On a sunny day, you can’t miss Mt. Kearsarge outside of Warner, New Hampshire. Depending on your direction on I-89, it’s either the first or last bump on the landscape demarcating that part of New England where the grooves, and bumps in the land get a little larger, the town centers get a little smaller, and the woods and waters beckon a little wilder. Kearsarge is emblematic as much as it is part of the landscape. The climb up it is steep like a New England climb ought to be. The summit is prone to be shrouded in the clouds in a way that just seems to make everyone comment that they’ll “burn off” eventually. Kearsarge can create a microenvironment to fill with a lot of what makes the landscape it is a part of special – and so, on Sunday, that’s what NENSA and Kearsarge nordic looked to do.
Take a bunch of skiers camped out at the nearby Dublin School, bring in an enthusiastic group of skiers from across the region, and put them all under the steady leadership of Kearsarge Nordic Coach Kevin Lee’s vision for a climb up the newly paved Rollins State Park hill climb, and it all served to make rollerskiing stand out as part of what makes the New England ski community a special part of the landscape up here.
As conditions go, they were quintessential. The clouds that rolled in on Sunday morning did not in fact, burn off, and instead what they gave way to as the race started mid-morning was a steady rain. That led to a kind of rollerski equivalent for “klister conditions” for the classic hill climb. To get kick on the wet pavement, you really had to be able to “kick” your ski. No doubt, a few racers had the erroneous thought of, “if I would have just packed my high camber rollerskis!” NENSA did get to provide the field with our new fleet of Swenor Alutech classic skis, which by all reports, kicked very well even in the challenging conditions on Sunday.
The top honors in this year’s Rollins climb were emblematic of what has come to make the Rollins Roll a special part of our rollerski landscape in the East. This event especially seems to be able to cut across the age category and disciplines that skiers engage in to just celebrate being together on skis.
In the Women’s field, our up-and-coming juniors showed their combined strength with Ford Sayre’s Lea Perreard coming in with a close fought winning time of 30:30 ahead of Plymouth’s Elli Englund and Ford Sayre teammate Annelies Hanna. The top senior Women’s honors went to Rosalie Wilson (Ford Sayre). In the Men’s field meanwhile, David Sinclair made his return to the Eastern ski scene under the USA Skimo banner to take the Men’s field win in a time of 25:12. He was joined on the Overall podium by the two top junior skiers, as David Northcott from Caldwell Sport and Noah Branchflower from Ford Sayre followed. Matthew Northcott rounded out the junior podium in third, while Sinclair was joined by second place Tim Van Orden (Prospect Mountain) and third place Peter Alden (Ford Sayre) on the Men’s Senior podium.
Arguably the most important honor that was awarded at the conclusion of the Rollins Roll though, came as one of our steady Master’s skiers, Lindsey Klecan, made her way to the top of Rollins Roll. With her support crew behind her, Klecan crossed the finish-line to a round of applause from the race crew at the top of Mt. Kearsarge and then, a special awarding of her second place in the Women’s senior race from Men’s Overall winner David Sinclair.
The passing of the locally sourced Maple Syrup from the skier-to-skier across the entirety of the Rollins Roll field Sunday seemed to be a pass at what makes it a special event each year. Adorned with the mountains, their cloudy summits, rainy August days, and some maple syrup, it all pointed towards a landscape where skiing, and skiing together, is unique. In New England, where nordic skiing is just part of the landscape.
Rollins Roll RESULTS
FULL SET of Rollins Roll PHOTOS
