapshot” effort for a distance race and a sprint race, that will allow them to make some adjustments to their training as they start to look towards winter. Likewise, it also provided the opportunity for coaches to compile a big library of video of skiers performing technique at speed, which led to some fun and productive analysis sessions with camp coaches.

This REG, skiers competed in a 10 k skate time trial and classic sprint on the Ethan Allen Range rollerski loop. For many, it was their first time competing in a rollerski race on a loop that so closely mimicked the rolling ski terrain that they are used to during the winter. There were some initial, unsteady, steps as skiers learned how to let the terrain do the work of carrying them around corners for them, but true to the talents of the REG campers, they all caught on quickly.

The podiums for each race were recognized by Bryan Fish, who brought some pretty sweet US Ski Team apparel as prizes (speaking of which, you can get your own in next week’s NNF auction!). 

Congratulations to our REG Skate 10 k podiumists: Mens 1st) Joe Grazadei, 2nd) Anders Linseisen, and 3rd) Micah Bruner, Womens 1st) Ava Scheider, 2nd) Beth McIntosh, 3rd) Mary Harrington, and our REG Classic Sprint podiumists: Mens 1st) Joe Grazadei, 2nd) Anders Linseisen, and 3rd) Micah Bruner, and Womens 1st) Ava Schneider, 2nd) Frances Tucker, and 3rd) Leigh Niedeck. The results for the 10 k skate time trial can be found here. The results for the classic sprint can be found here. The two time trials at REG are used in conjunction with the National Ranking List (NRL) from last winter to select skiers for the National Elite Group (NEG) and National Training Group (NTG) camps held by US Ski and Snowboard and the National Nordic Foundation every Fall in Park City, UT. A formal announcement of New England selectees for these camps will be made at a later date.

Interspersed between these competitive time trials was a host of training opportunities that looked to lean on the unique resources available at UVM and in the Champlain Valley. A strength session with UVM Strength Coaching staff helped give skiers new ideas for functional strength exercises, while a ski walking and bounding workout at Bolton Valley Ski Resort took advantage of the extended uphill terrain available in the Green Mountains. The camp also capped off the four days with a run on Camel’s Hump, providing beautiful views and some classic New England granite scrambling.

Just a minute before the classic sprint started on Tuesday, Ben Ogden paused his own threshold workout to provide a quick run through the course to the Men’s field that was about to complete their qualifier. After addressing the group, he was turning to start skiing again, when a skier from in the line called out one more question. Ben simply hit his watch, and then, as the skier inched his way up in the interval start line, the two put every bit of analysis they could into the upcoming sweeping corner. It was a specially hurried coaching session, but that made it special. For a minute to individual skiers reveled in the total attention to detail that makes skiing fun. Then, the start came, the starter said go, and they were both off to chase dreams in the short-term, and much longer down the road. I like that as an image for what REG does, and for what made this one in the East especially special.