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Stowe Derby (Club)

Name: Stowe Derby (Club)
Start: 2024-02-25T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-02-25T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Stowe Mountain Resort

February 25

The iconic Stowe Derby hosted by the Mount Mansfield Academy and Stowe Nordic is again part of the NENSA Popular Race calendar. Read on for more history about the event — however there is no doubt this is a cross country ski race despite the descent of Mansfield out of the start. The full course has does a beautiful tour through the Stowe Cross Country Center before following the Stowe Recreation Path through town, ending at the church in town. Individual Start with freestyle, classic and Derby Meister options! 20km Long Course, 6km Short Course.

REGISTRATION

Stowe Derby is one of the oldest and most unique ski races in North America. It started in 1945 as a personal bet between two amazing skiers: Sepp Ruschp, an Austrian, and the head of Stowe’s new ski school, and Erling Strom, a world-famous mountaineer from Norway. Their challenge was simple: a race from the top of Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak, to the historic village of Stowe, on a single pair of skis. The ultimate test of a skier’s all-around ability. At the time, Ruschp believed that his alpine skis were the fastest tools for the job, whereas Strom argued nordic skis would be the better choice. After much debate, the two decided to race. Sepp Ruschp, on alpine gear, was the winner of the first two Stowe Derbies.

As we ramp up efforts for the 79th Stowe Derby, Mount Mansfield Academy is excited to have accomplished some major trail improvements on the Derby race course this fall – including nearly 1/2 mile of culvert installation for water mitigation on a key segment of the course in Adams Camp (special thanks to Kingsbury Corp. for the culvert donation and Sam Von Trapp for the install with heavy equipment) as well as a new and improved bridge at the bottom of the infamous Pipeline (thanks to Stowe Nordic leadership and the Catamount Trail Assoc). The advent of these trail improvements now support a piston bully being able to reach some key tricky segments that have in past years caused the event to be canceled for their treacherousness due to icy/low snow.