The New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF), the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA), the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) and High Peaks Cyclery (HPC) invite athletes, friends, family and fans to a Rollerski race weekend in Lake Placid, NY.  

This is the second event of the NENSA / HPC Rollerski Series, following the sensational App Gap Challenge at Mad River Glen on August 3rd. We are expecting a great turn-out of athletes from across the region, including the U.S. Biathlon Team for this mini tour.

On Saturday, September 14th the 2nd annual Lake Placid Doubleday will consist of a 3 kilometer prologue with an interval start, followed by a 1.5 kilometer cross-country ski cross (XCX) preliminary sprint. The Doubleday will begin at 9:00AM with an Athlete Safety Meeting and the Course-Opening for Inspection. 

Results from the Doubleday, will determine the starting order for day two of the event which is the legendary Climb to the Castle (C2C). 

NEW this year – High Peaks Cyclery will be hosting the C2C pre-registration / bib pickup from 6:00PM-8:00PM on Saturday night at their store in Lake Placid. Come get your bib early and socialize! Join us for smores, beverages and make new friends!

On Sunday, September 15th, the Climb to the Castle freestyle race will begin at 8:00AM. The course will start at the Whiteface toll booth, climbing for approximately 5 miles with an average 8% grade up the Memorial Highway to the summit of Whiteface Mountain – New York’s 5th highest peak with an elevation of 4,867 feet.

Registration is OPEN on SkiReg.

The Tenth Running of the Gap

The high point of the Appalachian Gap in Waitsfield, VT sits more than 1600’ vertical feet above the valley below. To get there, Vermont Route 17 snakes its way from the valley floor up past Mad River Glen Ski area before topping out at 2,375 feet above sea level. The road is steep, winding, and has the reputation of being one seriously impressive climb. On Saturday August 3, this uphill stretch of pavement was the proving ground for skiers from across North America who came to ski the App Gap Challenge.

The race is hosted by the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA), and is the first race of six in the NENSA High Peaks Cyclery Rollerski Series presented by Skitrax Magazine.

The idea of the App Gap Challenge is simple enough; an uphill rollerski skiathlon with competitors doing a skate leg before transitioning to classic skis for the final push to the summit. But if you were to look at the faces of the competitors making their way up the gap,  you would know that completing this race is no simple feat. 

By the start time at 9:30 the sun was beating down on the pavement and the day was beginning to feel hot. The touring division started the day off with a handful of skiers who took advantage of the lane closure and the rare opportunity to rollerksi the gap uninhibited by cars. They were followed by the open and junior men’s field who skied a 7.5k course, and then the open and junior women’s field who skied a 5k course. The final starters of the day were waves of elite men and women who started in waves of 10, all skiing a 7.5k course on sets of matched rollerskis provided by Swenor.

The competitor field has grown in size and strength every year. This year saw more than 180 skiers toe the line, with members of the US Ski Team, SMS T2, Craftsbury Green Racing Project, and junior and college skiers from across the United States.

For the second year in a row, the women’s course record fell; which truly shows the strength of the field and the increased popularity of the race. The women’s podium was made up of Katherine Ogden of Dartmouth College/SMS T2 in first place, followed by Sophie Caldwell of SMS T2/USST in second place, and Caitlin Patterson of Craftsbury Green Racing Project/USST in third place.

On the men’s side, the race was won by Simi Hamilton of SMS T2/USST. Ben Lustgarden of Craftsbury Green Racing Project took second place, followed by teammate Adam Martin also of Craftsbury Green Racing Project in third place.

Full results can be found at Bart Timing . Photos courtesy of Reese Brown of SIA.

The men’s masters winner was Eli Enman, followed by Joel Bradley in second place and Reid Greenberg in third place.

The women’s masters podium was made up of Kathy Maddock in first place, followed by Alex Jospe in second place and Tristin Adie in third place. 

Continued story and pictures from our presenting media sponsor Skitrax Magazine.

The 2019 NENSA Club Challenge

Hello NENSA Members!

