Justin Beckwith

Magic Mountain, VT June 3, 2023-

West River Sports marked its 50th anniversary by hosting their second annual Snow and Music Fundraiser at Magic Mountain, located in the heart of southern Vermont, where skiing still has its soul.

Southern VT holds a significant place in the snow sports world, with notable milestones such as Bill Koch refining skate skiing XC technique in nearby Putney during the late 1970s. The 80s and 90s saw the emergence of snowboarding and half pipe competitions, further solidifying the region’s influence. In the late 90s, Southern VT played a pivotal role in the development of the modern-day XC sprint race with the Lexus XC Sprint Series held at the base of local alpine resorts. This cherished history and unwavering passion for sliding on snow were showcased brilliantly on Saturday, giving birth to the exhilarating West River Nordic duals.

More than 500 attendees had the privilege of witnessing a thrilling duel slalom race featuring 36 elite cross country ski racers, including multiple Olympians and members of the US Ski Team. Thanks to the assistance of Magic Mountain operations and numerous dedicated volunteers, a massive snow pile was preserved for the event on Saturday. 

The festivities were further enhanced by the energetic performances of two awesome bands, starting with the local favorites Saints and Liars. Multiple food trucks catered to everyone’s palates, while cheers filled the air and champagne flowed for the Men’s and Women’s champions, hometown hero and Olympic athlete Ben Ogden and Olympic gold medalists Jessie Diggins. 

The setting was spectacular as the sun made appearances throughout the day, casting a dramatic backdrop while it set between the lush green mountains. The grand finale came with Bow Thayer and His Band headlining, followed by a bonus third set featuring both bands on stage. This slam dunk fundraiser success should definitely not be missed next year! West River Sports intends to use the proceeds to continue offering affordable Nordic and soccer opportunities to local youth, making a positive impact in the community. 

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the countless volunteers and sponsors who made this event possible, including Knight Tubs, Hunter Excavating, Merrill Lynch Walsh Group, rk Miles, Vermont Foam Insulation, WW Building Supply, Wylie Construction, Ed Despard of Bullitt Timing for professional race timing, and Mike Healy of BOC and Josh Wylie for course setup. Thank you to all participants and our amazing West River Sports Community, we look forward to seeing you next year! 

Spring and the new training season are in full swing across the East.  Based on previous year’s feedback and a desire to spice up the fourth edition of this community activating event — #25KinMay will be condensed into the final week of May.  Starting on May 25th we encourage you to get out and safely enjoy rollerskiing as you ease into more specific training.

Categories:
– Best Video — Grab some friends and get creative.  Please choose music suitable for all ages.  Videos should be under 60 seconds.
– Best Image — Rollerskiing can take you to inspiring places, from mountainous terrain to the spectacle of your local green space.  Capture unique lighting, settings or people in your images.
– Roll to Snow (or Water) — It’s getting harder to find white stuff, but there are still patches in the high reaches of ski areas, your local ice rink.  Use your creativity and remember water is snow in another form.
– Members 25 — Any NENSA member who reports a 25km ski.

Rules:
– Check your equipment.
– Get out there and ski.
– Take photos and video (make your edit).
– Make sure tag NENSA and include #25kinmay (email outside content to [email protected]).

Prizes:
NENSA staff will vote on winners from each category — winners will receive our 2023-2024 Rollerski Season Trucker hat.  “Members 25” will include a raffle for a night at the Trapp Family Lodge.

NENSA will share your content on our social feeds Instagram | Facebook and highlight top submissions in KickZone and nensa.net

History and Spirit of #25KinMay:
This is the event that gets people thinking about rolling every spring.  Originally a way for the community to share activity during the pandemic, it has developed into a way to shift the paradigm of rollerski from being just a training mechanism.  It’s a time to reach out to friends or connect with new ones to plan an adventure.  Ever see a road that was just calling for a ski?  Or maybe there is a bike path that you had always wanted to check out.  We want you to challenge yourself and utilize rollerskis as a fun tool and build the social energy of our summertime programs.  We love the stories we’ve shared for the past three years!

#25KinMay is free – simply get out there and report your ski to us via Social Media (or email).  The event is for everyone and based primarily on participation and this year, creativity!  Please add descriptors to your routes, challenges and successes.

The number one rule remains: BE SAFE out there.  Skiers must select terrain suitable for their skill level.

//Rollerski Safety Rules//

NENSA’s mission is to provide excitement to our broader cross country skiing community and continue the momentum of NENSA’s Rollerski Programming.   We look forward to unveiling our 2023 Rollerski Race Series this month and visiting clubs throughout the East this summer!

Recruit friends to join you – use #25KinMay for motivation to get rolling!

