Popular Series

On Friday morning at 10am at JacksonXC, 36 hardy souls pushed off the start line to begin skiing 10k every hour on the hour until only one skier was left.

White Mountain Ski Co.’s Last Nordic Skier Standing event is a new format for the NENSA community and a wonderful opportunity to test personal limits in a supportive and enthusiastic community environment.

Ski conditions for the event this year were top notch. The large volume of natural snow and skilled grooming by JacksonXC made for perfect skiing. Skiers were also greeted by a very bright and nearly full moon as they skied into the cold night. And speaking of cold, cold may have been the most challenging factor of the event this year. With a high of 8F, a low around -12F, and some pesky wind, staying warm was a significant challenge for skiers and support crew alike.

Back at the start-finish area located near the JacksonXC Ski Center, the race directors and volunteers did a heroic job of keeping the walled event tent a bit warmer than the great outdoors. In addition to giant heaters, they also had hot drinks and snacks for skiers to refuel and rewarm with between laps.

Photos: Joe Viger

As most skiers know, cold, fresh snow is not fast snow and, coupled with evening re-grooming, the course slowed, challenging the 23 skiers who remained as dusk fell.

At 6:45pm the Last Woman Standing, Zoe Eisenberg, completed her final lap totaling 9 laps and 90k skied. Zoe also won the women’s cash lap much earlier in the day, clearly not burning all her matches in that effort.

Photos: Joe Viger

By 5am, only 2 skiers remained and at 7am, the Last Man Standing, Peter Phelan, headed out on his final lap alone to ski a total of 21 laps and 210k. It is worth noting that Peter was also the men’s cash lap winner whose effort, like Zoe’s, clearly didn’t tire him out too much. By 7:45am on Saturday the event had come to a close a whole 24 hours earlier than last year’s event – most likely due to the intense cold.

As a matter of fact, this NENSA staffer participated in the event and will now take a moment to share some things that I experienced firsthand and particularly appreciated:

• The event format gave me an opportunity to chat with others whether on course or in the rest tent.
• Safety was paramount, especially in light of the cold, and skiers actively checked on each other while out on course.
• Everyone had personal goals going into the event but one common theme I heard over the weekend was that many folks planned to ski as long as they were having fun.
• The experience level of the field was incredibly wide from folks relatively new to the sport to people who’d been skiing since they were three years old.
• The event brought together people from a wide range of sport backgrounds beyond skiing including triathlon and ultra running.
• The restarting format meant that there almost always someone to ski with.

If this event has peaked your interest, stay tuned for next year’s rendition! And if this has you excited to try some longer distance races, you can check out the NENSA calendar here for some spring marathons coming up this March.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Sights and Sounds

Thanks to Tom Bartol for capturing and sharing this weekend’s action! His full album is available on his website here.

Including…a few wipeouts (no skiers were harmed in the making of this weekend’s racing).

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.