Championship Events

I arrived at Black Mountain of Maine on Thursday morning with some anxiety brewing in my belly. I’d been staring at the weekend’s forecast for a few days and wondering how we were going to pull off a full weekend of racing with the melt that was set to take place. After a whirlwind of a weekend and many hours of shoveling, the sense of accomplishment we all felt after Sunday’s relay was a testament to the amazing skiing community in New England – we had done it!

On to the races… teams showed up late on Friday morning in buses and coaches came towing wax trailers. They set up camp in a trailside dirt parking lot, which soon turned into a mud pit, but no complaints were heard, just comments such as, “well, that’s spring skiing.” The first race of the weekend was an individual start – one lap around a brutal 5km course featuring high school hill and soft, slow snow.

Saturday brought a full day of racing to Black Mountain of Maine with a 7.5 km classic mass start in the morning and a freestyle sprint in the afternoon. The Chisholm crew salted the stadium in the morning to ensure that it would last through the day and volunteers spent a couple of hours shoveling some rough patches on the course. The 7.5 km course was three laps of a 2.5 km loop, offering plenty of spectating for parents and fans. After a historically cold winter, athletes suffered through the heat of the mid-March sun and gave fans a spectacular show.

By Saturday afternoon, the snow was baking under the sun and rapidly turning to water. The stadium was holding up well thanks to the morning’s salting and volunteers spent the afternoon shoveling snow onto the course between sprint heats, desperately trying to keep up with the melt. For me, the highlight of the weekend was the attitude of athletes, parents and coaches. I did not hear a single complaint about the course, only gratitude for the work being done by volunteers. Countless parents and coaches stepped in on Saturday afternoon to help keep the sprint course alive and boys came out after the completion of their race to help shovel snow onto the course for the girls. Athletes seemed to relish in the opportunity to race through melt ponds and over the quickly diminishing snow supply, it was spring skiing at its finest!

We all descended upon Rumford’s Mountain Valley High School on Saturday evening for a delicious banquet dinner followed by a bib draw raffle and awards for Friday’s and Saturday’s races. Skiers went home with full bellies and tired bodies, ready to rest up and bring their best efforts to the relay on Sunday. After two days of racing there were two battles going on in team scores: Vermont was just ahead of New Hampshire for first and Maine was just ahead of Massachusetts for third.

On Friday afternoon we made the decision to move the stadium for Sunday’s relay down to the forest and it was possibly the best decision of the weekend. Each skier completed two laps of a 1.6 km course, enabling them to lap through the tag zone once before tagging off to their teammates. There was a deafening roar through the tag zone and start/finish area every time a skier lapped through and athletes beautifully navigated the chaos of the tag zone. The EHSC relay celebrates every skier, with two boys and two girls on each team, combining for two classic legs and two skate legs.

The Championships wrapped up with an awards ceremony that celebrated the top 10 men and women from the combined three individual races and the top five relay teams. Before awarding the Graham Taylor Cup to the strongest state team, announcer Craig Zurhorst had the weekend’s Technical Delegate Assistant, Ted Hall, speak to the crowd about the legacy of Graham Taylor and his love of high school skiing. Athletes cheered as Craig announced each team: 5th place New York, 4th place Maine, 3rd place Massachusetts (they made a spectacular comeback on relay day to sneak past Maine!), 2nd place New Hampshire, and 1st place Vermont.

This weekend was made possible through the amazing work of many individuals. The Chisholm Ski Club volunteers know how to show up for a race weekend! Special thanks to:

• Dustin Williamson and Ted Hall – TD and TDA for the weekend
• Roger Arsenault – Chief of Competition
• Bob Arsenault (fun fact: unrelated to Roger!) – Chief of Timing
• Dan Warner – Chief of Course
• Terry Richard – Race Secretary
• Fred Griffin – Chief of Stadium
• John Bernard – mapmaker and photographer (rvgphotos.com)
• Craig Zurhorst – announcer
• Ed Desspard (Bullitt Timing) – scoring
• Many more volunteers who spent the weekend smiling and shoveling!

Helpful links:

• rvgphotos.com – click HERE for the EHSC galleries – photos available for purchase!
• Chisholm Ski Club EHSC website – click HERE for results, scoring, and race recaps
• NENSA photos and video clips – click HERE

This past weekend Prospect Mountain hosted the U16 Championships in the beautiful Woodford, Vermont. In addition to our four New England States (MA, ME, NH and VT), teams also came from New York, Ontario and the Midwest. Congratulations to all of the athletes who qualified for and competed at the U16 Championships! And thank you to all of the amazing volunteers (led by Amie Smith and Dave Newell) who came out to help Prospect put on an amazing event.

Teams arrived around noon on Friday and got straight to it with a 5km skate race in the afternoon. Adding to the fun of U16s, the first three races all begin with a wave start, one athlete from each state or province. This format allows races to go off quickly and it also gives athletes a feel for head-to-head competition. Team rosters are 24 boys and 24 girls, with the top 20 athletes from each team scoring points for their state. This format means that every skier matters and it makes it exciting for athletes in each wave to try to out ski the athletes from rival states.

Saturday morning teams arrived back at the venue for a 5km classic race in the morning and then turned it right around to do a freestyle sprint in the afternoon. These events offer athletes a chance to meet people from other states and countries; it was heart warming to see the respect athletes had for each other at the finish line.

Saturday evening we all descended upon Mount Anthony Union High School for a taco dinner followed by a bib draw raffle and awards for the first three events. In addition to awarding the top ten skiers from each event, the top three boys and girls from the cumulative three individual races were also awarded. After two days of competition, New Hampshire was in the lead for team scores and Vermont and Massachusetts were nearly tied for second place. The scene was set for an exciting relay day on Sunday!

Sunday did not disappoint, the winds that had been blowing all weekend at Prospect died down and we were greeted with a gorgeous day. The mixed relay is the prime event of the weekend – gold goes to the team that can put together four strong legs (Boys Classic, Girls Classic, Boys Skate, Girls Skate). The U16s relay has the perfect combination of tag zone mayhem and fast, exciting racing! At the end of the day, Team Ontario took the top step of the relay podium and Team New Hampshire got to hold the trophy for the top overall team on the weekend.

Click here to see the NENSA Relay Day Reel by Mackenzie Rizio

This Championships truly shows off the depth of athletes in New England. While twelve U16s are in Utah competing at Junior Nationals, another 233 U16s got to descend upon Prospect for a full weekend of racing and merriment. Thanks to everyone involved!

Click here for results – Thank you Bullitt Timing!

Click here for incredible photographs (available for sale and download until March 21st) – Thank you Josh Hummel!

Click here for the NENSA photos and video clips from the weekend