 

Link to David’s Video Challenge from May 2020

By David Northcott

This spring, I had the privilege of attending Junior Nationals for the first time as a member of Team New England.  This has been a primary goal of mine for the last two years, and the experience was every bit as amazing as I had hoped!  Through all the fun, I also gained an important perspective on my training and racing.   My experience at JN’s taught me valuable lessons that I hope to take forward through my skiing career.

My earliest winter memories are on skis.  I was skiing from the time I could walk and it’s always been a huge part of my identity.  I competed in my first BKL race at two years old on homemade wooden skis that my dad made for me for my first birthday.  My parents are coaches and I spent every winter afternoon at their practices for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I chased a crew of older, super fast, and super fun teammates in the Putney BKL program and absolutely fell in love with ski racing.  We were taught how to work hard and to play even harder.  I owe so much to my Putney coaches!

One year ago, at the end of the 2022 season, I felt incredibly motivated after just missing a spot on the JN team as a first-year U16.  I put in a lot of focus over the summer, and it paid off!  My Eastern Cup season went about as well as it could have; I was on form for the majority of the qualifying races.  Going into the season my results goal had been to get the #1 New England U16 seed, and I was able to meet this goal.  Coming off a successful winter, I left for JNs in Fairbanks with high hopes for both the trip and the racing.  The trip didn’t disappoint and was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had.  Traveling as a team really added to the fun, and spending a week in Alaska with a bunch of my friends was a blast.  Beyond that, I realized there is something very special about racing at such a high-level event.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pull together the races I knew were available for me to get; it wasn’t a disaster, but my performances left a lot to be desired.  What bothered me the most wasn’t the actual results, but the fact that I could tell I just wasn’t racing to my full potential.  

One of the surprising and meaningful parts of this experience was the amount of support I received from my local community.  It got me thinking about how much goes into pursuing high-level skiing.  It’s not only my own time and energy but also the investment from my parents, coaches, and the amazing crew at NENSA who made the JN trip and much of our race season possible. On top of that, it was humbling to see how many of the people in my local community were interested and excited about my season.  I really appreciated it, and it was incredible to have so much support.  However, it added something I didn’t foresee; for the first time I felt pressure outside of my own ambitions.  To clarify, this pressure wasn’t from anyone other than myself.  I began to feel like I owed results to those who supported me. The expectations of high-stakes racing made it a lot harder to race with clarity than I expected. 

Following the Alaska trip, I was asked to put together a slideshow of my BKL to JN’s progression for a presentation to my local BKL group.  In my time spent searching through old pictures and results, I thought it was cool to see how many of the people who raced in Fairbanks with me have been racing alongside me since first grade.  Even more interestingly, many of these people, now some of the fastest in New England, have not always been dominant.  This made me think about my Nationals experience and draw some connections.  In the moment, failing to meet my goals at JN’s felt really difficult.  However, improvement is not always linear and there will always be ebbs and flows along the way.  Looking at those old results reminded me that for most of us, race results are only a part of the story.   It can be really easy to get stuck on results and feel like a set of sub-par performances will continue indefinitely.  I felt this in Alaska and I came away pretty discouraged and unconfident about my abilities.  However, after a few weeks of reflection and making the BKL presentation, it occurred to me that this is really not that much different from the results I have had my whole life.  Some good, some bad, some I was proud of, and some that left me disappointed. I would have been psyched to crush the big races at the end of the season, of course, but I know now that I can use the disappointment to garner a ton of motivation to get after it this summer.

 

I really appreciate the opportunity I had this year to be part of such a great team. I am also very appreciative of the opportunity to now be pursuing the sport I have loved my whole life at a high level.  I want to strive to use all the generosity from others to motivate, rather than turn the goodwill into unhelpful pressure.  I am ready to pick up the pieces of races lost, find inspiration in setting new goals, work hard, and thoroughly enjoy my skiing friends and incredible support network.  I’m super hyped to get to work this summer and excited to come back next year stronger, faster, and more experienced!

 

NENSA is proud to bring back the Regional Development Camp after a successful inaugural year.  The RDG is meant to complement the longstanding Regional Elite Group (REG) camp, recognize the depth of talent in the East, and expand the number of athletes invited to attend summer regional development opportunities.  The 2023 RDG Camp will once again be held at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, June 30 – July 2.

Further, this year the camp will be paired with the Lost Nation Roll and the start of the NENSA Rollerski Series.  Pairing rollerski competition with camps heightens development opportunities and creates a basis for a strong race field.  The Lost Nation Roll is expected to bring in professional skiers, while ensuring a festive experience for all.  More on that to come!

