Kait Miller

It was a fun weekend of learning at the Dublin School! Educational offerings included a BKL Coaches Training as well as the US Ski & Snowboard’s L100 and L200 coach practicums. The goal of this weekend was to bring coaches and aspiring coaches together in a welcoming environment so we can learn from each other and better serve the athletes in our respective communities so skiing is a fun and positive experience for them. Our hope is that youth and junior skiers develop many skills through sport and are inspired to be active for life whether they follow a competitive or recreational pathway.

The BKL Coaches Training included a presentation covering a variety of topics including an introduction to the Bill Koch League; BKL Philosophy; a case study on youth sports today; models, methods, and best practices for coaching; and coaching for long term development and success. We had many thought-providing discussions throughout the presentation thanks to the engaged participants who were willing to ask questions and also share their knowledge and experience. Following the presentation we migrated to a wonderfully scenic soccer field where we jumped on real skis and “skied” around on the grass. After an ice breaker in which we all shared our individual opinion on whether crocs are running shoes, we covered some basic drills and exercises for building general comfort on skis and then played a variety of games to further develop those skills. The clinic wrapped up with an optional rollerski session for those curious to try out the summer version of skiing.

This weekend also served as the in-person practicum for the US Ski & Snowboard (USSS) Level 100 and Level 200 coaches certification. The USSS is the national governing body of cross country skiing in the US and their education department delivers high-quality education programs and resources for coaches of all levels in the United States. The USSS coaches certification program is a tiered system with each level building on the previous. The Level 100 program is designed for new coaches working primarily with younger, developing athletes while the Level 200 focuses on coaches working with athletes starting to compete at the national level. Saturday featured the L100 clinic lead by Kathy Maddock of DublinXC and Sunday featured the L200 clinic lead by Bryan Fish of USSS. Click HERE if you’re curious to learn about the USSS coach certification pathway.

We want to extend a big thank you to the Dublin School for hosting us! If you’ve never skied there before, we highly recommend you check out their trails this winter.

Below are some resources for those curious to explore some of the content covered over the weekend.

Bill Koch Youth Ski League Manual (2022 edition)
NENSA Video Library (includes basic instructional videos and drills from the USSS L100 clinic)
BKL Philosophy & Long Term Athlete Development Presentation (from the 2020 virtual NENSA coaches symposium)

This past weekend 114 hearty humans braved the wet weather at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, VT and competed in Sunday’s Free Fall Rollerski Race!

The FreeFall has become a staple of NENSA’s roller series and always draws a competitive and fun crowd. Open racers were slated for a 15km and juniors a 5km — both utilizing the same full 5km race loop which includes some sporty downhills.  Minutes before the men’s start it began to rain and the track became slick.  Racers took the challenge in stride and navigated downhills, and slippery ups, with varied tactics.  At the finish there were unfortunately more DNF’s due to falls than we have ever experienced — but the overwhelming feedback was that was “wild fun” and “really hard.”  Before the women’s race the Jury made the decision to eliminate the furthest loop and eliminate the most technical downhill on the course for safety reasons.  The women contested an 11.5km course.  Both races saw a really awesome overlap of juniors, collegiate and elite level skiers.

RACE VIDEO

In the men’s race the top of the field included a rematch of US Ski Team athletes, Johnny Hagenbuch (Dartmouth) and Ben Ogden (UVM).  Although Ogden had just returned from impressive international races at Toppidrettsveka, it was Hagenbuch who prevailed for the second year in a row with a time of 34:20.  Johnny described his tactic to fend off Ogden as starting faster than he usually would and then treating each lap as a six minute interval in the hardest part of the course.  Times were nearly two minutes slower than 2021 due to heavy rainfall and a wet track.  Also of note was UVM freshman, Petter Bakken (son of the legendary Thorodd Bakken), who placed third, less than a minute behind Ogden.