This summer, we have been working hard to help make this coming year a great one! We are proud to announce the unveiling of some new promotions that we hope will help highlight how great out community is. These range from highlighting some incredible work that our athletes are doing around the region to helping support our local clubs and teams.

NENSA has been a staple of the ski community in New England for decades, and we realize that a lot of people use our newsletters and social media posts to catch up on what is happening throughout the broader ski community. To help bring more light to the amazing things that clubs in our region are doing, as well as broader information from the national and international community, we are excited to unveil our News section of the website. It is our hope that through this we can bring light to the exceptional work that is being done. If your club has a blog that we weren’t able to find, send George an email at [email protected] with the information and he will make sure to incorporate it.

As part of highlighting the excellence of individuals in our community, Skier of the Week will highlight all sorts of amazing individuals who have done great things. These will be members of our Development and Elite Teams, as well some of the great skiers doing fantastic things for New England. Check out the website’s new News dropdown for more information from athletes and journalists to stay up to date with what is going on in the ski world. In addition to this new program, we are also going to be rolling out a whole new section for our website which will host regional and national news from the ski community. These areas will feature posts from our member club blogs, athlete blogs, and from professional news sites like FasterSkier, SkiTrax, among other ski news blogs.

In addition to all of these great new features we are hoping you take advantage of, we have a request to make. One of the things that defines the New England Ski Community, are our local clubs and schools. These groups are what make this community cohesive across such a broad swath of the region, and act as the first steps to introduce people to skiing. These clubs rely on wonderful people who love skiing to foster a love for the sport all throughout New England. Unfortunately, coaches move on, and when that happens it falls on the community to make sure that these great programs keep going. This is a great way to get involved with your local community, so give our Club Job Postings page a look! We are happy to promote the health of all of our local clubs, so please do consider reaching out if you have the time to help bring more people into the skiing community.

To celebrate winter’s arrival, we’re offering our team lodging rates to all current (Winter ‘16-17) NENSA members – the entire NENSA team! From Sunday, November 27, until December 16, you’re invited to come enjoy early-season snow and training opportunities at Craftsbury starting at $75/person/nt double occupancy, $81/person/nt single occupancy in our dorm-style accommodations.

These reduced rates still include three healthy, ample meals daily from our Dining Hall, plus skiing – as well as our other amenities, like our Activity Center, sauna, and wifi.

What if the weather changes? We’ll waive our standard cancellation policy until December 16th. We’re skiers too, and understand you’d rather not be locked in to lodging contracts if the weather goes south. If we can’t provide you with at least a kilometer of skiable snow in time for your stay, we’ll give you your money back.

Celebrate the new season with Craftsbury! Follow our conditions and current news via our snow report, Facebook and Twitter streams, then call us at 802-586-7767 and reserve your spot today.

Dear Nordic Coaches,

We would like to invite you and your athletes to our Nordic Team Night at L.L. Bean Bike, Boat and Ski Store on Thursday, December 1st. This is going to be a blast, so please RSVP by the end of day on Tuesday, November 29^th. Coaches, this is the most current list we had, so please pass this invite along to other coaches in your district if they were not included.  Parents are welcome to join.

L.L. Bean Nordic Team Night

Here is what we have planned for you!

4pm-5:30pm– Dryland Training with Lilly Naimie. Please see her Bio below.

• Snacks- veggies, energy bars and drinks will be provided after your workout

5:30pm- 6:30pm- Clinics

• Strength and Conditioning with Coach Joel Hinshaw from Freeport High School & Employee Wellness at L.L. Bean
• Waxing with Bruce Diehl from Swix, Toko & Salomon

6:30pm- 7:30pm- Get Sized Up- Factory Reps will help you select boots, skis, bindings and poles

• Sales reps will be here from Salomon, Rossignol, Fischer, Craft & L.L. Bean
• Special pricing will be available for the racers from our ski vendors on this night only! Orders will be placed immediately with the reps after you have been sized.
• Special deals will also be offered by Craft on select base layers.
• Coaches this is the time to get your wax order in for the season! Special team night pricing will be available from Swix & Toko.

