Search Results for: december club

The Central Maine Ski Club hosted 86 racers for the Quarry Road Opener on Sunday, December 10th.  Although the organizers promote the race as a “low key” event, they put forth great effort with snowmaking and grooming to make this early season race a reality.  Racers of all ages flocked to Quarry Road to begin the 2018 ski season — from 8 year old CMSC skier Lex Cote, to Everett Ingalls of Portland, who scored the first Zak Cup points of the season as an M9.

Nate Livingood of the Great Glen Bill Koch Club was the fastest boy in the 2.4km freestyle race.  He was followed by Caden and Beckett Cote in second and third place respectively.  Emma Charles was the fastest girl in the 2.4km distance with a time that was competitive with the top boys.  Naomi Mcgadney and Keya Amundsen placed second and third.  Seventeen racers, ages 8 to 13, enjoyed this festive environment.

Elliot Ketchel, a freshman from Bowdoin College, took top honors in the 4.8km male freestyle race with a time of 12:34.  He was closely followed by teammate, Christian Gostout, at 12:39 and Colby College skier, Foss Kerker in 12:40.  Kirsten Miller, another freshman standout, this time from Colby, took the victory in the female race with a time of 14:37.  Her teammate, Claire Waichler, crossed the line just four seconds off the pace and Bowdoin skier, Gabrielle Vandendries, rounded out a competitive top three that were separated by only eleven seconds.

Four masters skiers jump started their season at Quarry Road, which was the first race of the NENSA Zak and Club Cup Series.  Marek Skacel, an M4 from Veazie, Maine posted the fastest male time on the day.  He was closely followed by M1, Alison Chase, the only woman in masters field on the day.  Everett Ingalls (M9) and Daniel Baumert (M7), finished second and third for male skiers.  Everett Ingalls deserves special recognition as the first master skier in New England to score Zak Cup points for 2018.

Special thanks to Central Maine Ski Club for hosting this event and kicking off an exciting season of cross country ski racing.  Zak and Club Cup Scoring are live at www.nensa.net.  Look for a “Zak and Club Cup Scoring Primer” post in the next few days!  This weekend attention focuses on the Eastern Cup Opener in Fort Kent and the next Zak Cup race will be held January 6th at Gunstock Nordic (January Thaw).

Keep posted here and at NENSA facebook and instagram.

Photos from the event.

Official results.

Zak and Club Cup Scoring.

On community collaboration efforts and the NENSA events held in Bethel, The Bethel Outing Club (BOC) is awarded NENSA’s 2017 Club of the Year. The Bethel Outing Club provides affordable access for all to cross-country skiing and people powered sports such as hiking, bicycling, running, paddling, swimming and roller skiing. This club in Bethel is made up of warm-hearted, community minded people from a beautiful area in Western Maine. The club has a Bill Koch League, year round programming, and annual events like the Flying Moose.

This past year alone, the club had volunteers at NENSA’s New England Women’s XC Ski Day in January, ran their annual Flying Moose race and hosted the New England Bill Koch League Festival (NEBKL Festival). All of these events rely on volunteers to organize and staff the events in sometimes varying snow and weather conditions like the very cold NEBKL Festival. Wade Kavanaugh, Bethel Outing Club Coach and 2017 NEBKL Festival Co-Chair, says that “the BOC has a tremendously committed corps of volunteers.  Bethel is a town of 2,000 people, most of whom seem to volunteer most of their weekends to keep all of the events in town rolling.  The Bill Koch Festival was a great example of people coming together to make an event happen in challenging and changing conditions.  When I ask our volunteers what motivates them to keep coming out, I often hear that people just love seeing kids on skis!”

In December, the Bethel Outing Club also started a collaboration effort with Mahoosuc Pathways to create the Bethel Village Trails. Both of these non-profits worked together to keep the Nordic Center open at the Bethel Inn & Resort, maintain and groom the trails and provide programming, lessons and clinics. This effort took a lot of volunteer hours for club members over the winter. “The Bethel Outing Club is made of regular folks who are passionate about Nordic skiing and they will do whatever it takes to get more people on skis. This winter was so full of opportunities for the club, from jumping into a new collaborative to run a Nordic ski center to hosting the BKL Festival.  Not once did I hear anyone say “we can’t,  it was always “what needs to be done”.   I love working with people who follow their passion to make things happen, it is very inspiring.  The members of the BOC are so deserving of this NENSA award,” said Suzanne Pierce, Bethel Outing Club Coach and Central/Western Maine Bill Koch League District Chair.