The women’s race was equally talented at the top end featuring a fun rivalry between the US Ski Team’s Julia Kern (SMS T2) and US Biathlon’s Deedra Irwin (National Guard Biathlon).  Kern missed the 2021 event and came to 2022 psyched to visit the Ethan Allen venue for the first time in ten years, a place she noted she has fond memories of.  Kern left the gate first and used her powerful technique to log the fastest splits for all three laps.  We were thrilled to have Irwin join our race, and she was “really redlining” to show her fitness on her home track and push her limits against the cross country specialists.  Kern covered the course in 27:55, just shy of a minute faster than Irwin.  U20 Haley Brewster (UVM) put in an impressive performance to take the final spot on the podium.

While NENSA races draw some of the best skiers in the country, every event is intended to accommodate all levels of skiers and development. Due to the slippery conditions, both the juniors and recreational or masters skiers were treated to a dual start 6km course that eliminated the trickiest of downhills on the track.  Despite increased rain, the stoke of the juniors and masters was contagious.  USST World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb was present throughout the junior race and remarked how impressed he was with the skiing he saw, and how similar NENSA rollerski events are to what he just witnessed in Norway.

Congrats to everyone who competed in this event, and a big thank you to the Adam Terko and the Mansfield Nordic Club, the Ethan Allen firing Range, and all the awesome volunteers that came out to help. We are also very grateful to Bullitt Timing for their exceptional services.

In addition the incredible support we receive from our NENSA associate sponsors – Salomon, LL Bean, Swix, and Fischer – we are also grateful to Enjoy Winter and Swenor Rollerskis for supplying NENSA with an awesome fleet of rollerskis so the top-seeded athletes in all our events have matched skis. All women and juniors, and 35 men raced on matched skis.  And no NENSA rollerski race would be complete without the exceedingly tasty support of Cabot who has generously donated cheese for this season’s podium finishers! Full results and top-3 highlights below as well as a photo album courtesy of Paul Bierman.

PHOTOS

 

The Free Fall was the third race of our seven race series. Next up we head to the Castle Conquest New York for an exciting double header weekend in Lake Placid featuring the Keys to the Castle Freestyle Sprint on September 24th and the legendary Climb to the Castle freestyle hill climb on September 25th.  There is also a biathlon race and free BKL learn-to-rollerski opportunity on Saturday at Mt Van Hoevenberg. Details and registration HERE. You can view our full 2022 rollerski line up HERE.

FULL RESULTS

Open Women:
1. Julia Kern, SMS T2 / US Ski Team
2. Deedra Irwin, National Guard Biathlon / US Biathlon Team
3. Haley Brewster, UVM Ski Team

Open Men:
1. John Steel Hagenbuch, Dartmouth Ski Team / US Ski Team
2. Ben Ogden, UVM Ski Team / US Ski Team
3. Petter Bakken, UVM Ski Team

Junior Women:
1. Emma Reeder, Dartmouth
2.Ava Thurston, Dartmouth
3. Camille Bolduc, University of Vermont

Junior Men:
1. Luke Allen, Dartmouth
2. Cooper Camp, Dartmouth
3. Alexandre Cormier, Fondeurs-Laurentides

Junior Girls:
1. Nyla Scott, Gould Academy
2. Kate Carlson, Mansfield Nordic Club / EABC
3. Ruth Krebs, Craftsbury Nordic Club

Junior Boys:
1. Taylor Carlson, Mansfield Nordic Club
2. Brady Morigeau, EABC
3. Lucas Barstow, Gould Nordic

Master Women:
1. Jocelyn Sommers, SMC Ski Team

Master Men:
1. Landen vom Steeg

As summer draws to a close, we want to take a moment to reflect on the skiers and communities we got to connect with this summer through our Learn-to-Rollerski sessions. This is the second year we have intentionally expanded our summer programming to incorporate more non-race focused programming to reach more folks across the Northeast who are new to skiing and rollerskiing.

We kicked off the summer with our second annual trip to Gould Academy for a multi-club clinic hosted with folks from Gould, Maine West Project Play, and the Bethel Outing Club. Participants joined us from those programs as well as Quarry Road Ski Club, Portland Nordic, Great Glen, and JacksonXC. Turnout was high with 40 middle and high school participants working on their agility, balance, and coordination while running through the rollerski ramps and playing a variety of games including broom ball!

