NENSA News

Today was cloudy and mild with temperatures in the mid 30’s at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, Maine for day one of the NENSA U16 Championships. The girls race started at 3:00 p.m. and the course was well prepared. This fun, undulating course starts out of the stadium, and climbs up to the top of the mountain, before winding its way back down again into the stadium for a fast finish.

Lauren Lackman from the Midwest took third place today in 15:12, with her teammate Alice House in second with a time of 15:06. Ingrid Miller from Vermont won today’s race with a time of 14:44. In the boys race, Matthew Clark from the Midwest was third with a time of 13:16. It was a close finish for top two with Vermont skier Finn Sweet placing second in 13:10.9, and Cal Shrupp  from New Hampshire taking the win with a time of 13:10.8.

The 5 km classic race is scheduled for tomorrow morning and the 1.4 km skate sprint in the afternoon. Find full results and start lists here on Bart timing: http://www.barttiming.com/XCski/j2f2017.htm

When planning for a race in March, there is always the question of whether or not there will be enough snow. There was plenty of snow for the 2017 NEBKL Festival in Bethel, Maine. However, with the forecasted cold and high winds, it became clear that the plan to hold the races on the field at the Gould Academy Campus would have to change.

Race Organizers quickly made changes on Friday to move the races up to the Pine Hill trails, which were about a mile away, because the trails are sheltered from the wind. The schedule also changed to have the older skiers race during the coldest temps in the mornings, extra shuttles were added, and volunteer jobs were shifted. Friday night at the District Chair meeting, details were explained, relay bibs were handed out for Saturday’s relay race, as well as the L.L. Bean goodie bags. These goodie bags included a kids Clif bar, ski ties from Concept 2, a buff and chapstick from Gould Academy, and a beautiful wooden memento for every participant.

On Saturday morning, the cold temperatures and wind were exactly what was forecasted. The sheltered trails up at Pine Hill offered some relief from the wind but the temperatures were still very low.  Despite this, the participants arrived at the races with smiles, glitter and excitement for the fun day of relay races! The day started with the 7th&8th and 5th&6th grade two person skate relay races on a 1.35 km course. In the afternoon the 3rd&4th, then 1st&2nd graders had a fast .75 km skate relay race. An air rifle biathlon range was also set up at the venue both days to introduce skiers to the sport of Biathlon.

Meanwhile at the Field House on the Gould Campus, participants gathered during the day to stay warm, purchase chili bread bowls from the Fiddlestick Farm Food Truck, see the Green and Clean Energy Expo, and shop at the Swix Sale, and T-shirt printer.  The L.L. Bean boot was outside, and L.L. Bean had a table inside to play games and win fun prizes. A craft area was set up where skiers colored a cut-out skier and placed in on a beautiful mural. There was face painting, a silent auction, and games on the basketball court. Even on this cold day, there were lots of people outside enjoying the fat biking, the terrain park, tubing, and Maine Adaptive sit ski demos!

After the relay races, everyone gathered in the Field House for the parade. Many people showed up in creative costumes for the superhero theme. There were decorated masks, a family of kickwax crusaders, capes, glitter and signs, all lead by the host club, the Bethel Outing Club. The parade snaked through the Field House and ended at the awards ceremony. The beautiful wooden relay awards, made by students from Gould Academy using Gould’s IDEA center, were handed out to the top 10 relay teams from each age group.

That evening, Gould Academy served a BBQ dinner with all the fixings, followed by a chance to meet Bill Koch and get his autograph. The Bill Koch XC Experience movie was shown, followed by a presentation from Protect Our Winters, a non-profit environmental organization. Amalia Siegel and Charlotte Gross, both former Dartmouth skiers, led the presentation interspersed with video from other POW athletes talking about climate change, their experiences and ways to get involved.

On Sunday, the individual classic races were held again up at Pine Hill. The morning temperatures where still low and the wind did not die down until the afternoon. The schedule also stayed the same starting with the 7th&8th graders, who skied a two lap race on a 1.7 km course, then 5th&6th graders who skied two laps of a 1.35 km course. The 3rd&4th graders skied 1 lap on a 1.7 km course, and the 1st&2nd graders skied a .75 km course. Skiers went out in waves of 6 to condense the timing of the day, so that they did not have to start too early in the morning when temperatures where the lowest.