“The winter of 2016-2017 was by far the busiest in the history of the Bethel Outing Club.  From taking over the Bethel Village Trails operation along with Mahoosuc Pathways, the Bethel Inn and Gould Academy at Thanksgiving, to producing or helping to produce the NENSA Women’s Day, the Telstar Relays, the Veterans No Boundaries program, the Flying Moose, and last but not least, the Bill Koch Festival, our members were extremely busy from before the first snowflake to after the last.  As a testament to our community, the volunteer spirit actually grew stronger as the season progressed, not weaker. We learned from each event to make the next even better.  We drew strength from the adversity, and redoubled our efforts, something that came in handy when we had to move the venue for the BKF at the last minute due to the weather.  Our club is growing and enthusiastic, and now that we see what we can actually accomplish, we are even more excited to host local, regional and NENSA events in the future.

We are very honored to receive the 2017 NENSA Club of the Year award. I’m happy to accept it on behalf of all of the Bethel Outing Club members, past and present.  Having been in existence over 35 years, many, many people have contributed to the capacity of our organization.  We truly stand on the shoulders of giants, and we are pleased to be able to represent them well.” said Norm Greenberg, BOC President.

NENSA is excited to work with the Bethel Village Trails and the Bethel Outing Club in 2019 when they will be hosting the NENSA U16 Championships!

The Zak Cup series is named after Vlastimil Zak, who died unexpectedly when he went through the ice on Squam Lake, New Years Eve, 1979. Zak’s enthusiasm and dedication to our sport lives on in the Zak Series. The Zak Cup is a season-long series to determine the best skiers in each five-year age group over 30. All events that are part of this series are scored for Club points, with all participants earning at least one point for their club. 9 of the 12 scheduled Zak Cups were held during the 2016-17 season, showcasing New England’s varied terrain and snow conditions. Many thanks to the host clubs, volunteers, venues and skiers who make these events well-run, fun and social ski events.

The first race in the series, the Quarry Road Opener, was cancelled due to low snow in December.  The Gunstock skate race, second on the series list, was held in early January on the Gunstock Nordic Association (GNA) trails. It was the first year that GNA held a Zak Cup, and it was a well-run individual start skate race consisting of 2, 4 km loops for the women and 3, 4 km loops for the men. The course had some long sustained climbs in the beginning, and then fun technical downhills that looped skiers back into the stadium.

One week later, the Geschmossel, which is one of the oldest races in New England, was next in the series. Bretton Woods worked hard to make sure the race was held, having the move the start and change the course slightly. The 15 km classic mass start started in two waves, the first one was the masters men, and the second consisting of the women and boys categories. The tracks were firm and fast, making it a tight race for skiers!

On the third weekend of January, there were two Zak Cup races. The White Mountain 30 km Classic in Jackson, NH was held on that Saturday. It’s always a favorite race as it is a part of the New England Marathon Series, Zak Cup series, and it is the One-Day Club Championship. Jackson had received plenty of snow prior to the race, and had the course groomed to their usual high standards. Showing their strength in numbers and performance, the Northwest Vermont Endurance (NWVE) won the Club Championship, just one point over the Cambridge Sports Union (CSU).

Mansfield Nordic Club held the Mansfield Nordic Duathlon the next day at The Craftsbury Outdoor Center. This race is continuing to gain in popularity as Bill Koch-ers, and racers of all ages, try out this classic and skate technique race. The race was a great event, with lots of prizes for participants.  Up next in the series was the Flying Moose Classic held on the Gould Academy Pine Hill competition trails. The 22 km mass start classic race had great grooming and a challenging, fast course.

