NENSA News

Yesterday was the classic races, individual starts, day at Junior Nationals.  The original format for mass starts had to be changed when the venue was changed from Mt. Van Hoevenberg to the Olympic Jump Site last week.  Team New England had another strong day of results, and two new National Champions ~ Ben Ogden, SMS, won the men’s 10k, and Julia Kern, SMS Elite, won the women’s 10k!  Congratulations to both of them!

New England had 13 top 10 results (for All American Honors) and placed 28 of our skiers into top 20, for Alaska Cup points scoring.

For the U20 Women:  The gold medal went to Julia Kern, SMS Elite.  4th place was Alex Lawson, Craftsbury Nordic; 6th place Mackenzie Rizio, UVM; 11th place Mary Kretchmer, Gunstock Nordic; 17th place Avery Ellis, Craftsbury Nordic; 19th place Ingrid Thyr, Williams College; and rounding out the top 20 was Annika Landas, Middlebury College in 20th.

For the U20 Men:  4th place went to Daniel Streinz, Mountain Endurance; 7th place to Koby Gordon, Dartmouth College; 12th place to Finn O’Connell, UVM; 13th place Kamran Husain, SMS; and 14th place to Conor Hrynuk, UMPI.

For the U18 Women:  5th place went to Rena Schwartz, GMVS; 7th place to Gabby Vandendries, CSU juniors; 14th place went to Mae Chalmers, SMS; and 19th place went to Hannah Reiders, CSU juniors.

For the U18 Men:  The gold medal went to Ben Ogden, SMS.  7th place went to Elliot Ketchel, GMVS; 8th place to Adam Gluck, Ford Sayer; 11th place to Russell Boswell, SMS; 12th to Nick Wilkerson, GMVS; 15th to James Kitch, CSU juniors; and 19th to Walker Bean, GMVS.

For the U16 Girls:  12th place went to Anna Lehmann, SMS; and 16th place went to Charlotte Ogden, SMS.

For the U16 Boys:  4th place went to Josh Valentine, Gunstock Nordic, 5th place to Will Koch, SMS; and 16th place to Zander Martin, SMS.

Today’s Team Relay Races are delayed until 12 noon, due to extremely cold temps.   Team New England is leading in the Alaska Cup points going into today’s Team Relays(!), but we can not take anything for grated, and Team New England is excited to defend this lead today!

 

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!

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!