NENSA News

NENSA is excited to share that the 25th edition of Women’s Day will take place where it all began in 2002, at the Holderness School Nordic Center in Holderness, NH on Sunday, January 25th. We could not be more thrilled to return to the original venue for this special event.

2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the New England Women’s XC Ski Day – a cherished tradition that brings together women and nonbinary skiers of all levels for a day of inspiration, camaraderie, and winter adventure.

Founded in 2002 by Olympian Trina Hosmer of Stowe, Vermont, this event was inspired by the energy of Alaska’s Ski for Women event. Trina’s vision was simple but powerful: create a space where women can connect, learn, and thrive on skis – all while supporting women-centered causes. Each year, we choose a local nonprofit organization that supports women, with event proceeds going directly to that cause.

At the heart of Women’s XC Ski Day are fun, welcoming learn-to-ski clinics led by all-women instructor teams. Whether you’re brand new to the sport or looking to refine your technique, the emphasis is on joy, community, and encouragement.

The day also includes:

• A delicious lunch to refuel and connect
• A spirited raffle with great prizes from our fantastic sponsors
• A vibrant gathering of kindred spirits who love winter and adventure
• A sponsor expo from many of our women-owned small business partners and ski demos opportunities

Open to all women and nonbinary people who feel comfortable in a space centered on women’s experiences, this event is about more than skiing, it’s about celebrating who we are, honoring how far we’ve come, and enjoying the outdoors together.

Join us in honoring 25 years of Women’s Day, and be part of the next chapter in this empowering legacy!

Full event details to follow this fall. Registration will open November 15th. Stay tuned to our event webpage HERE and sign up for our newsletter HERE for updates.

A Season Carrying the Flame from 30 Years of New England Skiing

Things are good and green again around New England. And for skiers across the region, that’s an invitation to train in the low expanses, and reach for the high mountain forests. In June, those trips into the high mountain forests sometimes come with a pleasant surprise. A patch of white preserved from the winter, or hiding deep in the crevices. Snow. A prevailing whisper from a big winter, inevitably met with a smile, be it quiet or loud.

Now’s the time to tune into that whisper of winter, to carry it forward for another winter to come. And just as we reach that time in the yearly cycle, it’s been a unique time to attune NENSA’s own cycle to one which has been going on for a grander sweep of time.

30 years ago, NENSA was started by a group of ski coaches with an expressed purpose to organize and galvanize nordic ski racing in New England. The most enduring legacy, the greatest shout of that initial burst of community, was and is the Eastern Cup Series. A quick survey of where that initial effort in 1995 to organize a series of junior national qualifying for New England skiers has landed today: last winter, 2024-2025, saw the Eastern Cup surpass 3,000 participant race starts for the first time ever. Yet, as the Eastern Cup has grown, it’s still made of the same stuff. Skiers, coaches, organizers, volunteers – a community – which has kindled their ideas of what ski racing is and can be into a mainstay of winter in New England. The ultimate testament to the Eastern Cup then: come out to one, smack dab in the heart of winter, and the smiles, the camaraderie, and the competition will make you shed a few layers. The Eastern Cup’s proof that winter can be warm.

NENSA is proud to announce a 2025-26 Eastern Cup Series which builds on the whispers, the individual and community commitment, of 30 years of racing. Starting at Holderness, New Hampshire with the Cheri Walsh Memorial December 20^th, 2025, and rolling through Quarry Road and Craftsbury on its way to a finale at Oak Hill in Hanover, NH on Feb. 15^th, 2026.

Every season’s Eastern Cup schedule represents a community accomplishment built on the Series’ success. NENSA is grateful for the coaches, organizers, and clubs who dedicate a little extra time each Spring to weigh the considerations and values around what the Series has been and ought to be for the next season. NENSA is proud to continue with successful collaborations between New England’s junior and college circuits with the Bill Henchey Memorial Eastern Cup/University of Vermont Carnival. We’re excited to return to familiar haunts which have gained a new gleam, with Oak Hill back in the Eastern Cup Series.

Perhaps most poignantly, we’re also humbled to be reminded of the whispers that the 2025-26 Eastern Cup Series is built on. Three of the four Eastern Cup race weekends in 2025-26 will be held in honor of individuals from our community whose individual spirits carry forth every time we as a community gather to race. The Eastern Cup Opener will mark 40 years of the Cheri Walsh Memorial at Holderness School, held in honor of former Holderness School racer Cheri Walsh (Bio here). The Roy Varney Memorial at Quarry Road will again honor the passion for nordic ski racing in his home state of Maine that the late Roy Varney demonstrated during his life. The Henchey Memorial at Craftsbury will honor longtime Craftsbury standby, official and operations extraordinaire Bill Henchey.

One way to read the 2025-26 Eastern Cup schedule is in sequence, allowing the disparate but united passions of three community members who, while departed, remain vital whispers, point you towards a conclusion. The return of Oak Hill to the Eastern Cup schedule, framed that way, looks like a great communal conclusion. One of the most historic ski venues in New England, smack dab in the middle of it, ready to welcome in a vital, varied, and competitive tradition back again.

NENSA’s excited to steward the Eastern Cup towards it all. As the whispers of winter grow into the shouts, literally, at Holderness this December. We’ll see you out there, when the snow is on the ground again.

May 1st marks the start of our new membership year at NENSA and we have some exciting developments to share with you!

