NENSA News

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!

DEADLINE for ACCEPTING your SPOT on the NE JN Team is TODAY by 5pm. If you have qualified (or auto qualified) under the NE JN Team you must fill out all the on-line forms/waivers/payment by 5pm today, or your spot will be offered to the next qualified alternate on the list.   Go to: http://nensa.net/jn-packetpayment/  for all the links for forms/wiavers/payments/uniform ordering.
Questions?? Email [email protected]

February 15, 2017 (Bethel, ME) – The largest kids’ cross country ski festival in the United States, The New England Bill Koch League Festival, will be hosted by The Bethel Outing Club at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine during the weekend of March 4 and 5, 2017. The New England Bill Koch League Festival, also known as the NEBKL Festival is the marquee event of the New England Nordic Ski Association’s  (NENSA) Bill Koch Youth Ski League and attracts pre-school through eighth grade participants from across New England, the Northeast and Canadian provinces.

The Festival carries the name of America’s only Olympic cross country medalist, Bill Koch. In 1976 Koch, from Putney, Vermont, won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Following this achievement, the national nordic ski program for youth was renamed in his honor, and the Bill Koch League (BKL) has continued throughout the Northeast for decades, introducing youth to the joys of cross country skiing in BKL Clubs, mostly led by parents and volunteers. Bill Koch himself will be at the Festival, supporting and encouraging all the young skiers.

The Festival rotates annually through the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont. Last year’s Festival was held at The Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire, who also hosted in 2012.

Festivities will start up on Saturday with the parade of participants, grouped by the geographic district they represent. With a theme of “Protect Our Winters”, or POW, there are sure to be superheros and heroines of snow, whether that’s a favorite comic book hero or their favorite “hero on snow” such as Andy Newell or Sophie Caldwell. The parade will start the festival with heros, heroines and protectors of winter marching around the outside of the field house on the Gould Academy campus. Saturday’s on-snow events include two-person relay races by grade levels using skate technique, and a variety of Nordic Adventure non-timed activities such as a sledding hill, terrain park, parade sign making, snowflake crafts, Maine Adaptive sit-ski demos, Fat biking, a Biathlon demo, and a Natural History Trail along the Mini-Marathon Course to the Yurt!

Saturday evening events include a smoked pulled pork, chicken or tempeh dinner and all the fixings held at Gould Academy. During dinner, Bill Koch will be signing autographs while his movie, The Bill Koch XC Experience plays in the background, followed by an educational presentation by POW, the non-profit environmental organization committed to bringing an awareness of climate change to snow sports.

The fun continues on Sunday with individual interval-start races of 1 to 4 kilometers in length, depending on grade level. The Lollipop Race for novice skiers in 2nd grade and younger routinely brings the most smiles to observers as these skiers ski with a parent, wave to fans and gleefully dash to cross the line and receive their lollipop. Eighth graders, in their final year of eligibility for the BKL Festival, have a graduation ceremony led by Bill Koch with a fun skiing challenge and public recognition. Awards ceremonies throughout the weekend will recognize outstanding performances in the races.

The Bethel Outing Club is playing a significant role as the host club with their many volunteers and organizers, and Gould Academy is the host site and generous sponsor of the event. The Bethel Village Trails and Mahoosuc Pathways are providing free skiing on the Bethel Village Trail system for each participant and The Bethel Inn Resort is giving discounted rates for festival goers and donating rooms for race committee staff.

As associate sponsors of NENSA, L.L. Bean and Swix are sponsors of the event. The larger sponsors of the NEBKL Festival are Sport Thoma, Maine Ski Lodging Co, Doug Zinchuk  Roofing and Sunday River Ski Club. Other Sponsors include Norway Savings Bank, Bancroft Contracting, Rite Aid Pharmacy, Holidea House, Akers Ski, and True North Adventureware. Every registered skier will receive a L.L. Bean goodie bag that includes items donated by Clif bar, SkiErg, Gould Academy, TrueNorth Adventureware, and the Bethel Outing Club. Additional sponsors are still being sought for this huge event, as are volunteers who will make this weekend a fun and memorable experience for the hundreds of kids and their families coming to the area.