The next weekend was the Cheri Walsh, combined with the Eastern Cup race. This individual start 10 km skate race was held on the Holderness School trails. Holderness always puts on a fantastic race, and with plenty of snow, and more snow falling that day, the skiing was superb.

The series continued with the Bogburn at the end of February. The Bogburn is truly a “classic” New England style race not only because of where it is held in Pomfret, Vermont, but also because of its history. The race has drawn high caliber skiers over the years and it hosted by Bob Haydock, an influential NENSA board member and member of the CSU club. Snow was shoveled onto the fun, undulating course, to ensure that the race was held. Some parts of the course were just a ribbon of snow, which barely held on for the last skier.

Due to low snow conditions, Bretton Woods had to cancel their races planned for the second weekend in March, the Bretton Woods Marathon and the Mt. Washington Cup. The Craftsbury Spring Fling was last race in the series, ending the Zak Cup series on a high note as the best conditions ever for this race. A storm had dumped another 6 inches of snow before the weekend, and the course used many of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center’s core trails. The grooming was impeccable, and everyone enjoyed a BBQ on the deck to wrap up the season.

The age group winners for this year are as follows, for M1 women in 1st place is Sara Graves (Stowe Nordic). 1st place for the M1 men is Neil Graves (Stowe Nordic), and in 2nd place is Tyler Magnan (NWVE).  In the M2 division, Clipperly Good (NWVE) won for the women and Damiam Bolduc (NWVE) won the men’s category. For M3’s, Jessica Bolduc (NWVE) is 1st for women and for the men, Eric Darling (NWVE). Sarah Pribram (NWVE) takes 1st for the M4 women, and for the M4 men John Sakalowsky (CSU) is 1st , Chris Brewer is 2nd and in 3rd place is Clinton Krueger (CSU). Karen Alence (Mansfield Nordic) is 1st for the M5 women, and 1st for the M5 men is Tom Thurston (NWVE), 2nd place is Chris Naimie (Bow Nordic), and 3rd place is Mike Kavanaugh (NWVE).

For the M6 category, Ellie Bouffard (Mansfield Nordic) is 1st, Cheryl Carlson (Ford Sayre) is 2nd and in 3rd place is Ann Burnham (CSU).  Rick Powell (Ford Sayre) is 1st for the M6 men, Bryce Wing (Ford Sayre) is 2nd and Robert Faltus (CSU) is 3rd place. JoAnn Hanowski (Mansfield Nordic) wins the M7 women, with Carrie Nourjian (Stowe Nordic) in 2nd, and Jody Newton (CSU) in 3rd place. David Johnstone is 1st in the M7 men, with Graham Holmes in 2nd place and Chris Nice (Ford Sayre) in 3rd.

Jim Fredericks (Mansfield Nordic) wins the M8 men’s category, with Donavon Freeman (Mt Washington) in 2nd place, and John Lazenby (Onion River) in 3rd.  Trina Hosmer (Stowe Nordic) is 1st for the M9 women, with Sally Howe (Stowe Nordic) in 2nd place. Jonathan Chaffee (Ford Sayre) wins the M9 men’s category with John Broadhead (Craftsbury Nordic) in 2nd place and David Hosmer (Stowe Nordic) in 3rd. Sara Mae Berman (CSU) wins the M11 women, and George Hall (Craftsbury Nordic) wins the M11 men’s category, with Larry Berman (CSU) in 2nd place.

Congratulations to Sara Graves (Stowe Nordic) and Neil Graves (Stowe Nordic) for being the overall winners this year of the Zak Cup series! For the women, Trina Hosmer (Stowe Nordic) is 2nd overall , and JoAnn Hanowski (Mansfield Nordic) is 3rd. In the mens category, Tom Thurston (NWVE) is 2nd overall, and John Sakalowsky (CSU) is 3rd place.

For overall Club scores, Ford Sayre came in 3rd place, CSU was 2nd and NWVE came in first this year! Click HERE to find rankings for age categories, overall, and club points.

Congratulations to all those who participated in the Zak Cup and Club Cup series, and thank you to the Clubs and host venues for continuing to put on great races in New England. Bids are now open for the 2017-18 season. Click here for more info on how to bid!