Ben Theyerl

The Weekend Where Winter All Came Together: from the Craftsbury Marathon to the Race for Snow

Ben Theyerl · February 3, 2026 ·

The start of the Craftsbury Marathon on Sunday (Photo: Phil Belena)

On Friday, in the new lodge at Oak Hill in Hanover, NH, Jay Davis was getting ready to go for a ski.

The first day of the Dartmouth Carnival had just finished up, and with it, Jay had just relinquished his volunteer position at a spectator crossing.

I’ve quickly learned that conversations with Jay can go from small-talk to the profound just as quickly as the Oak Hill stadium gives way to a climb. And this was no different. “What a nice, cold day.” “The most snow I’ve ever seen in Hanover,” and, from me, “what a scene, from the BKLers on out to the Volunteers, all out here together.” Jay took that one and ran with it…

“You know, in Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam talks about how important those ‘Third Places’ are for every humans spirit – those places away from home or work here they can go and be in community, and I just am always thinking of how lucky we are to provide that here for this community.”

Right on cue with Jay’s observation, Annie Hanna and Safir Mehra, two Ford Sayre Junior racers familiar to the ski community, walked into the lodge to take a break from spectating. After a, ‘don’t you kids have school?’ They then exclaimed they were there on Friday because they were headed to do the Craftsbury Marathon Saturday. And then, into the lodge came another familiar face, with longtime Mansfield Nordic Club Bill Koch League (BKL) leader Rosemary Shea-Cobb coming in from spectating the race to get ready to go off on her own ski. From across New England and across the roles on a race day, we all ended up in one place. A third place, in Jay’s parlance.

EISA Dartmouth Carnival (Photo: Phil Belena)

During the Dartmouth Carnival, the ephemeral connections which hold the ski community together take on an ethereal quality. Physically central in New England, and, as the oldest race we New England skiers have, central to the vital spirit of skiing which has grown and grown over a century of competition.

Across a New England covered in a thick blanket of snow this weekend, that winter joy radiated out. The Craftsbury Marathon gathered hundreds of all walks and in all speeds of walking (or skiing) together. The Race for Snow in Boston did the same. There were high school skiers chasing NENSA Eastern High School Championship and U16 berths at the Sassi at Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford, in New Hampshire, and at Rikert in Vermont. For many, it was a weekend where they took on all the disparate niches to make a pursuit run, and did it in more ways than one.

Ford Sayre Juniors out supporting the Dartmouth Carnival (Photo: Phil Belena)

One of the weird rules of culture is that something can mean very little to a lot of people, but likewise, mean a whole lot to a very few. When the universe balances just so – freezes just enough water in a land filled with hills rough hewn by millenia – you get skiing in New England. Where your third place is wherever you can find a quiet moment to head out on a ski.

Craftsbury Marathon Ski Festival

Brian Bushey leads Sunday’s Craftsbury Skate Marathon. (Photo: Phil Belena)

The rolling folds of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom put into relief the flat consistency of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center’s values. Laced in collectivism, competition, and a love for outdoor sports, Craftsbury celebrates the little bit of everything skiers do which belongs to me and you.

At this year’s Craftsbury Marathon, frequency of the winter matched this spirit, and it all rang true. Two cold days of racing through the fields, forests, and hills as a community together. The 2026 Craftsbury Marathon Ski Festival was a celebration of the homegrown community emanating out from Craftsbury Common to cover Vermont, New England, and – as the Green Racing Project sends Jack Young and Margie Freed to Milan this week – the world.

The visual metaphor of racers who are, or have, chased Olympic dreams at the front of both Saturday’s Classic and Sunday’s Skate race, filled in with supporters, community members, and a next generation of Bill Koch Leaguer’s, all pursuing their own challenge on skis as they challenge the ski community to stride forward, together, was a powerful one last weekend. Congratulations to all who took part.

Race Recap from Craftsbury Outdoor Center

Sights Provided by Phil Belena – FULL GALLERY HERE

The 9th Annual Race for Snow

Click the image above to visit the Race for Snow Instagram with more photos and videos!

If Craftsbury represented a groundswell high up in the Vermont hills, then what was happening down in Boston Saturday evening proved that the well runs deep in the New England ski community.

For nearly a decade, the EMXC Juniors have spent one of their few off weekends from racing by taking on the mantle of organizing a ski race, with all proceeds going towards nonprofits with a simple mission – preserving and celebrating our winters!

