NENSA News

NENSA is pleased to announce our staff for the 2023 Junior Nationals.

Justin Beckwith will humbly serve as this year’s Trip Leader, joined by veteran Junior National Head Coach, Matt Boobar of the Stratton Mountain School.

Age Group Coaches:

Erin Waters – U16 Female – Concord High School
  Erin grew up skiing for Concord High School and then skied for St.Lawrence University. After graduation she returned home and dove into coaching, as assistant coach for 2 years and now heading into her second year as head coach. 
  In addition to public High School coaching, Waters, has been active in summer club camps and served in leadership roles at Eastern High School, U16 and Eastern Cup races.

Steve Bruner – U16 Male – Stratton Nordic Center
  Steve is originally a Minnesota high school racer,  former Amherst (MA) High School coach, and the current manager of the Stratton Nordic Center.  Both of his children are competitive skiers at the Stratton Mountain School, where Steve has served as an assistant coach/wax tech/tester, along with being a staple of SMS Summer Camps for the past two summers.
  Steve also jumped in to assist the New England Team at last winter’s Junior Nationals in Minneapolis when our staff was shorthanded.

Audrey Mangan – U18 Female – Craftsbury Ski Club
  Audrey competed in three Junior Nationals as a junior for the Mid-Atlantic division, including a podium performance.  She has been coaching junior and collegiate athletes for almost 10 years in New England.  “This sport has given me so much and it has been an inspiration to remain involved with developing the next generation of skiers, and in some cases, future coaches!”  In the last 6 years with Craftsbury, Audrey’s coaching responsibilities have included, “coaching brand-new BKLers, JN’s-bound juniors, new high school skiers, and wax teching for the GRP depending on the day.”
  Mangan has been a part of three Junior National staffs, U16 and EHS Championships, and been a valuable member of REG and many other camp projects.

Evan Kendall – U18 Male – Dublin School/DXC
  Evan has been a part of two recent New England staffs. He learned to ski “halfway through high school,” raced in Eastern High School Championships, Junior Nationals, and then skied for St. Olaf College.  He has led wax efforts at the High School and Eastern Cup level and assisted teching at Junior and Senior Nationals.
  Kendall brings a “can do” attitude that stems from leadership in education, coaching and outdoor adventures.

George Forbes – U20 Female – Stratton Mountain School
  George has coached at the Stratton Mountain School for five years and was a part of the wax team at the 2020 Junior Nationals in Truckee.  He is known for his energy, positivity, enthusiastic cheering, and his self proclaimed, “love for picking fast skis.”
  Aside from his leadership skills, Forbes is an accomplished photographer.

Will Solow – U20 Male – Ford Sayre
  Will raced with the Mansfield Nordic Club for four years in high school before taking a gap year to race for SVSEF where he first qualified for Junior Nationals for the Intermountain division.  Heading back East for college, he qualified for the New England JN team in Kincaid, AK where he had 4 All-American finishes including a podium in the sprint and in the relay. He also received the prestigious David Quinn Award.
  During his time at Colby College, he was a co-captain of the men’s team for 3 years, culminating with two-top-thirty results at NCAA’s in 2021 his junior year.  During his senior year he had mono and bridged into a support role for the Mules, that passion has continued with the Ford Sayre program as a junior coach and wax technician.

Service:
Colin Rodgers – Head Kick – Green Mountain Valley School
  Colin has been a valuable part of the New England Team for the past six years.  His depth of knowledge spans from growing up under the tutelage of his father, Dale, who is an inspired coach and venue manager — to National Championships as an athlete and coach, World Cup starts and an organizer of projects of all aspects.
  Rodgers loves kick wax as much as anybody and his fitness and energy will naturally lead the service staff.