Next we held a rollerski clinic in conjunction with the Lost Nation Rollerski race at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. This clinic provided an exceptional opportunity for participants to watch some high level skiers in action prior to trying rollerskis themselves. Also, the rollerski track at Craftsbury is, without a doubt, one of the best surfaces to learn on. While the clinic at Gould was geared towards middle and high school skiers, this clinic was open to all ages and had participants ranging from 8-50 years of age.

We stayed in Vermont for the next two clinics both of which were hosted at the Champlain Valley High School in Hinesburg, VT. This is our third year in a row supporting a morning of rollerskiing for both sessions of Sleepy Hollow BKL’s weeklong summer ski camps. This group is always a blast to work with and after covering some basics, we focused on agility and debuted rollerski hockey!

Next up were camp visits to the Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) and Stratton Mountain School (SMS). Both schools are supporting NENSA sponsors and we love connecting with them and their campers over the summer. 

During the first week of August, GMVS facilitated three separate camps at the same time: the Eastern / Central U16 National Camp, their own summer camp, and an international camp hosting fifteen Italian athletes from their partner school, the Sportoberschulke, in Mals, Italy.  At the conclusion of the week, NENAS helped set up a really fun agility course complete with ramps and slip n’ slide finish!  Check out the recap video here.

Following the GMVS school visit, NENSA traveled to the SMS. SMS has been hosting awesome summer camps for BKL and junior-aged skiers for many decades now and they always have some exciting rollerski activities lined up for their campers. In 2018, NENSA made its first camp visit to SMS with the bicycle ramps – luckily for us and the campers, none other than Jessie Diggins was there to try them out and show the first group of skiers how to pump the track!  Each year we visit SMS the comfort and ability-level of the skiers seems to reach a new level.  NENSA visits on the “flip day” between the BKL and junior camp groups and this year we saw over one hundred skiers cycle through the ramps in Sun Bowl parking lot!

We wrapped up the summer in the same state we started in, Maine, with the final clinic of the season held up in Orono with the Penobscot Valley Ski Club at the Orono High School. The high school takes the cake for having the most buttery pavement we’ve encountered all year! After a little technique-work, participants all got to try the brand new set of ramps made by one of the local high school skiers. We incorporated the ramps into a fun agility course and wrapped up the clinic with some rollerski hockey. The goal of this clinic was to build comfort on rollerskis and for many of the skiers, this was their first time on rollerskis. Everyone pushed themselves to try new things and showed considerable improvement over the course of the afternoon.

While that’s a wrap on the summer season, we have many more rollerski opportunities on the horizon this fall! Check our event calendar to stay-up-to-date and we hope to see you out there. If you would like to schedule a rollerski clinic for your club or camp for next season, check our info page HERE for more details and then reach out to [email protected]. We do our best to fit in as many clinics as we can.

A big thank you to our NENSA associate sponsors – Salomon, LL Bean, Swix, and Fischer – for their dedicated and ongoing support of NENSA. We are also grateful to Enjoy Winter and Swenor Rollerskis for supplying use with an awesome fleet of rollerskis so all our clinic attendees can learn to rollerski on top-of-the-line equipment!

 

 

This past weekend a solid crew of skiers raced their way up Mount Kearsarge in the second annual Rollins Rollerski Race. Dreamed up by Kearsarge Nordic coach, Kevin Lee, this scenic classic hill climb event grew in participation from last year. While the field mostly consisted of junior skiers, there were 9 dedicated masters who braved the climb as part of the Allagash Brewing Masters Cup which will be scored using the best two of three placements in the three hill climbs during the 2022 NENSA Rollerski Race Series. Hosting a rollerski competition in New Hampshire is part of our NENSA initiative to bring programming to all parts of the Eastern region. NENSA staff were so excited to put on a race with the awesome coaches and athletes in the Granite State.

Prizes for the full masters and junior podiums included Cabot Cheese and winners got 2022 NENSA rollerski trucker hats. Overall winners got to take home either an inflatable cow or penguin courtesy of Cabot Cheese! Full results and top-three highlights below. And check out this video montage from the start line.