Pre-registration for participation in the New England BKL Festival is required, more information and the link to skireg is found through the event’s website: http://bklfestival2017.com. NENSA membership required for registration. For more information and to get involved, contact Wade Kavanaugh and Tracyn Thayer, Event Directors via email: [email protected]

 

Congrats to the 59, yes, 59 New England athletes who qualified for our New England Junior National Team this year!  NENSA takes a minimum of 42 athletes who qualify through racing in our four weekends of Eastern Cup races, as well as a few out-of-region JNQ races. This year the OOR races included the three junior races at US Sr. Nationals, and one Mid-A JNQ/SLU Carnival race in Lake Placid.  In addition to the 42 athletes who qualified, we had an additional 17 New England athletes who auto-qualified based on their stellar results out at US Sr. Nationals in Utah in early January.  Click here to see a complete list of those athletes who have qualified for the 2017 New England Junior National Team on our NENSA.net RANKINGS page.  Click here for U18/U20 Women,  for U18/U20 Men,  for U16 Girls , and for U16 Boys

On March 4th, this team, along with 13 New England staff members – which include a trip leader, head coach, 6 age-group coaches and 5 wax techs, will arrive in Lake Placid NY, the site of the 1980 Olympics, for a week of USSA Junior National Championship racing, against 10 other regions of the country – including New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Central CXC/Great Lakes, High Plains, Rocky Mountain, Intermountain, Far West,  Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.  For full information on Junior Nationals, including the weeks schedule and parent/visitor information, click on their website:  http://www.xcjuniornationals2017.com

The 59 athletes who qualified and auto qualified have until NO LATER then this MONDAY 2/20 to complete all the on-line forms, waivers and payment, if they want to attend.  Athlete and parents, please go to:  http://nensa.net/jn-packetpayment/  to complete ALL information, and make your payment, as well as info on uniform ordering, ASAP.  Any athlete who misses this 2/20 sign up deadline will not be able to attend, and the next qualified athlete on the ranking list will be chosen.  If you will be declining your spot on the team for any reason, please email Amie Smith, Trip Leader, ASAP at [email protected]

Congratulations to all ~ we look forward to defending our National Title, for hopefully, the 4th year in a row, and to bring home the Alaska Cup to New England once again!  #bringbacktheAKCup,again!  #4-peat!

 

Drum roll please….the 2017 New England JN team qualifiers have been listed!!  We take the top 6 each for U16’s boys and U16 girls, and the top 15 each for U18/U20 men and women (min. 3 U20 and 6 U18’s), not including auto qualifiers. Go to our RANKINGS tab to see the list of qualifiers.  If you are on the list, and need to decline, please email [email protected] ASAP so we can name the next athlete on the list. Thank you, and CONGRATS to all!

It was another fabulous weekend of Eastern Cup racing this past Saturday and Sunday, and old man winter did not disappoint us!   Amazing conditions and awesome trails awaited us in both Craftsbury VT and in Holderness NH.  Thank you to all the organizers of this weekend – Dartmouth College & Ford Sayre and all their volunteers, along with the staff and volunteers at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for a great day of racing on Saturday, and, to the Holderness Nordic ski club and their wonderful volunteers for the second great day of racing on Sunday.  Without this great community involvement, these races would not be possible – thank you all!

Saturday was the combined Eastern Cup and Dartmouth Carnival race day #1, with classic distance races held at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont.  Podiums included, for the women, first place, Caitlin Paterson, Craftsbury Nordic; second place Elizabeth Guiney, Craftsbury Nordic; third place Elizabeth Gill, UNH.  For the men, first place, Fabian Stocek, Dartmouth; second place Eli Hoenig, Williams College; third place Peter Holmes, UNH.  For the U16 girls, first place was Anna Lehman, SMS; second place Charlotte Ogden, SMS; third place Abigail Streinz, OSI.   For the U16 boys, first place was Will Koch, SMS; second place, Griffin Wright; and third place Zander Martin.