Jacob Volz – Kick – Gould Academy
  Jacob grew up in Alaska and skied for Team AK in three Junior Nationals.  That led him to Middlebury College where he competed for four years.  After graduation, he coached for summers in Williamstown for the Berkshire Nordic Club, and started teaching and coaching at Gould.  Now into his third year at Gould, he’s in —  “pretty good shape, and am capable of doing many laps testing skis. I have a decent feel for ski speed, and particularly enjoy testing and applying classic wax. I have spent a good portion of my life skiing on hard wax in Alaska, and have a good sense for it. I have also spent a decent amount of time racing at Birch Hill and have a good knowledge of the trail system. I am used to working long days and getting up early to test and/or wax skis has never been a problem for me. I am also very enthusiastic about ski racing.”
#perfect

Jefferson Tucker  – Head Glide – Quarry Road Ski Club
 Jeff grew up ski racing in Vermont, where he achieved success in High School and junior racing, under the tutelage of the Woodstock Ski Runners.  He was a New England JN athlete in 2012, a Colby Mule, and then started his coaching career with: Colby College, Harvard, Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club, Nordic Ski Club Fairbanks, “and now I’m the coach of Quarry Road Ski Club. — I love testing skis and working long days on the bench, so I signed up to be part of the wax/tech team.”
  Tucker was a part of Team AK last year and offers his expertise on, “(navigating the area and ski trails, dealing with the cold, avoiding moose, etc.)”

Cate Brams – Glide – EMXC
 Cate didn’t fill out the form, but she is an invaluable member of our Team.  She helped orchestrate the Team.

Sara Nicole Falconer – Glide – Mansfield Nordic Club
  Sara has coached for Mansfield Nordic Club for eight years and been a part of three New England coaching staffs.  With Mansfield and the SkiRack she has worked with all levels of skier — with extensive experience in ski service and athlete support.
  Falconer is a physical therapy student.

Annika Martell – Glide – Williams College
  Annika competed in Minnesota and then went off to ski at Colby College.  “After my time there, I started coaching with US Biathlon, then moved to Hanover NH where I coached at Ford Sayre and now I’m coaching at Williams College where, during my summers, I’ve spent some time working with the Berkshire Nordic Ski Club! I recently traveled to Norway and Switzerland as a Trail to Gold Fellow with the US Ski Team.  I’ll bring some expertise from both the coaching and the wax tech side, both from my experience as the T2G Fellow, but also as a college coach we have to do both coach and wax tech on race weekends. I’m so excited about skiing and love giving back to the community as well – pass on the knowledge!”

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The New England Team will stay and eat at the Wedgewood Resort, and utilize the Organizing Committees shuttle service for the majority of our transportation.  As a reminder we also have a hold on tickets for athletes and staff from Boston to Fairbanks with one stop in Seattle for $1065 (auto qualifiers from Senior Nationals should contact [email protected] directly to discuss intentions and travel arrangements).

You can read further information about NE Junior National qualification and team composition HERE.

Eastern Cup Update:
NENSA, the Chisholm Ski Club and Bates College are excited to host the next Eastern Cup at Black Mountain.

Final Snow Control will occur on 1/6/23 — with updates to the VTCM.

Please note: if there is any confusion, all fluorinated wax products are not allowed in NENSA events.  Kick Wax Included.

NENSA was thrilled to be collaborate with WinterKids on their Welcome to Winter event last week at Lost Valley Ski Area in Auburn, ME! WinterKids helps children develop healthy lifelong habits through education and fun, outdoor winter activity by creating opportunities for children to be active, vibrant and healthy in the outdoors. Their Welcome to Winter event is an annual celebration of fun ways to stay active in winter. Originally created to welcome new Mainers to winter, the event has expanded to allow all members of the community to come and try out healthy ways to remain active outdoors during the winter months. This free event offered a chance to try snowshoeing, cross country and downhill skiing, snowboarding, tubing, snow sculpting, and more while enjoying hot chocolate and s’mores. 

NENSA ran cross-country skiing station with a fleet of snowboot binding skis from our Nordic Rocks program (courtesy of Madshus, Lost Nation R&D, the Share Winter Foundation, and the Killington World Cup Foundation). It was awesome to see so many young people trying new winter activities and having fun outside in the snow. We were thrilled to also connect with our long time sponsor and supporter, LL Bean, who was running the snowshoe station next door.

WinterKids is doing truly outstanding work getting kids outside and active during the long Maine winter, and we’re grateful to collaborate with them in working towards our overlapping missions! Check out their website HERE to learn more about what they do.

Triple La Niña Popular Racing Update

Is we wring out the year we have so much to be thankful for, from thriving Bill Koch clubs, to competitive junior racing, coaches, parents, masters and new skiers.  We all share the love of gliding on snow, and perhaps we need cherish that just a little bit more each time we experience a winterscape like we did in Lake Placid a few short weeks ago.  NENSA is especially grateful for the venues that lose sleep and put in the tremendous work it takes to maintain skiing in much of our new winters.  One thing is for sure, we’ll do our best to support our community getting out on snow.