PHOTOS

Congrats to everyone who competed in this event, and a big thank you to the NH State Parks and all the awesome volunteers that came out to help. We are particularly grateful to our NENSA board secretary Chris Naimie for volunteering to time the event. In addition the incredible support we receive from our NENSA associate sponsors – Salomon, LL Bean, Swix, and Fischer – we are also grateful to Enjoy Winter and Swenor Rollerskis for supplying NENSA with an awesome fleet of rollerskis so the top-seeded athletes in all our events have matched skis.

The Rollins Roll was the second race of our seven race series. Next up we return to Jericho (VT) for the Free Fall Rollerski Race on September 18 followed by a double header weekend in Lake Placid, NY featuring the Keys to the Castle Freestyle Sprint on September 24th and Climb to the Castle freestyle hill climb on September 25th.  Registration for the Free Fall Rollerski Race is open HERE. Registration for the Lake Placid weekend is coming soon. Get more information about these events and view our fill 2022 line up HERE.

RESULTS

Overall Women:

1. Leigh Niedeck, EMXC
2. Addison Englund, Holderness Nordic
3. Elli Englund, Holderness Nordic

Junior Women:

1. Marlia Richer, St. Lawrence
2. Ava Rothe, Blackwater Nordic
3. Carli Krebs, Gunstock Nordic

Master Women:

1. Rosalie Wilson, Ford Sayre

Overall Men:

1. Sawyer Weale, Ford Sayre
2. Oliver Wilson, DublinXC
3. Nicholas Ring, Holderness Nordic

Junior Men:

1. Dean Ayotte, Holderness Nordic Club
2. Miles Rakov
3. Lukas Cleary, Freedom Trail Nordic

Master Men:

1. Victor Feofilaktov, EMXC
2. Rob Riley, Gunstock Nordic
3. Nathan Richer, Team Pinnacle

 

We are excited to share the Craftsbury Outdoor Center‘s 2023 BKL Festival logo and theme description with you all! The awesome logo was designed by the multitalented Craftsbury Ski Club coach, Jake Barton. We’ll continue to share Festival updates here in Breaking News, through our Trail Tales youth newsletter, and on social media (Facebook and Instagram). You can also keep tabs on the Festival website HERE. But for now, transport yourself to the snowy season by reading on…

North Woods in Winter: It’s early March. We’ve been blessed with one of our big March snowstorms and you’re stepping into your ski boots, ready to cruise through a silent winter woodland. The woods seem to be sleeping, just waiting for the first hints of spring. Perhaps on your ski you will duck beneath sap lines or navigate a trail closure due to logging. Were you ever curious about what’s happening out there as you ski through the stands of maple or groves of cedar and other softwoods?

Come with us on a trek through the North Woods in Winter this March as we highlight how, from sustainable forestry to maple sugaring, our northern forests are a fantastic recreational space and a vital working landscape.

We’ll be working with area maple producers and foresters to take you on a journey through this diverse and invaluable resource. We hope that when you leave us on Sunday afternoon, you’ll have a better understanding of how our forests are more than just trees, and how each of us can be better stewards of this landscape that we all enjoy. 

 

The Regional Development Group Camp (RDG) is a NENSA project and brainchild of the Athlete Development Committee coaches who designed this camp to complement the longstanding Regional Elite Group (REG) camp by expanding the number of athletes invited to attend summer regional development opportunities.

The 2022 RDG Camp was hosted by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center and wrapped up this past Sunday. This camp provided some of the East’s developing junior skiers with the opportunity to come together for three days of training, learning, and camaraderie. In addition to providing the obvious benefit of gathering motivated athletes in a shared setting, the camp offered high-level coaching at an excellent training venue as a means of introducing athletes to the next level of training and racing. Athletes challenged themselves with an agility course, double pole test, and distance workouts. They also had the opportunity to work on their technique, learn about healthy fueling habits for training and life, and hear about racing opportunities in college. And no summer camp would be complete without some fun, games, s’mores, and swimming!

Thank you to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for hosting and helping organize this camp opportunity, and a big shoutout to the camp’s skilled coaches who joined us from the Craftsbury Ski Club, Kearsarge Nordic, Saint Michael’s College, and Paul Smith’s College.

