This past weekend over in New York featured a variety of fun and exciting events that constituted the Castle Conquest. Saturday featured the Keys to the Castle event court-style skate sprints, a BKL/youth agility rollerski session, and a mass start biathlon race at Mt Van Hoevenberg. Sunday featured the legendary Climb to the Castle skate race up Whiteface. Below are links to event coverage for your reading and viewing enjoyment.
Check out the Fasterskier race report of Keys to the Castle Skate Sprint & Biathlon Races and the Climb to the Castle Race HERE.
NENSA is proud to partner with ORDA and NYSEF to continue hosting rollerski events in Lake Placid! The court-style sprints featured in Saturday’s events are a synthesis of ideas from conventional sprinting and perhaps one of the most progressive rollerski competitions held to date at the Olympic Jumping Complex, just up the road, in August of 2018. That event pitted in a duel which highlighted the strengths of Andy Newell and Ludvig Sognen Jensen “LUDDEYO.” Newell, perhaps one of the most agile, and Luddeyo at the time the fastest 100 meters sprinters in the world. Since the inception of these events, including ramps in a rollerski competition, NENSA, ORDA and NYSEF have partnered to put on developmental opportunities for athletes all while creating a show that is entertaining for participants and spectators alike.
Sproule Love, of Manhattan Nordic / New York Lynx Nordic Skis Club, powers his way to victory in the masters category of the 2022 Climb to the Castle.
Sunday marked the 15th edition of the historic Climb to the Castle race. The event was created by Margaret Maher who was at the time the Head Nordic Coach at NYSEF. Over the years juniors, masters and national team skiers from all Nordic sports have challenged this iconic roadway that climbs nearly 2800 feet in just under five miles. Despite somewhat ominous snow blanketing the upper reaches of the mountain on Friday, Sunday dawned with a magical red sunrise and a clear sky. Sixty-nine skiers of all ages enjoyed a beautiful climb under perfect conditions up perhaps the most arduous rollerski hill climb in North America.
The event served as the second event of the Allagash Masters Cup, a three race series for skiers over the age of 30. Rosalie Wilson of Ford Sayre synched the women’s title, following up her victory at the Rollins Roll this August. On the men’s side the action is just heating up, with two distinct fields at Rollins and Whiteface. Sproule Love of the Manhattan Nordic / New York Lynx Nordic Skis Club was the fastest master up the mountain Sunday, followed by Adam Terko (Mansfield Nordic) and Eli Gallaudet (EMXC). We look forward to seeing robust masters participation at the final event of the series, the Greylock Hill Climb, on November 6th.
Allagash Cup Masters Standings
Congrats to everyone who competed in these events, and a big thank you to Mt Van Hoevenberg, NYSEF, ORDA, and all the awesome volunteers that came out to help. We are also very grateful to Bullitt Timing for their exceptional services.
In addition the incredible support we receive from our NENSA associate sponsors – Salomon, LL Bean, Swix, and Fischer – we are also grateful to Enjoy Winter and Swenor Rollerskis for supplying NENSA with an awesome fleet of rollerskis so the top-seeded athletes in all our events have matched skis. And no NENSA rollerski race would be complete without the exceedingly tasty support of Cabot who has generously donated cheese for this season’s podium finishers!