Please read on for updates on our next few events — we will have updates on the Chisolm Ski Club Eastern Cup
& Bates Carnival this coming week too.

The Jackson Jaunt has been moved to Jan. 8.   REGISTRATION
NOTE: Possible later start time to be determined Wednesday. Intended Course: Wave Trail. Parking is in the Village so you will need to warm up by skiing to the start via the Yodel. Rolling start times, so you can warm up and start without having to wait. Puzzle Prizes. Top Masters in each age group awarded.

The Bogburn has every intention to be hosted, with a backup site on January 7th – stay posted to Bogburn Facebook page and the SkiReg site for details on Tuesday.  REGISTRATION

The Gunstock Freestyle — Zak Cup, is postponed until a later date this winter. Stay tuned!  REGISTRATION

The Lake Placid Loppet is BACK – February 26th. This storied event is a part of Club, Zak and Marathon Scoring.  EVENT SITE

As always stay posted to the NENSA Calendar, our social channels and the event registration pages for the latest info.

#stridingintothefuture #bettertogether #community

Sanctioned races in the East started, thankfully, without-a-bang in Lake Placid, last weekend.  There have been so many recent positive changes in US cross country skiing — extensive club development, associated international success, elimination of fluorocarbons, and for the first time officially in Eastern events #equaldistance.  However, the reality of climate change continues to play out, with the longstanding forecast of the East being, “warmer and wetter.”  All these factors set the stage for The Miracle on Snow.

While originally slated to be hosted at the Rikert Outdoor Center in Central Vermont, one week before the competition, the Jury and the venues of Rikert and Mt Van Hoevenberg made a nimble and collaborative decision to move the first Eastern Cup to Lake Placid.  The decision was based on snowmaking windows and highlighted by the fact that there were less than eight kilometers of skiing on the entire East Coast at the time.  There was no insight into the most beautiful snowstorm we have seen in the past few years.  The decision was made with the mantra that we are all in this together.

And how did Frost Mountain Nordic and Mt Van Hoevenberg shine, coming together to create a spectacular weekend of racing without a hitch.  Well, there was a hitch — that was luckily overcome by the candor of an exceptional organizing committee.  Before the dawn on Saturday there was an extensive propane leak at Mt Van Hoevenberg that halted not only our event, but also a World Cup Bobsled and Skeleton competition.  The strength of our community could not have been illustrated more clearly — while there was concern and questions — there was never more than a flicker of doubt the events would go off.

Although delayed, on Saturday at 1pm, the classic interval races got underway on perhaps the most demanding course in the United States. In two hours and forty-three minutes, 356 competitors left the starting gate on a course that was expertly prepared despite nearly two feet of recent snowfall.  The pictures tell a tale of yesteryear, with the gray-snow-filled skies hovering over the Adirondacks.  Despite tricky waxing conditions, the field, supported by skilled and collaborative ski service, displayed a dazzling depth of skill and love of sport.

Sunday dawned a new day, with midwinter temperatures and a fast firm surface.  The format for the weekend was a pursuit — with a 5km drag race schedule for all four competitions.  Racers were aligned in four lanes with digital readouts of start times to hunt the competitors who had bested them in the classical event.  While ranking points, both U.S. Ski & Snowboard and NENSA Junior Ranking List, will be assigned by time of day — the added excitement of a pursuit start with skiers flying out of the Cabot Lanes was made for TV.

On Sunday we witnessed exceptional efforts by all competitors, however the future and the foundations of our community were highlighted.  In the Open Men’s Race, Tabor Greenberg, a GMVS skier, and first year U18 was able to defend his Saturday lead for the Overall Men’s victory. In the Open Women’s event Alexandra Lawson, a professional from the Green Racing Project was handily the class of the field.  The Open Flower Ceremony also highlighted two pillars of our community and a rising force in club and collegiate skiing: Rosemary Shea-Cobb was awarded the Bill Koch Leadership Award, John Ogden with the John Caldwell Award and Paul Smith’s College with the NENSA Rollerski College Cup.

Never before has it been more apparent that we are community that loves sliding over snow.  With tremendous gratitude to Frost Mountain Nordic, Mt Van Hoevenberg, Rikert Outdoor Center and the countless volunteers who supported this event, we wish you a Merry Christmas and look forward to Skiing you in a New Year!

