NENSA News

One of NENSA’s finest traditions is the awarding of the John Caldwell Award.  This award annually recognizes a single individual, or entity, which embodies the spirit, dedication, innovation and pride in our Nordic community of the award’s famous namesake.   This year NENSA is thrilled to award this highest honor to Bob Haydock, a NENSA founding member, board member for the past 23 years, Bogburn Race creator, and a coach, among many other talents.

Bob, like John Caldwell himself, has quietly and selflessly dedicated himself to our beloved sport of cross country skiing.  Legend has it that Bob was JC’s inside man when the “revolution began” when NENSA was formed out of the remnants of the USSA Eastern Division back in the early 90’s. Bob went to all the “Eastern Junior Committee” meetings, and that’s where the idea for NENSA was born, and then started in 1995.  Bob was on the original NENSA Board of Directors, and he continues to be an active and vital member or our BOD today.  Bob set up the first web page for NENSA.  He also created the first system of displaying points and rankings, and scored the Zak Cup and Club contest.

Rob Bradlee, CSU juniors Head Coach, and fellow Board member says this of Bob:  “Bob has done it all.  He started as a racer, but quickly contributed his coaching, organizing, and logistics skills to help the sport in any way he could.  He coached BKL with a special emphasis on the joy of skiing and how to have fun with adventure skis.  He built a fantastic ski trail at his house in Vermont and learned to be an expert groomer.  He has worked from the start of NENSA to make it the best Nordic ski organization in the country with his computer skills and his business acumen.  Whenever there was a new idea for improving NENSA, it was usually Bob who did the actual hard work to make it real.”

Growing up, Bob and his brother and sisters used to ski from their parents’ cabin in Pomfret Vermont (Bogburn Hall) to Suicide Six.  They’d go on their alpine skis with the old bindings, and release the heels for the cross country trek.  Rumor has it that Bob also used to count the dashed highway lines on the family drive to Cape Cod… an early sign of his fascination with math and a possible inspiration for the app he developed to time interval start ski races.  This app has been used at the Eastern Mass Bill Koch (EMBK) sprints for many years.

 Bob raced biathlon in Europe in the 1980’s and was on the scene when skating first emerged as a technique.  As a coach, told his young athletes stories of “no skate” zones, of skiers putting duct tape on their ski bases to cover kick wax so they could skate fast until the “no skate” hills where they’d rip off the tape and kick up.  He remembered having to watch out for tape lying near to or in the tracks to avoid getting them stuck on his skis.  In later years Bob excelled in all the NE ski marathons, and, ran a 2:37 marathon!

 Bob was part of the group that formed EMBK after the various Bill Koch clubs in the local towns around Boston lost critical mass and were on the verge of extinction.  Jamie & Lisa Doucett and Rob Bradlee were also part of the EMBK founders’ group.  This same group took over Bob Fitzpatrick’s junior program in Boston and renamed it as CSU juniors in the 2001-2002 season.  Bob’s boys, Will and Ben, went through the EMBK and CSU juniors programs and on to collegiate racing.  He coached his own kids and followed them through both of those programs.  He then took a break before coming back to coach with EMBK again.  But when Bob came back – he came back BIG!  Bob was a beloved EMBK coach for years, just recently retiring again, after moving to Vermont.

At EMBK practices he would have the kids run time trials (they didn’t realize he was conditioning them) complete with bibs and timed results published from his own app.  He would also have the kids do relay races, with coaches participating.  He was famous for setting a relay at a specific number of laps and then when the kids thought they were done and ready to collapse, he would wait for the last team to cross the line and then holler out “there’s one more – you forgot the victory lap!”  The kids would all jump back into the mix and the finish would be tight.

Bob also developed the EMBK assistant coaches, giving them a night to lead practice every now and then.  Along with that he gave feedback in a way that left you wanting more feedback, as his former assistant coach for “Finland” Mark Doughty noted.  Mark went on to say, “I was incredibly fortunate to be paired with Bob as an assistant coach. He was the epitome of cool-headed. He wrangled the Finland kids and kept them motivated through low-snow seasons and our snowmaggedon season.  In that snowy year we went on many adventure skis around the entire Leo J Martin course with headlamps.  I requested to be his assistant every year until he left EMBK for Vermont.”

This story of Bob is not complete without the telling of the now ionic Bogburn Classic Race he started back in the winter of 1986, on a course that friend Jamie Doucett says “makes the current one look pretty tame”.  Bob has been proud to point out that past Bogburn winners include the likes of Andy Newell, Sophie Caldwell, Ida Sargent, Paddy Caldwell, Pat O’Brien and other USST folks.  A great pedigree indeed.  David Hosmer, also a founding and fellow Board member of NENSA says, “From one of NENSA’s oldest masters, I give my thanks to Bob for keeping the Bogburn on the schedule each year, a race and course I always enjoy.”