Sunday’s Eastern Cup/Cheri Walsh freestyle races were held at the Holderness School in Holderness NH, where it snowed all day!  It was a winter wonderland with beautiful trails, but made for some long and tricky driving home post racing.  Podiums included ~ open women:  first Carly Winn; second Mary O’Connell, Craftsbury Nordic; third Rena Schwartz, GMVS.  For the men, first place was Daniel Streinz, Mountain Endurance; second place Welly Ramsey; third place Aidan Kirkham.  For the U16 girls podiums went to – first place Anna Lehmann, SMS; second place Olivia Cuneo, GMVS; third place Abigail Streinz, OSI.  For the U16 boys it was, first place Josh Valentine, Gunstock Nordic; second place Matthew Moreau, CSU juniors; third place Will Koch, SMS.

We held our annual New England JN Team informational meeting after all the races on Sunday.  Thanks to SWIX for making the trek down in the snow for uniform fittings, and to all the JN coaches and staff, and potential JN Team athletes and their parents for sticking around, if they could.  We will be naming the New England 2017 JN Team shortly – stay tuned!

Please go to our NENSA fb page for photos from this past weekend!

Go to VTCM #4 page to view the SEED LISTS for Saturday’s EC/Dartmouth Carnival/Silver Fox Trot races in Craftsbury, VT and Sunday’s EC/Cheri Walsh races at the Holderness School in NH.

Greetings potential JN Team athletes and parents ~

This Sunday is the last weekend of Eastern Cup racing for JN qualifying.  Immediately following the last men’s race at Holderness, NENSA will be having our NE JN Team informational meeting, for all potential JN Team athletes and their parents.  This meeting will be at 1:15pm in the gymnasium.  Please come to hear about the upcoming Junior National trip to Lake Placid starting March 4th, meet the JN coaches and staff, ask questions, try on the NE SWIX uniforms for sizing for ordering, and pay by check if you already know you will be making the team.  Here is the link on NENSA.net to our 2017 JN Packet/Payment info, including all waivers.

To find this link – go to the homepage TABS and click on > Programs > Competitor > JN Team > 2017 JN Packet/Payment.

We look forward to seeing you in both Craftsbury and Holderness this weekend, and best of luck to all our athletes on this final weekend of Eastern Cup/JNQ racing!

REMINDER – on-line registration closes at 5pm SHARP today on SkiReg.com.  There will be DOR registration both days this weekend – $50 each day, and you must be both a current and valid NENSA and USSA/FIS member to race – bring you membership numbers with you.  DOR open 9-10 am on Saturday at Craftsbury, and 8-9am on Sunday at Holderness.

Greetings Eastern Cup Racers ~

Do not delay ~ Registration closes at 5pm SHARP on Wednesday 2/8 for Eastern Cup weekend #4.  Go to SkiReg.com and register NOW!

Saturday is a combined Eastern Cup/Dartmouth Carnival/Silver Fox Trot classic distance race, to be held at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, in VT.  Sunday is the Eastern Cup/Cheri Walsh Memorial freestyle distance race at the Holderness School, in Holderness NH.   Please go to VTCM EC#4 for all updates, race information and schedules.

After the last race on Sunday 2/12 – there will be a New England JN Team informational meeting at Holderness School, in their Gymnasium on Sunday at 1:15 pm – pick up and fill out the necessary paperwork, meet the JN Coaches, try on sizes for the Swix uniforms to order, etc. etc. Please come if you know you will be on the team, or, if you may be on the team – all are welcome!  This is a great opportunity to ask questions. JN Trip Leader: Amie Smith, [email protected]  Click here for the complete 2017 JN packet.