Saturday Classic Races:

Open Men:
1. Tabor Greenberg – GMVS
2. Finn Sweet – UVM
3. Zachary Nemeth – Colby

Open Women:
1. Alexandra Lawson – Green Racing Project
2. Jasmine Lyons – UNH
3. Ava Thurston – Dartmouth

U16 Boys:
1. David Northcott – Caldwell Sport
2. Henri McCourt – Mt. Blue High School
3. Lucas Barstow – Gould

U16 Girls:
1. Amelia Circosta – Craftsbury
2. Ava Schneider – GMVS
3. Annelis Hanna – Ford Sayre

U18 Boys:
1. Finegan Bailey – SMS
2. Luke Rizio – Prospect
3. Aidan Jacobu – GMVS

U18 Girls:
1. Virginia Cobb – Mansfield/EABC
2. Maddie Hooker – Stratton
3. Julia Thurston – Mansfield

U20 Men:
1. Jack Lange – Dartmouth
2. Aidan Burt – UVM
3. Nathan Maybach – UNH

U20 Women:
1. Quincy Massey-Bierman – Middlebury
2. Hattie Barker – UNH
3. Sofia Scirica – EMXC

Sunday Freestyle Pursuit:

Overall Pursuit Men:
1. Tabor Greenberg – GMVS
2. Finn Sweet – UVM
3. Seve Decampo – Snow Australia

Open Men Time of Day:
1.  Finn Sweet – UVM
2. Finegan Bailey – Stratton
3. Jack Christner – Middlebury

U18 Boys Time of Day:
1. Tabor Greenberg – GMVS
2. Luke Rizio – Prospect
3. Micah Bruner – Stratton

U20 Boys Time of Day:
1. Sam Galludet – EMXC
2. Parke Chapin – GMVS
3. Nathan Maybach – UNH

U16 Boys Pursuit:
1. David Northcott – Caldwell Sport
2. Henri McCourt – Mt. Blue High School
3. Lucas Barstow – Gould

U16 Boys Time of Day:
1. David Northcott – Caldwell Sport
2. James Crowley – Gould
3. Charlie Kehler – Craftsbury

Overall Pursuit Women:
1. Alexandra Lawson – Green Racing Project
2. Ava Thurston – Dartmouth
3. Michaela Keller-Miller – Green Racing Project

Open Women Time of Day:
1. Alexandra Lawson – Green Racing Project
2. Ava Thurston – Dartmouth
3. Michaela Keller-Miller – Green Racing Project

U18 Girls Time of Day:
1. Maddie Hooker – Stratton
2. Beth McIntosh – GMVS
3. Gillian Fairfax – Mansfield

U20 Girls Time of Day:
1. Hattie Barker – UNH
2. Evelyn Walton – EMXC
3. Sophia Scirica – EMXC

U16 Girls Pursuit:
1. Amelia Circosta – Craftsbury
2. Annelis Hanna – Ford Sayre
3. Cate Carlson – Mansfield

U16 Girls Time of Day:
1. Amelia Circosta – Craftsbury
2. Mary Harrington – GMVS
3. Annelis Hanna – Ford Sayre

Full Results
JRL

NENSA Socials

Does all the recent snow fall have you itching to get on skis? Perhaps even eager to jump in a low key race?  Some of our regional partners are hosting events that might check all of your boxes.  JacksonXC celebrates the new year with the Jackson Jaunt – a choose your own pace and start time affair.  Most years this event requires your classic boards to take a cruise through the scenic and undulating Wave trail and Eagle Mountain trails.  The following Saturday the Haydock family host the 39th annual run of the Bogburn.  This is a special event harkening to the early days of skiing in New England, where skiers traverse the woods of central Vermont on old school classic trails.  The Gunstock Nordic Association hosts their annual race the next day.  The smooth flowing terrain of their trails is an excellent way to get ease back into freestyle skiing.  Not to mention they put on a killer lunch menu!

Jackson Jaunt (classic) – January 1st – REGISTRATION

The Bogburn (classic) – January 7th – REGISTRATION

Gunstock Zak Cup (freestyle) – January 8th – REGISTRATION

We know the weather can be a little iffy later this time of year.  Please keep an eye on their event pages for any updates.  These are the kind of events where memories are made.  They allow us intimate experience with nature followed by social time with our community – undoubtedly this includes some good stories to share.  So come out and kick off the New Year at some excellent Popular races, which include some cool prizes and raffle items.