The 9th annual edition of the Race for Snow saw plenty of it, after nearly two feet of snow dolled the Weston Ski Track up in rare form ahead this year’s race.

Over one-hundred from Boston, the wider-Mass nordic community, and beyond gathered for an evening which lived out the race’s mission, more so than just working for it. Winter joy, plenty of it, and the joy of skiing together. Congratulations to this year’s Race for Snow organizer’s, and here is to a Boston ski community which will continue to flock to the Weston ski track for years to come!

Race for Snow Auction Ongoing

The Race for Snow auction, which accompanies the race, is open through this week! Head on over to see all the goodies you could take home while supporting a good thing: winter!

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.

No Two Alike: The Future of NENSA’s Snowflake Logo

Ben Theyerl · January 21, 2026 ·

Astrid Longstreth, Acadia Enman, and Mia Gorman rocking their JNs snowflake jackets at 2025 JNs. (Photo: George Forbes)

The Snowflake is a symbol wherever they fall. In their simplest form, they’ve been etched into almost every winter culture at any point in human history. Interlocked lines, leading to more interlocked lines, interlaced into a crystal symbolizing the airy peace of a cold winter’s day. The complex image of a snowflake though – all their fractal beauty – is tied to a very specific place: New England.

Starting in 1885, a Vermonter named Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley started pointing the then-nascent technology of photography towards snowflakes – thousands of them – he collected on his Jericho farm. Bentley was trying to unwind a very New England-y observation; that all snow isn’t the same. Fresh snow is airy. Re-frozen snow after a thaw is hard and packed. Most New Englanders concerned with this observation now just test klister and hard wax and call it good.

Bentley though, stuck to scientific aims. That is, until, he inadvertently uncovered the crystalline intricacies contained in snowflakes. His photography would become a pop-hit, with individual snowflake crystals running in newspapers, in collected books, and becoming the basis for the snowflake as a visual tome. Meanwhile, his scientific work on snowflakes ended up leading to a less-than-definitive morphology. He drove towards a conclusion which has become a popular notion, that “no two snowflakes are alike.”

Snowflake Bentley prints, as housed at the Old Red Mill in Jericho, Vermont

This realization imbued the snowflake as a symbol with even more beauty. Out of the cold, dead of winter, nature couldn’t help but create. In each snowflake, there was a new mishmash, and a new world.

When the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) incorporated in 1995, its first Program Director Zach Caldwell had to design a logo. So, he went with a snowflake. Zach was probably not consciously inspired by his fellow Vermonter’s century old legacy – being as smart as Zach is though, he very well could have been – but he did land on an image drawn from a lasting power, and one which had it too.

In between bannered block lettering on top and bottom, a six-point snowflake was chosen. In snowflake classifications, this is a “stellar dendrite,” which fall in very cold, humid conditions – a classic snowflake, for a classic New England snow. To fill it, Zach emplaced the outline of the Norwegian legend Oddvar Bra (of breaking his pole fame) in full classic stride from the cover of one of his uncle John Caldwell’s The Cross Country Skiing Book editions.

The decision to fill the snowflake with one of Norway’s all time great skiers was pertinent to much of NENSA’s early programming. John Caldwell, who had led the movement to start the organization, had started the practice of hosting clinics with his connections from the nordic countries dating back to his days as the US Olympic coach in the 1960s and 1970s. When John dreamt about what he wanted the New England ski community to shoot for in developing its skiers, he realized that it looked a lot like the Norwegians and Swedes which were dominating the sport back then even more so than they do today. So, he continued to bring them in. For early NENSA coaches’ clinics, for races, and simply to keep skiers from Falmouth connected to skiers from Falun around their love for the sport. The aim was to fill a class of experts in the New England community which it hadn’t quite yet filled on its own.

Zach, for his part, liked the aesthetic of the Bra in full classic stride. So, using the edition of Adobe Illustrator which came on Windows 95, he drew up the NENSA logo.

A BKLer at Prospect Mountain Sports their NENSA Snowflake

The humble NENSA snowflake has endured as NENSA’s world became crystalized with its own connections. The snowflake began appearing on the New England Junior Nationals Team suits and then multiplied and multiplied. It spread on gifts given out at Eastern High School and J2 Championships, and at NENSA Women’s Day. It became the first little team crest that thousands of Bill Koch Leaguers wore on their jackets. It adorned Olympians way before their Olympic dreams could crystalize.