Athletes are selected to attend RDG based on: the NENSA Junior Ranking List, NENSA U16 ranking list, Eastern High School Championship and U16 Championship overall results.  (Please note the Junior Ranking List also serves as the alternate criteria for REG).  Athletes named to REG and RDG will be contacted tomorrow to start determining acceptances.  Alternates will be named per declines in each criteria.  (further Mid Atlantic skiers will also be nominated).

Female Nominees:
Kate Carlson, Mansfield Nordic Club/EABC
Leigh Niedeck, EMXC
Ruth Krebs, Craftsbury Ski Club
Anika Leahy, Craftsbury Ski Club
Emma Charles, University of New Hampshire (REG Alt)
Maddie Hooker, Stratton Mountain School (REG Alt)
Clara Lake, EMXC (REG Alt)
Maggie McGee, Colby College (REG Alt)
Elizabeth Graziani, Green Mountain Valley School (REG Alt)
Reese Furneaux, Gould (REG Alt)
Ann Rightmire, Ford Sayre (REG Alt)
Grace Mattern, Bowdoin College (REG Alt)
Sage Freeman, Colby College (REG Alt)
Elli Englund, Holderness
Hannah Petersen , EMXC
Alexandria Taylor, EMXC
Lea Perread, Ford Sayre
Greta Kilburn , Burlington High School
Cora Hinsdill, Adirondack
Kai McKinnon, NYSEF
Alivia Hopsticker, NY

Male Nominees:
Matias Citarella, Green Mountain Valley School
Lorenzo Atocha, GMVS
Matthew McIntosh, Green Mountain Valley School
Sisu Lange, Craftsbury Ski Club
Rye Maccurtain, Mansfield Nordic Club (REG Alt)
Wyatt Teaford, Stratton Mountain School (REG Alt)
Elvis McIntosh, Green Mountain Valley School (REG Alt)
Lucas Streinz, Fort Kent Outdoor Center (REG Alt)
Caden Cote, Harvard University Ski Team (REG Alt)
Micah Bruner, Stratton Mountain School (REG Alt)
Jonah Gorman, Mansfield Nordic Club
Parker Nellis, Gould
Timothy Craddock, Stratton Mountain School
Quinn McDermott, Mount Greylock
Benjamin Condit, Quarry Road Ski Club
Eli Shifrin, Gould
Kogiantis Filippos, Stuyvesant High School

You can read more about RDG (and REG) qualification here.

 

The 2022-2023 competition season robust participation across Popular and Eastern Cup Competition.  Popular Racing saw significant growth with 2247 race finishes by adults, with 925 unique participants throughout the season.  Many events also hosted BKL events in conjunction which bolstered event numbers.  NENSA is committed to continuing to bolster support for these inclusive events.  The Eastern Cup saw nearly 2500 skiers, the second most attended on record, and with the likelihood of combining at least one SuperTour into the schedule 2023-2024 could rival the high mark of the 2022 season.

Popular Race Bids:

NENSA will once again offer two tiers of Popular Race calendaring for 2023-2024. Last season, with increased NENSA support and media we saw 13 of the 19 races on the calendar reach over 100 participants.  Over 160 clubs were listed throughout the winter.  NENSA staff is thankful for the many event organizers and clubs that make this Series such a success, even when winter wasn’t cooperating in the first half of the season.  Our goal for 2023-2024 will be to continue to incentivize participation through advanced calendaring, promotion, Club and Zak Cup rankings. We will again place the Popular Races Series as the core of the NENSA calendar.

Venues interested in having their event(s) named to NENSA’s Zak Cup, Club Cup, and/or New England Marathon Series should complete this form by May 1st. Early submissions are encouraged so we can help shape a calendar that minimizes event overlaps.

Link to detailed Popular Race information. (Zak/Club and Marathon)

Direct link to Popular Race Bid Sheet.

Detailed information for Event Organizers including anticipated dates for major events.

Eastern Cup Race Bids:

Please note Eastern Cup and SuperTour bidding is open and closes at the beginning of May.  Eastern Cup scheduling is determined by the Athletic Development Committee.  There is ongoing discussion of the National SuperTour calendar which will be stamped at USSS Congress the second week of May — after this point NENSA will release our Eastern Cup schedule for 2023-2024.

Direct link to Eastern Cup Bid Sheet

For those intending to host an Eastern Cup or Major Championship NENSA requires sending a representative to attend the TD / Event Organizer Clinic, typically held during September or the first weekend of December.  All other race organizers are encouraged and welcome to attend.  We will be make this date public in the coming weeks.

For Eastern Cup, Zak/Club and Marathon questions: [email protected]

Thanks for making your bids early and we look forward to planning next years events with you!