We will hand out the 20% off L.L. Bean Nordic Ski Team Cards to all attendees so you can get your free hot box and take advantage of the discount all season long.

There will be several door prizes and raffles. You could even win signed gear from the US Ski Team!!

 ———————

Lilly Naimie- NCAA Colby Ski Racer

Lilly is a native of New Hampshire, who considers the Jackson XC Ski Touring Center to be her home trail network, Lilly Naimie learned to ski at an early age.  She spent her Bill Koch League (BKL) days with the Blackwater Nordic Club in Hopkinton, NH and her high school years skiing for Bow High School, one of the largest public high school teams in New Hampshire.  While at Bow, she led her team to three state championships.  In the individual standings she finished on the podium in 7 of 8 state championship races over her career, including being crowned state champion in her senior year.  She skied at the Eastern High School Championships all four of her high school years, improving her overall place each season.  She was the top female recruit from NH in the graduating class of 2015.  Last year, as a freshman at Colby College, Lilly represented the Mules in all but two EISA Carnivals, including the NCAA Eastern Regionals.  Over the past summer, Lilly was a BKL coach at the 4 day NH Development Camp in Dublin, NH.  Her goals for the upcoming season are to be one of the top four skiers on the Colby women’s team and to qualify for Junior Nationals.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you!

Jennifer Elgaaen
Store Manager
L.L. Bean Bike, Boat and Ski
57 Main St
Freeport, Maine 04069

The NENSA Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Amie Smith will be taking the reins as Executive Director as we head into the 2016-17 ski season.  After serving as NENSA’s High Performance Director for the past 18 months, Amie is also now taking on staff management and organizational oversight, and will also continue to run NENSA’s competitive racing programs.

Peter Graves, who had filled the Director position on an interim basis, is stepping down as his freelance broadcasting role is becoming increasingly busy and he was unable to continue the job on a part-time basis. We thank Peter for his dedicated efforts for NENSA over the past few months. We are especially appreciative that he was willing to pitch in and help NENSA at a challenging time of transition.

Board President Carol Van Dyke commented that Amie is a powerhouse worker and enthusiastically communicates with staff and the general public on behalf of NENSA’s mission. Before Amie’s role as High Performance Director, she coached and volunteered for Cambridge Sports Union, an affiliated NENSA club, and volunteered as NENSA’s JN Trip Leader. In addition she has experienced the range of NENSA programming as her daughters came up through the NENSA system and Amie has participated in a number of Masters races herself.

Amie will lead NENSA’s strong staff team, which includes Amber Freeman, who is our Community Program Director, and Laura Creagan who is our IT Business Systems & Membership Manager.

A shout out and huge thank you to Julia Kern (CSU grad, Dartmouth/USST D team member) for working with the NENSA staff, and putting this together for us!  Peter Graves summed it up well….”When I think of NENSA, I think of the family that is New England skiing. It’s truly a way of life”  Enjoy!!

SUMMARY:  In May, the NENSA Board voted to move from using the NENSA points system, to using USSA points only, for scoring all EasternCup (EC) races, and for Junior National qualifying (JNQ) ranking list.  The NENSA staff had been working hard all summer to update, improve and streamline the EC registration and scoring process.  Here is what YOU need to know to be ready to race in the first EasternCup in December:

1. All EasternCup race registrations will be done on SkiReg.com, and registration will open on November 1st

2. All racers must have valid and current NENSA and USSA membership #’s to race – NO EXCEPTIONS

3. To renew or get your NENSA membership, go to NENSA.net

4. To renew or get your USSA membership, go to USSA.org (prices increase 10/15)

5. Regarding USSA memberships:  All EC racers will be listed in the overall race results, regardless of your membership levels ($15 general membership or $95 competitor membership).  BUT,, if you want to be listed and ranked on the USSA NRL (National Ranking List), and be ranked (best of 3 for U16, or best of 4 for U18/U20) on our NENSA website for qualifying for the New England Junior National team, you MUST buy the USSA competitors membership.  So, if you have any thoughts, plans, dreams or desires to try to make the JN team, buy the competitors membership now.