What began as a couple of branches has laced together into a small world. A community which matched the tenor of the beauty found in a snowflake. Nordic skiers couldn’t help but fill the dark dead of winter with light, life, and the warmth of human souls pointed in the same direction. They created their unique snowflake. Created NENSA.

The snowflakiest of the New England Junior Nationals snowflake suits at 2010 Junior Nationals in Presque Isle with Hans Halvorson. (Photo: Flyingpointroad)

Last year, as part of NENSA’s thirtieth anniversary, we asked the community to vote on a special logo to celebrate our world. Charlotte Ogden of Bivo submitted eight designs. The overwhelming favorite in the community captured John Caldwell’s Granddaughter Sophie Caldwell-Hamilton, by parts an Olympian, World Cup Champion, former Stratton Mountain School T2, Dartmouth and Stratton Mountain School standout, and current Program Director at the Aspen Valley Ski Club (AVSC). Sophie was captured in full classic stride. Her technique looked punchier than the long-gaited extended arm of the original logo. And though it wasn’t intentional, a slight illusion on the eyes led to debates on whether she was striding towards you in her silhouette, or striding on to some hill, just out of frame.

As NENSA’s thirtieth wound down late last Fall, the NENSA Staff started to ponder where the Sophie logo would go. And, after some small considerations, the notion was raised – why doesn’t it just stay? Wouldn’t it make sense to have a NENSA skier in the NENSA logo?

The plan was floated by the NENSA Board of Directors at our Fall Meeting. A question on whether there were any objections met with an awkward silence which lasted just long enough that it was up to NENSA’s last remaining founding board member Peter Hendel to break it up with some humor – “wait, I’m just remembering, I think that old guy on the logo was me!”

Sophie Caldwell-Hamilton and Grandfather John Caldwell, NENSA Founder

The second snowflake in the NENSA collection then, is here to stay. We are proud to put a NENSA skier at the heart of NENSA. From Caldwell to Carnivals to competing at the world stage, Sophie grew up here, and then did it all. We think its reflective of a community which has dared to grow, expand, and lace its own crystalline, unique beauty. And one that like all snowflakes is fractal inward and outward. In each New England skier’s accomplishment, there’s the bit that belongs to me and you. In one skier, we see a reflection of the racers, coaches, families and friends which make NENSA, NENSA.

Snowflake Bentley’s collection of snowflake photography is housed in his hometown of Jericho. We’re proud though, that of all the snowflakes that aren’t alike, perhaps the most visible snowflake image in a Vermont winter is the NENSA snowflake – displayed on a BKLer at Prospect, a racer at Craftsbury, or anywhere in between.

After the post was live, Zach Caldwell shared the following:

“The original was from a picture of Odvar Braa skiing in Putney when he visited with Magne Myrmo back in the early 70s. It was chosen purely for the classic aesthetic – at the time there weren’t endless photos available online, and this one was in one of uncle John’s books, on my bookshelf, next to my computer. I scanned the photo and made the outline in Adobe Illustrator, and I also built the snowflake in illustrator (and yes, I knew that it was a stellar dentrite, but again it was designed for its classic aesthetic more than its meteorological significance).

At any rate – that was all a very long time ago, and it’s so cool to see Sophie’s silhouette in the middle of that snowflake now!“

Community Race Series Update: A Grand Old Classic at the 49th Annual Geschmossel at Bretton Woods

Ben Theyerl · January 21, 2026 ·

Plus…Cold Weather Contingencies and Marathon Series Updates ahead of Craftsbury

On the NENSA Community calendar, the mid-January Monday holiday has traditionally been reserved for the Geschmossel. And-traditions-wise, the Geschmossel has been around longer than most in the nordic ski world. As Northwest Vermont Endurance’s Damian Bolduc wrote in his race recap of the event this week, :”In the context of the event, [Geschmossel] means ‘we don’t exactly know what we have, but we are going to throw together a fine racing experience with what is out there on the day of the race.’ Only a handful of Geschmossels have been canceled throughout its history, so Bretton Woods has been able to deliver something reliably for all this time!”

The 49th running of the Geschmossel came on the heels of a busy NENSA weekend east of the White Mountains, with the Roy Varney Memorial at Quarry Road finishing up two days of racing Sunday. At Quarry Road Sunday, the lead pack in the 10 k Classic Men’s race was populated by the usual mix of intrepid Junior and Collegiate athletes, but also included the notable ‘Bill-Koch’ inspired, long-lean stride of an M4 Master, Justin Freeman. Freeman accented a showing which included a couple of Masters skiers, and foreshadowed that Monday could be a classic showing at a classic race.

