New England Nordic Ski Association

The Home of Cross Country Skiing in New England

Rollerski

2024 YES Rollerski Clinic

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This past Sunday, NENSA, EMXC, and YES collaborated to put on the fourth annual Youth Enrichment Services (YES) Rollerski clinic where we shared a beautiful afternoon of fun and games on rollerskis with YES and Eastern Mass Cross Country.

The goal of this clinic was to introduce young people in the Boston area to the summer version cross country skiing, build excitement for the winter season, and provide an opportunity for YES participants to get acquainted with the EMXC athletes who assist with coaching YES’s winter ski program. This program feautured a total of 24 participants all learning how to fasten their ski boots, strap on their skis, and get rolling! We even had a special guest working with Boston’s newest rollerskiers, SMST2/US Ski and Snowboard athlete, 2022 Olympian, Boston local, and longtime NENSA favorite, Julia Kern.

A massive thank you to all who made this event possible. Working with YES and EMXC is always such a pleasure and in addition to NENSA’s dedicated sponsors and grantors, this event would not be possible without the support of our generous donors, the Weston Ski Track who provided boots and poles for the clinic, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation for the use of their Tenean Beach parking lot.

Check out the Video Recap below:

Our next Introductory Rollerski clinic opportunity will take place after the conclusion of The Maine Event, in Rumford, Maine on October 20th.

Free Fall Rollerski Festival Recap

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Above the parking lot at Burton Snowboard Headquarters in Burlington, Vermont the world’s first Snowboard company has strung some old, rusted-out lift chairs to inspire some thoughts of wintery mountain scenes that are (hopefully) not too far off for us all.

Passing underneath those lift lines on the way to Sunday’s Free Fall Rollerski Festival, I thought of how often I’ve played out that relatively simple moment in my life. An essential act for us nordic skiers is passing over the lifts (or under them), literally and in our psyches, to explore what lies beyond. What we often find is just as beautiful as the mountain tops. Frosted tree lines with snow ready to take us into corners of the world that don’t often get visited. Sublime open meadows and deep pockets of forest.

…Or alternatively on Sunday, the concrete-laden loading dock behind the building. Ah…bucolic!

So rollerskiing doesn’t exactly lend itself to the same natural splendor that is so key to what makes our sport a special one to practice. In fact, the first thing Mansfield Nordic Club Head Coach Adam Terko and I thought to do while setting up for the morning’s sprint race was to fire up the leaf blowers and get any of the autumnal beauty from the fallen leaves Off. Our. Course!

The question we were unintentionally posing on Sunday then, was absent of the snow, the trees, the forests, and the leaves, is it still worth passing over the lift lines? What lies beyond it for those of us on skinny skis.

The answer on Sunday was the same familiar community, our nordic community, full of goodhearted people working hard to make sure that everyone can experience the adventure of moving across the terrain under your own volition in their own ways.

Specifically, for this year’s Free Fall, Mansfield Nordic Club and SkiRack helped us put together a program that stressed the fun of going fast in the morning, and the fun of exploring the world on skis in the afternoon. And the whole time, Free Fall celebrated the rare opportunity to take part in our sport wearing a few less layers than normal, and a little closer to the heart of the action in Burlington than usual.

Free Fall Sprints

The key in putting a compelling rollerski course together is finding the liminal space between a course that feels like skiing, but also helps stress things that are harder to on skis in the winter.

For the sprints on Sunday, we tried to find this balance by hybridizing a couple of popular formats from rollerski season’s past; namely agility and a “court-style” sprints. As Adam Terko expressed his goals for this course, “one in which you’re never really set.” The idea was that skiers had to think about the next corner while they were navigating the current one, but also, crucially, be on a course in which they were still able to hit race speeds throughout. The other adjustment from previous “duel knockout” formats was a shift to a “court-style” sprint that guaranteed every racer a full simulation of a sprint day. Four rounds; qualifier, quarter, semi-final, and final. All on a 1.1 k loop.

The field on Sunday featured a great mix of juniors from Mansfield, Craftsbury Ski Club, and Gould Academy. The qualifier was won by James Crowley in a time of 2:08, followed in short order by Niko Cuneo and Lucas Barstow at 2:09. Astrid Longstreth skied to the top Women’s time at 2:35, with Evelyn Burnes following her in a 2:56.

After two rounds of heats, the A-final featured top qualifiers Crowley and Barstow alongside Lorenzo Atocha. After a fast-moving start, Atocha held an early lead as the skiers navigated the chicanes and corners that formed the bulk of the course. The course featured a lap lane which widened for a moment before navigating these twists a second time, and through them, the group accelerated towards a stasis. All three were together, until a sharp corner where Lucas Barstow took a fast-moving line and exploded into the final stretch to take first place over James Crowley. Atocha finished the heat to round out the podium) 1st) Lucas Barstow, 2nd) James Crowley, 3rd) Lorenzo Atocha.

In the Women’s field, Astrid Longstreth held on for 3 consecutive heats to take the win, while Evelyn Burnes stayed consistent to take runner’s up. We also celebrated an Adaptive champion, as Craftsbury skier Otis Loga navigated the twists and turns on his sit-ski to a win!

Full Results HERE

BKL Clinic

After the Free Fall Sprints awards, a group of BKL skiers got together to try out rollerskiiing. Some had been on rollerskis a few times before, while for others it was their first time on rollerskis! We started by thinking about athletic body position, how to stop, turning techniques, jumping on skis (a fan favorite!) and then utilized part of the morning’s race course to set up our own mini-agility loop. Some skiers got to try out skate rollerskis and worked on frog jumps and skate pushes, and others opted for some classic work. Before we enjoyed our well-deserved popsicles, we played a lively game of pool noodle tag.