Midday, the graduating 8th graders skied down into the stadium to receive a wooden memento from local coach, legend and Olympian, Dick Taylor that said “glide and float, under your own power” something Bill Koch has written about. Bill handed out certificates to each graduate and then they lined the lollipop course for the lollipop race. Lollipop-ers excitedly waited for their turn to ski the course, and on “GO” it was a scurry to the line, skiing down the tunnel of 8th graders who handed them lollipops as they went! At the end of the day, awards for the top 20 individual skiers for girls and boys in each grade where announced and awarded on the deck of the yurt.

While many people dressed up as heros this weekend, there were many real heros out there like the organizing committee who did all they could to hold races despite the weather. The District Chairs, coaches and parents were adaptable during the changes, and the skiers were resilient in the cold. This weekend was a true testament to the strength of our New England ski community.

This festival could not have happened without the Bethel Outing Club as the host club with their many volunteers and organizers, and Gould Academy as the host site and generous sponsor of the event. Thank you to the Bethel Village Trails and Mahoosuc Pathways for providing free skiing on the Bethel Village Trail system for each participant and The Bethel Inn Resort for giving discounted rates for festival goers and donating rooms for race committee staff.

Thank you to L.L. Bean, Swix, Sport Thoma, Maine Ski Lodging Co, Doug Zinchuk Roofing, Sunday River Ski Club, Clif bar, Concept 2, Norway Savings Bank, Bancroft Contracting, Rite Aid Pharmacy, Holidea House, Akers Ski, and True North Adventureware.

Click here to view photos from the weekend on the festival website

 

What a day yesterday was ~ classic New England weather here in Lake Placid NY!  The day dawned with a mix of tissue paper snow, then rain, with low hanging thick clouds – a dreary day – cold and damp.  Our amazing wax crew was at the NE wax trailer at 5:30am testing skis and planning wax combos for the day.  By 9am, no joke, the sky cleared, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful bluebird day, and temps rose to 42 degrees midday.  But by 3pm, thick grey clouds rolled in over the top of the jump site, the wind picked up, and the heats that started in warm sun, suddenly changed to a windy blizzard – it was crazy!  But our New England wax techs and athletes are used to this, and stepped up to this challenging weather and racing conditions and came out on top again yesterday, for the classic sprints!

We qualified 35 of our 49 athletes into the afternoon heats, and of those, 29 made the top 20 overall (top 5 of each age group in the top 20 score for AK Cup team points).

By 5pm, we had eight NE athletes on the podiums – including two new National Champions, four sliver medals, and 2 bronze, and every single age group and gender represented on each podium!  Way to go New England!

For the U20 women, Julia Kern, SMS Elite, got her second National Title of the week!  Alex Lawson, Craftsbury was 10th; Ingrid Thyr of Williams College was 15th; and Annika Landis, Middlebury College was 19th overall.

The U20 men had a podium sweep(!) – with Kamran Husain, SMS, taking the sprint National Title; Finn O’Connell, UVM earning the silver medal; and Daniel Streinz, Mountain Endurance, with the bronze.  Koby Gordon, Dartmouth College, was 9th; and Lance McKinney, Mountain Endurance, was 13th overall.

For the U18 women, Rena Schwartz, Craftsbury Nordic, was on the podium for the silver medal!  Callie Young, Craftsbury, was also in the A finals, and was 6th; and Phoebe Sweet, Craftsbury, was 20th overall.

For the U18 men, Adam Glueck, Ford Sayre, was on the podium for the bronze medal!    James Kitch, CSU was 7th; Elliot Ketchel, GMVS, was 8th; and Connor Munns, SMS, was 9th; Adam Witowski, SMS, was 13th; Walker Bean, GMVS, was 16th; and Russell Boswell, SMS, was 20th overall.

For the U16 girls, Anna Lehmann, SMS, was on the podium for the silver medal!  Charlotte Ogden, SMS, was 9th; Olivia Cuneo, GMVS, was 11th; Laura Appleby, CSU, was 18th; and Abigail Streinz, OSI, was 20th overall.