A big thank you to all who participated in the Fourth Annual Roy-llerski and supported the Maine Outdoor Wellness Center! This event, created by Jenny Wilbraham, honors Maine skier Roy Varney by bringing together the cross country ski community and raising money for the Maine Outdoor Wellness Center. This Center was a dream of Roy’s, a place where he could continue to train for cross country skiing and biathlon year-round all while continuing to help out on the farm. The nonprofit Center, managed by Roy’s family and friends, seeks to preserve his memory by providing opportunities to access the outdoors for all Turner and surrounding residents of central Maine and New England. The Center plans to provide an extensive cross country trail system on its 300+ acre farm that can be utilized year-round for hiking, skiing, biking, and running. While this year’s Roy-llerski has come to completion, you can still support the Maine Outdoor Wellness Center by paying them a visit and/or making a donation here.

This year Roy-llerski raised close to $700. Folks participated in many forms from hiking to biking to rollerskiing, and we had 10 go-getters enter the Rockstar category and complete 71.19k in one effort!  To see how everyone stacked up in all the categories, visit the link below. And keep an eye on your mailbox as some lucky participants will get sweet prizes from the Maine Outdoor Wellness Center and LL Bean!  Thanks again to everyone who participated and we’ll see you next year!

RESULTS

Friday, August 12, 2022 | RSU 26 in Orono, Maine 

If you’re an Orono-area middle or high school skier, come join NENSA and the Penobscot Valley Ski Club at Orono High School for some skills, drills, and games on rollerskis! All clinic participants can use NENSA’s Swenor Rollerskis, but remember to bring your own boots, poles, and helmet! We can accommodate SNS and Prolink/NNN bindings.

Schedule:

12:45pm: Gather and hand out equipment
1:00-3:00pm: Rollerski Clinic

Location:
Orono High School RSU 26 Parking Lot at 10 Goodridge Drive, Orono, Me 04473

Rollerski Clinic Description:
This two hour learn-to-rollerski clinic is open to skiers 12-18 years of age and their parents/caretakers/coaches. We will go over some basic skills in skate technique before focusing on agility and games.

Please direct any questions to [email protected] and [email protected].

The Chummy Broomhall Award is given out every year to a volunteer who embodies the ethos of Chummy who was the Chisholm Ski Club leader for 70 plus years, a 2x Olympian, and builder of the Olympic race courses for Palisades Tahoe, Lake Placid, and Black Mountain. He embodied the spirit of being a volunteer generously giving his time and energy to generations of skiers. It is in this spirit that this award be in his honor for the unsung heroes of ski racing. We are thrilled to share with you all that Carol Van Dyke of Stowe, VT and the Stowe Nordic Club is the winner of the 2022 Chummy Broomhall Award. Carol has made seemingly endless volunteer contributions to the ski community and she has positively impacted so many with her hard work, dedication, and tenacious spirit.

Carol grew up in Stowe, Vermont and first tried cross country skiing in 1973 at the Trapp Family Lodge. Since then she has been the Event Director for many events at the Trapp Family Lodge including the 2007 Bill Koch Festival, NENSA Eastern High School Championships, many Eastern Cups and UVM Winter Carnivals, a Super Tour, and NCAA Championships. Carol has three kids who all went through the Stowe BKL program where Carol was a BKL leader from 1996 to 2002 also coaching NENSA’s very own Youth & Introductory Program Director. She’s a former president of the Stowe Nordic Club, and was the Stowe High School Nordic ski coach from 2001 to 2018. Carol served as President of the NENSA Board from 2016 to 2022, is a USSS Level 2 certified coach, and a Level 1 Technical Delegate. Carol is also a long time instructor for the New England Women’s XC Ski Day event and this past year when injury meant she couldn’t ski, she still showed up to help doing any and all tasks possible. 