Membership renewals are now open!

There’s no better time than today to take care of your renewal and access a full year of NENSA programming, benefits, and resources. Join or renew at membership.nensa.net.

Explore the all-new “Member Benefits” tab

You will find a new tab titled “Member Benefits” at the top of your screen. Here you can access all of your NENSA member benefits and resources in one place. This is your one-stop hub for all the perks that come with being part of the NENSA community, including—but not limited to:

• Discounted entry to NENSA events
• Access to educational opportunities and resources
• Subscription to NENSA newsletters: Kickzone (the official newsletter of NENSA), Trail Tales (BKL), and Coaches Update
• Access to Eastern Cup, Bill Koch Festival, and U16 and Eastern High School Championship events
• Eligibility for athlete development projects
• Scoring and ranking in Eastern Cup, Zak Cup and Marathon Challenge
• Exclusive offers from NENSA sponsors

Club leaders: Now is also a great time to renew Club memberships!

If you are enrolled in NENSA’s General Liability Insurance program, you’ll want to do this before your first program. You can find information about Club Liability Insurance on the Member Benefit page. 

NENSA Clubs are eligible to receive General Liability insurance coverage under the NENSA master policy.

A Master policy aggregates coverage for the community, offers better coverage than what clubs may find individually, and saves our clubs the costs of these separate policies. It is a member benefit that we are proud to offer and that we believe will benefit our community directly through the local savings it offers to clubs.

NENSA Club Liability Insurance

NENSA is a member-supported nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the culture of cross-country skiing across all ages and levels.

Your support provides critical funding that keeps our operations running year-round. It funds programs for skiers of all ages and levels, from youth and grassroots initiatives to adult events and elite development. It also helps us offer low- and no-cost programming, expand access, and create a more inclusive and vibrant Nordic ski community across New England.

Thank you for being part of the NENSA family!

NENSA is excited to announce the nominations for our Regional Elite Group (REG) and Regional Development Group (RDG) Camps! Nominated athletes should fill out the acceptance form linked below by Friday, May 9th, 2025. An additional form will follow after this deadline to formally accept and pay a camp deposit, fill out medical and allergen information, and provide emergency contact information (aka, the paperwork form is still coming!).

CALL FOR COACHES: Interested Coaches should fill out the call for coaches form HERE.

Full nomination lists, acceptance forms, criteria and information is and will remain available on NENSA’s “Development Camp” Page HERE.

Regional Elite Group Camp (REG) – August 9th-13th at Stratton Mountain School, Vermont

The Regional Elite Group (REG) Program is a US Ski and Snowboard (USSS) and National Nordic Foundation (NNF) sponsored program which introduces promising skiers to a regional network of peer skiers and coaches via a structured training environment modeled after US Ski Team Training Camps. Eastern REG organized and administered by NENSA for the USSS Eastern Region, including Mid-Atlantic and New England skiers.

Members of the REG are invited to REG Camp during summer each year. REG Camp serves 3 overlapping purposes. 1) Provide a fun, structured training block for peer athletes from across the East, 2) Facilitate regional collaboration between skiers and coaches on training and technique, and 3) Serve as a qualifying opportunity for the National Training Group (NTG) Camp held by USSS in Utah every October.

REG Camp this year is structured to include:

– A cohort of U18-U20 skiers with proven potential as nationally competitive skiers.

– An emphasis on providing a structured training block, while also targeting representative efforts for testing towards National Training Group (NTG) Camp.

– Estimated cost: ~$600 including Room and Board. Final cost will be represented at time of camp deposit submission.

Regional Development Camp (RDG) – July 5th-7th at Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Vermont

Regional Development Group Camp (RDG) is a NENSA-run program which introduces promising skiers to a regional network of peers and coaches through a structured training environment. Regional Development Camp is designed to be a regional training camp opportunity for skiers engaging in multiple different developmental pathways, with a base of skiers drawn from top performers at NENSA Eastern High School Championships, NENSA Eastern U16 Championships, and USSS Junior Nationals.

RDG is designed to cater to skiers from Ages 14-17 in their USSS Age Group, U16s and U18s. Eligible skiers are those that qualify from the following criteria.

RDG Camp this year is structured to include:

– A competitive and diverse group of U16-U18 skiers from across new England with proven potential to be nationally and regionally competitive skiers.

– An emphasis on introducing skiers to a peer cohort of training partners, and to focused offseason training on rollerskis/dryland.

– Estimated cost: ~$370 including Room and Board. Final cost will be represented at time of camp deposit submission.

Call For Coaches: REG and RDG Camps

Join in on the Big Get Together!

NENSA is seeking coaches interested in bringing their unique perspectives and experiences towards an excellent gathering of our region’s developing skiers for bot Regional Elite Group (REG) and Regional Development Group (RDG) Camps. An excellent and cooperative coaching staff is essential to providing these programs for our region. REG and RDG also represent an invaluable point of intersection for our coaching community, allowing us to work as a direct team for the better of our region’s athlete development.

Priority for REG Coaches will be those coaches who hold at least a USSS L100 certification and/or are seeking continuing education credit, and those who regularly work with competitive skiers in the U18-U20+ age groups.

Priority for RDG Coaches will be those coaches who come from a variety of coaching backgrounds and demonstrate a interest in regional development, and those who regularly work with competitive skiers in the U16-U18 age groups.

Interested coaches should fill out the application form linked above!