For the U16 boys, Will Koch, SMS, was on the podium for the silver medal!  Josh Valentine, Gunstock Nordic, was 7th; Matt Moreau, CSU, was 10th; Tim Cobb, Mansfield Nordic, was 16th; and Griffin Wright, Craftsbury, was 17th overall.

Last night, our athletes enjoyed the mid-week awards ceremony, where medals are awarded to the top 10 athletes in each race so far.  That was followed by an ice cream social and ice skating on the 1932 rink.

Tomorrow’s mass start classic races have been changed to interval start races (15k men, 10k women, and 5k for U16’s) due to the  venue change last week.  Our athletes are previewing the course today as the wax techs continue to nail down the wax for tomorrow.

Team New England continues to lead the points for the AK Cup, but we have tough competition here, and are only half way through the week, so we can not rest on our laurels, and will continue the fight for the AK Cup for the next two races coming up!

 

 

New England had a great start yesterday, with the freestyle interval start races, in the USSA Junior Nationals, being held at the Olympic Jump Site in Lake Placid NY this week.  We had four podiums, including one gold medal and 3 bronze.  Julia Kern, SMS elite won the women’s U20 race, and Mackenzie Rizzo, UVM, took the bronze.  Ben Ogden, SMS also won the bronze medal in the U18 men’s race, and Will Koch, SMS won bronze in the U16 boys race.

New England showed some nice depth in the first day of racing, with 11 of our athletes getting in the top 10 (All American) for their age group races, and 29 in the top 20 results – which scores the overall National title, a.k.a, the Alaska Cup, at the end of this championship.

For the U16 boys – New England had 5 in the top 20:  Third place Will Koch, SMS; 4th place Josh Valentine, Gunstock Nordic; 10th place Matthew Moreau, CSU; 11th place Griffin Wright, Craftsbury Nordic; and 13th place Tim Cobb, Mansfield Nordic.

For the U16 girls NE had 4  girls in the top 20:  5th place Anna Lehmann, SMS; 7th place Abigail Streinz, OSI; 16th place Lilly Bates, Dublin XC; and 17th place Laura Appleby, CSU.

For the U18 men NE had 7 in the top 20:  Third place Ben Ogden, SMS; 8th place Adam Glueck, Ford Sayre; 12th place Elliot Ketchel, GMVS; 15th place Walker Bean, GMVS; 16th place James Kitch, CSU; 19th place Conor Munns, SMS; and 20th place Isaac Freitas-Eagen, Brattleboro Union HS.

For the U18 women NE had 3 in the top 20:  7th place Kirsten Miller; 9th place Rena Schwartz, GMVS; and 15th place Callie Young, Craftsbury Nordic.

For the U20 men NE had 4 in the top 20:  5th place Daniel Streinz, Mountain Endurance; 12th place Kamran Husain, SMS; 13th place William Haig, SMS; 16th place Koby Gordon, Dartmouth College.

For the U20 women NE had 6 in the top 20:  First place Julia Kern, SMS Elite; 3rd place Mackenzie Rizio, UVM; 13th place Alexandra Lawson, Craftsbury Nordic; 15th place Mary Kretchmer, Gunstock; 17th place Skylar Tupper, Colby College; and 19th place Avrey Ellis, Craftsbury Nordic.

Today is an official training day for our athletes, and our awesome New England wax crew is busy testing skis and waxes for the classic sprint races tomorrow, Wednesday March 8th.  The organizers are doing a great job of running these races, and the condition of the course(s) is fantastic.  Stay tuned for more news from Lake Placid soon!

 

Our Annual NENSA Auction is open for bidding!   Please click here to see all the great items, and to place a bid, or two, or three! Thank you to all our sponsors for their generous donations of items! This annual auction is a fun way to support NENSA, and as a bonus, get some great gifts too! The Auction runs from today, March 1st, to Sunday March 19th at 8pm. From home baked goodies, to great ski equipment and accessories, to stays at the Trapp Family Lodge, there is something for everyone. Bid early and bid often!