Happy Holidays!

 

 

The Bill Koch Youth Ski League Festival is the marquee event of the Bill Koch Youth Ski League. This fun annual Festival features races as well as a wide variety of exciting non-competitive winter activities for skiers of all skill and ability levels from kindergarten up to 8th grade!

This year’s Festival will be held March 4-5, 2023 on the beautiful trails at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury, VT. The dedicated folks at Craftsbury are planning fun races and exciting activities with the theme North Woods in Winter! You can read all about the theme HERE.

REGISTER

Event Registration Options

Nordic Adventure Entry (non-timed events): Includes the parade, mini-marathon, terrain park, laser biathlon with US Biathletes, maple sugaring demos, draft horse logging demos, an autograph session with Bill Koch, and more. For Grades K-8.

**Nordic Adventure events are included with race entry (details below)**

Lollipop Race Entry: Includes the mass start untimed lollipop race and the Nordic Adventure activities. For Grades K-2.

**Children Grade 2 and younger can sign up as Lollipop participants or if they are in 1st or 2nd grade and wish to participate in the 1k pair start race and relay race, they can sign up for the Grades 1&2 Race Category (details below).**

Race Entry Grades 1-8: Includes the Saturday skate relay race (which is a paired team race), the Sunday pair/individual start classic race (finish order posted and awards for all grades, times only included for Grades 5-8, pair start for Grades 1-6, individual start for Grades 7&8), and all Nordic Adventure activities.

** Please note there is a $15 price increase for all race categories on February 10th **

All registration categories include an event t-shirt and you can pick your size during checkout. Participants who register on or before January 26th are guaranteed a festival t-shirt. 

Stay tuned to our website HERE for updates and full event details.

This year’s Silver Fox Trot freestyle race hosted by Ford Sayre at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center was a huge success!  Despite the event falling unusually early in the season, nearly 300 racers showed up to partake of this long-time running Popular competition.  The Craftsbury Outdoor Center did a fabulous job ensuring there was ample snow to ski on, with an undulating 2km race loop, room to warmup  and areas for kids to play on skis.  The enthusiastic crew from Ford Sayre showed up in force and ran a very smooth event.

On the racing side, the participants ranged from Bill Koch Youth Ski League competitors to a healthy contingent of masters athletes, with many collegiate and junior skiers mixed in.  Due to the short loop, this year’s event was run as interval start minimizing course congestion.  A new twist taken for NENSA’s summer rollerski series saw the fastest open athletes being seeded by best U.S. Ski & Snowboard points, regardless of gender – it was very cool to see the men and women mixing it up side-by-side.  Another twist on past events was the masters recognition, where all the age group winners of each gender were brought together to celebrate their accomplishments on the day.  It was quite amazing to see so many pillars of our New England ski community join that ceremony!

M2 – Allison Crocker – Ford Sayre

M3 – Sara Graves – Stowe Nordic

M4 – Jessie Donovan – GMVS

M5 – Amy Caldwell – Caldwell Sport

M6 – Rosemary Shea-Cobb – Mansfield Nordic

M7 – Ellie Bouffard – Mansfield Nordic

M8 – JoAnn Janowski – Craftsbury Ski Club/Rossignol

M1 – Scott Lacy – Crosscut

M2 – Tyler Magnan – NWVE

M3 – Jeremy Huckins – Stowe Nordic

M4 – Eli Enman – NWVE/Rossignol

M5 – Hugh Pritchard – Onion River Nordic

M6 – Phil Lawson – Craftsbury Ski Club

M7 – Richard Costanza – Craftsbury Ski Club

M8 – Rob Bradlee – Freedom Trail Nordic

M9 – Jim Fredericks – Craftsbury Ski Club

In the Open field, the UVM men and women led the way, sweeping both podiums.  A strong contingent of junior racers was close behind trying to make inroads into the pace set by the collegiate skiers.   The Silver Fox Trot also featured the largest masters field to date this season with more than 50 jumping in the event! The day was finished off with Bill Koch races.  Each two-year class group began as a mass start, rocking around the Lemon’s Haunt before climbing back to the upper stadium for the finish.  All totaled nearly 100 BKL skiers competed on the day.