Mansfield Master’s Ski

While the BKL kids got to play during the afternoon, members of the Mansfield Nordic Club Master’s group got together for a beautiful Fall afternoon ski right through to the Lake Champlain shoreline in downtown Burlington.

A rollerski down a busy bike path in the heart of a city always uncanny. Again, nordic skiers spend all winter out in the woods, so being in the heart of the action takes an adjustment in attunement to your surroundings. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the tales of a Vermont high school race on a groomed section of the bike path made possible by an enterprising Lustgarten family in year’s past were worth it alone (if anyone has any photos from this, send them our way!).

The ski down to the shoreline of Lake Champlain incurred a particular hint of pride in this place, New England. You could see out straight West to the rippled ridges of the Adirondacks, and back up the hill to Burlington proper. With a group in which the ties to skiing run deep and traverse a very tightknit community, it was a perfectly placed ski in geography and in our calendar to remind ourselves of what we can be excited about in the months ahead. From the shores of Vermont, spanning out, they’ll be days this winter spent up in among the high peaks at Lake Placid, and out far flung in the deep forested woods of Vermont.

What do us nordic skiers get going beyond the lift lines, then? The familiar faces of friends, and endless pockets of a mighty old land where the ski tracks are well tread. It’s going to be a big winter!

MORE PHOTOS

FreeFall: BKL/Masters

FreeFall: Sprint Race

Rollins Roll 2024: A Climb into the Clouds Together

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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

SMS Camp Day!

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George Forbes photo

Last week, NENSA had the opportunity to join the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) BKL and Junior Camps for a full day of agility, speed and learning. We started off the morning with an agility session with the Bill Koch campers at a nearby parking lot as well as a morning presentation for the campers on why cross-country skiing in New England is awesome (spoiler alert: we had a lot to say on the subject matter!) Some of the SMST2 team athletes skied through the course with the Bill Kocher’s at one point as a part of their cooldown! Other big points we covered included the importance of team, NENSA programming opportunities beyond the Bill Koch League, and most importantly, what makes skiing fun: being with friends, exploring the outdoors, going fast and much more!

George Forbes photo
Jessie Diggins mixing it up in our agility course with some BKL Campers. George Forbes photo.

Junior campers arrived in the afternoon to the SMS campus, and the agility set-up in the morning lent itself well to getting the junior camp moving in all the different ways that skiers end up having to move.

Campers skied up from the main SMS campus to the agility set-up, before we did a couple of warm-up speeds 10 sec on, 10 sec off, and played around on the agility features set up from the morning. Then, it was a couple of timed runs to see if skiers could look to improve on the elements.

From slalom through to our off-road ski, the beauty of agility skiing is that it teaches skiers that going fast over the whole of a course can sometimes mean being strategic with where they are putting their speed and power to match the terrain. Sometimes to go slow means to go faster, and timing a couple runs helps mark out some improvement. While we coordinated the timing, coaches Alex Jospe and Matt Boobar ran some skate drills with some campers. Overall, it was a successful session, and then, like clockwork, the rain came and washed all our chalk marks away!

Masters: Zak/Marathon Cup Awards and Upcoming Race Opportunities

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FULL NENSA ROLLERSKI CALENDAR HERE

Rollerski racing is growing fast in the US, and the East has been leading the way for close to a decade now. At NENSA, that’s been marked by more competitive fields with more racers, such as at the Lost Nation Roll earlier this July.

The thing we’re most excited about though, is the greater diversity of competition that’s grown out of the past few years at our rollerski racing. There are more competitive fields with more of our homegrown pro and elite athletes. The Juniors are making it a race too. Especially though, our rollerski series has become a place where Master’s can show up and expect the same level of community and commitment to racing as they find throughout the East in the winter.

We can’t underscore enough that having skiers of all ages competing is the core of what makes racing out here special. It’s the outward sign that the community is all aligned towards what makes competitive skiing a special phenomena: pushing ourselves and in doing so, pushing together. #SkiingBetterTogether is a real thing!

With that in mind, we wanted to highlight a few of our events that make a great introduction to rollerski racing for Master’s skiers.

Upcoming Master’s Rollerski Race Opportunities

Hill Climbs – One real advantage of rollerski racing is it allows us to take on challenging terrain not available to nordic skiers in the winter. Hence, the hill climb. Up some of the most iconic climbs in the East, these safe and challenging events make for a great first race.

Zak/Marathon 2023-24 Awards!

We’ll start here by recognizing that there’s some irony in our most of our dedicated Master’s skiers being busy training and thinking about this upcoming winter, while we want to celebrate their accomplishments from last winter.

Thanks to uncooperative weather at the end of the winter and our own organizational transition this spring, we still need to recognize our Zak and Marathon Cup winners from 2023-24!

The list of Awardees from this year’s series are HERE. The full series standings are also accessible here. Top 3 in each age class are awarded based on a minimum participation of 3+ races!

In order to bring some recognition, we plan to do a formal recognition alongside awards at our Climb to the Castle (Sun. August 11th), and at the Rollins Roll Hill Climb (Sun. August 18th), but awardees are welcome to pick up their award at any NENSA event in the upcoming months.

The Zak awards are etched pint glasses and are for the top age group competitors who completed a minimum of 3+ races. The Marathon awards are Skida/NENSA hats and are awarded for NENSA member participation in 3+ marathons. 

Congratulations to our Overall Zak Cup Winners!

Men’s – Will Meehan

Women’s – Jessica Bolduc