At the front of the Geschmossel’s field on Monday indeed was one of Quarry Road’s Masters – as Michael Dillon went for Day 3 in a row donning the Mansfield Nordic colors. In Monday’s race, Dillon was joined by his clubmate Nate Laber, with Laber ultimately pulling ahead to claim victory in the race. Rounding out the podium was Gunstock’s Rob Riley, with the total spread within a minute for the top of the field.

An even closer race would play out to top the Women’s race, with Joann Hanowski (Rossignol) and Sarah Pribram (NWVE) skiing nearly the whole race together to finish with just a 4 second advantage to Hanowski. Jessica Bolduc (NWVE) would round out the Women’s podium for the race.

In the age group results, the Men’s M7 field topped the bunch for turnout, with Stuart Kremzner (Enevoldsen Coaching) reportedly double-poling his way through the course to top a tight battle between Bill Donahue (Gunstock Nordic) and David Herr (Unaffiliated) for the podium.

A 49th running of a race is almost bound to end with an inevitable ellipsis…you’ve got to already be looking forward to the 50th running, and all the history and perspective encapsulated in a citizen race – the only citizen race in New England – which has will have been running for half a century. Before things get too carried away though, let the record show that at the 49th annual Geschmossel, there was winter, snow, racing, and all the good things that go with those things.

Looking Ahead

Race cancellations and postponements – With a polar vortex looking to bear down on New England, a couple of our community race series events, including the MNC Skiathlon and Flying Moose Classic, have made the decision to cancel or postpone to another day (Sunday, February 22nd) when the snow’s still good and the suns sending just a little more love our way.

Skiing in the bitter cold in small doses can offer us a direct shot of something nordic skiers all love – seeing the winter world at its stillest, even most peaceful. When organizers consider postponing or canceling a race due to cold temperatures, they do so thoughtfully, recognizing that certain race formats involve sustained exertion and limited access to warming areas for both participants and volunteers.

Marathon Series Update

The extra rest week should give everyone a chance to really re-charge before the Craftsbury Marathon (hey, could be the year to do both days!) next weekend. Craftsbury has already been putting word out that the long awaited return of the long loops is here! A 23k loop is being explored, and with the cold temps, odds are on it happening!

Marathon Series – A reminder ahead of the Craftsbury Marathon of the Marathon Series rules for accumulating your 3 Marathons for the Challenger Award. Rules are posted HERE.

The full length marathon counts towards Challenger awards for Senior-M6 age groups. M7+ skiers may count either the long distance or short-distance race towards the Marathon Challenger award, and NENSA scores the short-distance race for these Zak Cup Age Groups at these events. Both days of the Craftsbury Marathon may count towards this year’s challenger awards.

NENSA Memberships must be current at time of completing your marathon for it to count towards this year’s award!

More Sights

Results and Rankings

NENSA Results | Results on Bullitt Timing

NENSA Zak and Club Cup Rankings

One Wintery Weekend in Maine: The Roy Varney Memorial Fischer Eastern Cup at Quarry Road Trails

Ben Theyerl · January 19, 2026 ·

Margo Nightingale and Reese Furneaux after the 10 k Classic on Sunday (Photos: Daryn Slover, Quarry Road Trails)

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.

Quarry Road Eastern Cup 10K Classic Mass Start. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)

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.

New Parking lot, same smiling faces at Quarry Road (Photo: Daryn Slover)

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

Men’s Podium Saturday (Photo: Ben Theyerl)

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.

Wren Chalmers leads the U16 Boys field Sunday (Photo: Ben Theyerl)

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

Astrid Longstreth at the Roy Varney Memorial Sunday (Photo: Daryn Slover)

Results on Bullitt

Team Standings

Full Photosets

Girls Mass Start field (Photo: Ben Theyerl)

Daryn Slover

Ben Theyerl/NENSA

The Wave Returns at the Jackson Jaunt/White Mountain Classic Weekend in Jackson, NH

Ben Theyerl · January 12, 2026 ·

Jessie Donovan at the Jackson Jaunt Saturday (Photo: Tom Bartol, see full album here)

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.

Jackson Jaunt (Photo: Tom Bartol, full album here)

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

Northwest Vermont Endurance are the 2026 One-Day Club Champions (Photo: Tom Bartol)

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