Results

Scoring

NENSA photos

Thank you Ford Sayre and the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for a wonderful event!  Up next racing action moves from Mt Van Hoevenberg, Lake Placid, NY for the Rikert Grand Prix Eastern Cup Opener, hosted by the Frost Mountain Nordic Ski Club on Saturday & Sunday December 17-18th.

 

The opening Eastern Cup has been relocated to Mt Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, NY.
Registration remains open and we thank the Rikert Outdoor Center and Frost Mountain Nordic for continued partnership to make this event happen despite one of the toughest starts to winter in a few years.
@skivanhoevenberg has been able to consistently blow snow and is currently expanding available terrain. All race formats will remain as planned and any schedule changes will be updated to both NENSA website and the SkiReg page.
Registration closes Wednesday at 5pm. Please direct any questions to [email protected]
We realize a venue change presents logistical challenges for many skiers — NENSA along with the venues and organizing committee made this decision as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
With the limited amount of skiing available across the East Coast it is no small miracle we are able to host a sanctioned competition.
#miracleonsnow

Skiers flocked to this year’s Quarry Road Opener to kick off the winter racing season.  Despite no natural snow, the organizers at Quarry Road put together a ribbon of artificial snow for the ski community to enjoy.  Rain on Saturday made way for blue sky and sunshine during the Opener.  This year’s course was very similar to 2021, but was run in the opposite direction.  Racers set out in 15 second intervals in groups of 20 to minimize congestion on the short loop.  It was a dizzying affair of laps, with athletes needing to keep a careful count to ensure they skied the correct distance.

This year’s field of racers surpassed 150!  It spanned all ages and abilities.  There was a large group of collegiate skiers with Harvard and UNH making the longer drive to compete against Bates, Bowdoin and Colby athletes.  It was great to see a growing number of local high school programs including Edward Little, York and Spruce Mountain mixing it up with the likes of Gould Academy and the Quarry Road Ski Club.  New this year was the addition of Para Nordic racers.  Two ParaNordic racers made the trip to Quarry Road to wet their appetite for fast gliding on snow.  The timing of their starts allowed them opportunities to race alongside the able-bodied athletes.

Late in the day the middle school racers had their turn to have their fun in the sun.  The final race of the day saw bunch of particularly speedy lollipoppers cruising around the Quarry Road meadow, with big smiles!

Results

Scoring

flyingpointroad photos

NENSA photos

Up next racing action moves from Maine to Craftsbury, Vermont for the Silver Fox Trot, hosted by the Ford Sayre Ski Club on Saturday December 1oth. Here’s the LINK to register.

 

 

This year’s Event Organizer and TD Training Seminar was held over the weekend in Waterville, ME.  We kicked off the seminar with presentations at the Chace Community Forum (housed in Colby’s new downtown dormitory on Main Street).  The content of this year’s presentations was markedly different from years past, with heavy focus on how we work together to be even better event hosts.  Highlights from the presentations include Mary Anne Levins speaking to her experience as a Race Secretary and Ed Despard of Bullittiming on all the new updates in the world of timing.  The key takeaways from these presentations:

“The Race Secretary and Chief of Timing are the problem solvers that keep Timer and Race Jury appraised of the all the event’s behind the scene’s communications.”

“Keep your timers happy, they are under a lot of pressure to produce quality results and they are the first to be blamed when something goes wrong”

“Things always don’t go according to plan at a race – the better prepared your race staff is, the less the public will notice the mistakes.”

We discussed how we include ParaNordic athletes in our events.  The easiest thing we can do is add a category for them at registration.  The next step is to reach out to the athletes that register for that category and have a conversation with them about their goals for the race and invite them to preview the course with you.  As we move toward greater inclusion, think of ways that they can be safely incorporated into the start order so that they have the opportunity to ski with able bodied skiers.

On Sunday our focused shifted to hands on experience at the Quarry Road Opener.  Participants were asked to move around to different tasks and learn at each one.  These included shadowing the Race Secretary, Timer, the start crew, event setup, and observing how athletes navigated the course.  The format of the day allowed for lots of dialogue and the chance to make observations without feeling the pressure of hosting the event.  There were 27 event participants this year, including four timers and several virtual attendants.  Those that attended in person really enjoyed the face-to-face interactions!