Carol has volunteered countless hours of her time, energy, and expertise to the ski community. Long time race secretary and former Bill Koch League Committee Chair, Mary Anne Levins, shared, “What a joy to take a few moments to think about what Carol Van Dyke has done for NENSA and nordic skiing in the northeast over the last 2 decades. I met Carol on the NEBKL Committee and when she raised her hand to take on the NEBKL Festival in 2007, her life as a race director was launched. I know her best as a race director, though she has worn so many hats in the nordic community and has worn them stunningly well! Carol’s tireless attention to detail and her warmth and kindness to all people she comes in contact with has made for a perennially winning combination as a race director. Carol took her humble BKL Festival event director beginnings and quickly set a course for the top events. Along the way, she created a team of volunteers that could not and would not say no to her request for help. Whatever Carol seems to touch in NE nordic skiing, it blossoms. Our New England nordic community is so much richer in sport and community thanks in large part to Carol van Dyke. Cheers to you, Carol!”

Craftsbury Outdoor Center Director of Skiing, Ollie Burruss, wrote, “Carol Van Dyke is a race organizer’s dream volunteer. Whatever the event, whatever the need, Carol is there to offer her experience, her enthusiasm, and often her patience. From raising a family of racers to guiding the NENSA Board, Carol has seen every part of skiing in New England, all the while maintaining an indefatigable spirit and often throwing on a bib herself. Carol’s more recent forays into officiating have allowed her to turn that experience towards developing the next generation of racers, serving as a paragon of what it means to be truly immersed in making our ski community better. Bravo, Carol, and congrats.”

Stowe Nordic Club President George Jackman also had kind words to share about Carol saying, “Long before we became friends I knew Carol as one of the mainstays of nordic skiing in Stowe – if something was happening on skinny skis Carol was involved.  Her involvement spanned everything from decades serving on the Stowe Nordic Club board, to BKL, coaching the high school team, running Eastern Cup races, serving on the NENSA board, and more. Her knowledge, passion, and commitment have made a huge contribution to our sport.”

And NENSA’s outgoing Executive Director, Amie Smith, who has worked closely with Carol for many years shared the following, “Carol has given so much to our New England Ski Community over the years – in so many areas – including being a Race Director/Organizer, Volunteer, TD and being on our NENSA Board of Directors since 2009. This May, Carol ended a six year stint (two 3-year terms) as President. She did an amazing job leading our Board, and worked with me over the past six years to advance NENSA, including helping to write a new Strategic Plan for our organization. Carol chaired the Executive and the Board Development Committees, and has been an integral part of our Personnel Committee.  Even as Carol passed on the Board President baton, she continues as an incredibly valuable NENSA Board and committee member. We are lucky to have a person like Carol, who has given so much to our NENSA ski community through her various volunteer roles, to enhance and uplift our sport, and NENSA.”

We are so fortunate to have Carol in our ski community! She truly embodies the giving, selfless, and dedicated nature of Chummy and we are thrilled to honor her years of contributions with this award. Congratulations Carol!

It was a glorious of day for the first rollerski race of the 2022 NENSA Summer Series! A big thank you to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center staff and volunteers for all the hard work they put into hosting this event. It was extra exciting for this race to overlap with the Eastern Regional Elite Group (REG) Camp so we had top juniors in attendance from all across the East. In addition to competitive racing action, the day also featured a Learn-to Rollerski clinic for skiers of all ages looking to try rollerskiing for the first time and wrapped up with REAL skiing down in the Craftsbury village courtesy of saved snow from the Outdoor Center. So if you saw a Piston Bully driving down the road last Sunday, you were not hallucinating!

See below for a synopsis of top race results, check out full results HERE, and get excited for the next race of the summer which is the Rollins Roll Hill Climb up Mt. Kearsarge in Warner, NH on August 21st. See our full summer calendar HERE.

U16 Girls:

1. Ruth Krebs, Craftsbury Ski Club
2. Julia Thurston, Mansfield Nordic Club
3. Kate Carlson, Mansfield Nordic Club/EABC

U16 Boys:

1. Micah Brunner, Stratton Mountain School
2. Ellis Slover, Quarry Road Ski Club
3. Anders Linseiesen, Mansfield Nordic Club

Open Women:

1. Margie Freed, Craftsbury Green Racing Project
2. Evelina Sutro, Stratton T2 Team
3. Kelsey Dickinson, Craftsbury Green Racing Project

Open Men:

1. Ben Ogden, Stratton T2 Team
2. Brian Bushey, UU Ski Team
3. Finn Sweet, Craftsbury Ski Club

Photos: Paul Bierman & NENSA