Mark Doughty sums it up well when he says, “Bob has been a role model for me as well as the kids he’s coached and their parents. He’s set an example of a life connected to the outdoors and to other people, of mentoring and helping the next generation find their way, and of sharing his time and life with others… Nordic skiing provides the context for all he’s done.”

Amen to that! NENSA would both like to congratulate and thank Bob for all his years of service to our organization and our sport.  We are in a better place as an organization because of Bob’s vision, hard work and love of the sport, and the good news is – he is still making a difference today!

Bob skiing the Geschmossel                               Bob at the 2015 Bogburn        Bob at CSU Rollerski Race in 1980’s

NENSA is pleased to announce Stratton Mountain School as the 2018 Club of the Year.  2018 was a defining year for cross-country skiing in the United States – and there is only one eastern club that can claim an Olympic Gold medal.  While Jessie Diggin’s win in South Korea was the most visible success – the Stratton Mountain School has consistently been a leader in New England and beyond with skiers thriving at all levels of competition.

Stratton has flourished under Sverre Caldwell’s guidance for 38 years, with programming that spans from Bill Koch through the professional SMS T2 racing team.  Many Stratton skiers are local kids who start gliding on snow in the West River Bill Koch League – however the program attracts athletes from throughout the US and abroad.  Stratton skiers become immersed in a culture of success, many before they know what competition is, by following the lead of coaches and peers – many of whom are National and International Champions.

One telling statistic of Stratton’s success is boasting 23 consecutive years of winning at least one gold medal at Junior National Championships and qualifying at least one athletes for the Junior World Championships team.  Stratton skiers and coaches are a staple of our New England Junior National and US World Junior Trips.

During the 2018 season Stratton skiers won six National titles and 12 individual World Cup events.  During the FIS Junior World Championships, Ben Ogden was a member of the historic silver medal relay team in Goms, Switzerland and his sister (and Stratton alum) Katharine, won both races at NCAA Championships.  Stratton skiers are found at all levels of racing within New England, spanning local Bill Koch club races, Zak Cups, Eastern Cups and low key events like the Cochran’s Skier Cross.

Andrew Newell, four-time Olympian describes his relationship with his home club: “I’m a proud member of the Stratton club so I’m always rooting for other Stratton athletes from wherever I am on the World Cup.  To me that really signifies what the ski club model is all about.  I came up through the SMS junior camps, attended SMS, raced for the SMS elite team, and will always consider SMS my club no matter what capacity I am racing.  Stratton has done a great job welcoming to new skiers of all ages and abilities and because it’s so fun to be a part of a community like Stratton old guys like me enjoy sticking around, I know I’m always welcome at SMS training.”

Congratulations to Stratton athletes and coaches past and present – keep up the good work!

NENSA is pleased to announce Nathan Alsobrook of Bowdoin College as the 2018 Coach of the Year.

Last winter Alsobrook led the Bowdoin Polar Bears to one of their most successful Carnival seasons – where every weekend either the male or female team placed in the top-six.  On individual Carnival days the women’s team placed fourth, four times and the men’s team pulled down two fifth place finishes. These excellent results qualified three freshman skiers, Gabrielle Vandendries, Renae Anderson and Elliot Ketchel, for NCAA’s in Steamboat Springs, Colorado – a historical benchmark for the Polar Bears.

Over the past years, Nathan has been active in NENSA Programming, including serving as a coach at Eastern Regional Camps, chairing the Coaches Education Committee and running L100 Technique clinics for the state of Maine.  Through his dedication to these programs he has made the Bowdoin Nordic Team a visible and attractive institution for skiers to continue their careers.  The Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) is a valuable pathway for athletic and personal development and we applaud the excellent job Nathan has done to support his skiers, and it will be exciting to watch the Polar Bears continue to succeed in the coming years.

Christian Gostout ’20, from Rochester, Minnesota describes Alsobrook as someone who, “offers his thoughtful attention and advice equally to every single skier on the team, coaching everyone in the unique way that works best for them. I think this is what allows the team to focus on and achieve both individual goals and team goals, regardless of what level any skier is at. Whether you’re trying to balance college racing with qualifying for JNs, ski All American at NCAAs, or just have well executed carnival races, Nathan will share his enthusiasm for every ambition his athletes have within and beyond the sport.”

Elliot Ketchel ’21, from Warren, Vermont describes Alsobrook as a well rounded leader, “Nathan is much more than a coach to all his athletes, he is an amazing mentor and friend. He cares about everything every one of us does in skiing and outside of it, and he is fully supportive of our pursuits, whether they are athletic, academic, or something else.” Ketchel was awarded the Bowdoin Outstanding First-Year Male Athlete award this spring.

It is an exciting time for Bowdoin Skiing with the hiring of two-time Olympian (’80 & ’88) Leslie Krichko as assistant coach, and during the winter of 2019 the Polar Bears will be debuting their new wax trailer.  You can stay up to date with the team at www.bowdoinnordic.blogspot.com.

Congratulations Nathan Alsobrook on your hard work and fantastic accomplishments!