6. You cannot buy a USSA competitors license later in the season and have it retroactively apply to previous races.  If you want to be listed on the NRL and ranked for JNQ – buy the competitor license, not the general membership NOW, before the start of the race season.

7. Buy both your NENSA & USSA memberships early.  Do not wait until the day you register on SkiReg.com.  Your correct data needs to be in our systems (NENSA & USSA) at least a few days before you register on SkiReg.

8. Each EasternCup race Virtual Team Captain’s Meeting (VTCM) will be hosted on NENSA.net.  Please check our website VTCM race information page for frequent updates, especially as the race weekend approaches.  This page will provide you with venue updates, times changes, important racer and coach information.

9. Registration will close at 5pm on the Wednesday before each EasternCup weekend.

10. Seed lists will be posted on Thursday (using points from the most current list)

11. Start lists will be posted on Friday

12. EasternCup race results link will be provide from the Timer and a link will be posted on NENSA.net.  All racers who competed in the EasternCup race will be listed in this results link.

13. Each EasternCup race will be scored by USSA, and updated to the NRL by USSA.

14. USSA updates their lists by the calendar on these dates:: http://nordic.usskiteam.com/cross-country-programs/officials/rankings/ussa-fis-points

15. SEEDING:  All racers will be seeded by their best of USSA/FIS points.  If you do not yet have current USSA points profile (bought a competitor’s license but have not raced a race yet to be listed on the current USSA list in use), or, if you are a general member, you will be listed as 990 and seeded randomly behind the seeded group.  Once you have a USSA points profile, you will be seeded according to that number.  If you are just a general member, you will always be seeded as a 990 behind the seeded group.

16. For U18/U20 JN qualifying, NENSA will rank Best of 4 EC and/or OOR races, and this will be posted on NENSA.net for current NENSA & USSA competitor members only.  Scored USSA races will be posted for ranking, as soon as we get them back from USSA, usually by no later than Thursday after the race weekend.  Racers without a competitive USSA license will NOT be included in the rankings.

17. For U16 JN qualifying, NENSA will score only the Best of 3 EC races, and no OOR races.  This will be done using USSA Super Tour Scoring (see below).   NENSA shall use the following tie-breaking mechanisms in order (selection races are the 8 U16 races at NENSA Eastern Cups; for sprints, the final results for the top 12 come from the heats/finals, and from the qualifying for places 13 and higher):
    ~Best single finish in a selection race
    ~Second best single finish in a selection race
    ~Third best single finish in a selection race
    ~Fourth best single finish in a selection race

USSA SuperTour Scoring:

18.  For JNQ U16/U18/U20 rankings only – the two EC sprint race heats will be scored.

19.  Out-of-Region Races for 2016-17 season:  

~US National Championships, SoHo, Midway, Utah for U18/U20’s only:

Saturday January 7: Freestyle Individual Start 10/15k

Sunday January 8: Classic Sprint

Tuesday January 10: Classic Mass Start juniors 5k/10k

~SLU CARNIVAL/Harry Eldridge MID-ATLANTIC JNQ, Lake Placid, NY

Saturday January 21st ONLY:

EISA men and U18/U20 boys 10 km freestyle (individual start)

EISA women and U18/U20 girls 5 km freestyle (individual start)

THERE IS NO OOR RACES for U16’s

The US Nationals races listed above, as well at the SLU/Harry Eldridge Mid-A JNQ race on 1/21/17, will be scored to the NENSA JNQ Ranking Lists using USSA points for U18 & U20’s. An athlete must be a USSA competitor member to compete at the US National Championships.

To score NENSA JNQ points, U18/U20 athletes must compete in the designated races at US Nationals. Points for other races will not be scored to the NENSA JNQ Ranking Lists.