Vermont skiing runs deep. The talent and speed of skiers from the 802 is really something to behold when, after a whole season of racing on the Eastern Cup, you can show up at the qualifiers for the VT Eastern HS and U16 teams and find the standings just as tight.
With two 3k races in one day, the competition for spots on the U16 and EHS teams is cutthroat no matter what, and I like to use an analogy for people either new to the area or new to the sport: in the ski world, New England is like the Scandinavia of the United States. And within that Scandinavia, Vermont is most definitely Norway.
Last season at the EHS races, all of the Vermonters, male and female, were finishing in the top 2/3 of the 100+ racers in each event. That means that just making the VT team alone means you are very capable of placing in the top half of ALL the New England racers. If you needed some in-person proof of the strength of Vermont skiers, this past Saturday at Craftsbury would’ve been a great taste of speed and power.
Speed and power combining nicely. Isaac (9th classic, 3rd skate) has had one heck of a late-season surge, and this photo displays why Nordic skiers do plenty of strength training!
Don’t forget about finesse either, as Ava is likely to remind you when you watch her stride by!
This is a big event that brings ALL of Vermont skiing together, from the public high schools, to the clubs, to the ski academies, to the prep schools. It’s fun to see everyone hammer out there together and it’s also a good reminder that taking proactive and extra steps with training and racing can mean big things when the season rolls along and there’s big events on the line. Skiers with club and academy affiliations were ubiquitous among the top 30 finishers on the results sheet and, by and large, made up nearly the entirety of the EHS team. Vermont skiers are not shy about working hard, engaging with skiing in the offseason, and participating in organizations that are professional and proactive about training well and staying on the forefront of the sport.
Magda committed to MNC year-round and after a great summer, fall and winter of training has found herself in the top-10 of the U16 Eastern Cup rankings, while also earning a spot on both the U16 and EHS teams Saturday!
Will has been a hardworking MNC athlete for years. Two seasons ago he was bummed to not make the EHS team…last year he made it, and this year he narrowly missed out on the JN team and stomped the qualifier with a top-10 overall spot at the end of both races…oh, and as you can tell he is also pretty consistent with his strength training 😉
Conditions for the morning classic races were great for the women, who competed first and got to experience a beautiful combo of warm air and cold snow. Rick deserves a TON of thanks for helping out at the wax bench, and together we were able to work on skis while Sara kept things focused down at the start and amid the skiing scene outside. One thing we were able to do was really focus on testing and preparing good glide for the classic race. Sound crazy? That’s actually a goal I’ve had for a while and have wanted to implement more, ever since I was a wax tech at JNs last year and got to do what was basically World Cup-level ski prep. For the classic race at JNs we spent 75% of our time testing glide and 25% of the time with kick. And that was on a tricky klister day! There is a lot more speed in classic races these days: even if racers aren’t double poling a whole course, they are double poling a lot MORE of each race, and carrying more speed than ever into and out of downhills. Not focusing on ski speed and glide wax during classic races is simply making a sacrifice and on Saturday we made the most of things with productive topcoat and structure testing for the morning’s events. This played dividends in the men’s race too, as rapid temp increases meant kick was hard to come by for basically every team…so when you have little kick you really get a lot of benefit from fast skis!
Alex making the most of the speed! He just missed out on EHS this weekend but will look to nab a spot at States. As Marika commented during the skate race “wow you know MNC sure has a lot of man-buns going on” (that’s a reference to the hairstyle and not the anatomy, just to be clear)
Finding every second: Ben didn’t quite make the EHS team but he had 2 solid races and isn’t done yet this season!
As the day grew on the temps just got warmer, as you can probably tell from the shirtless skate photos. Sun’s out, guns out! One interesting factor in these races were the start lists, which were randomly seeded (as far as I can tell) and meant some folks got to ski with and among competitors they might not see much of. This was great to see out on course, and it meant lots of passing and shifting out there which also meant spectating was really fun too as you never knew who might come flying around a corner or up a hill next!
Ali had arguably her strongest classic race of the year (12th overall) and followed it with another great skate race (13th) to qualify for the EHS team and end the day as the top-ranked girl going on the U16 trip
Timmy had a solid classic race and then busted out one of his top skate races of the year for 13th overall and 1st U16 (JN qualifiers like himself included). Turns out a little rest goes a long way! Here he is displaying great balance and power application, as well as the need for a sunglasses sponsor (Smith? Oakley? Bliz? Looking at you!)
The Pug Cheer was at its most vibrant and loud in the morning, and it was a good sign of things to come as the spots on the team continued to be claimed by MNC skiers! After being sick during last year’s qualifier, Baxter continued a strong season by making his first EHS team. Sammie did the same, and as a first-year U16 she’ll get to experience 2 Championship events along with Magda and Ali!
Baxter finishing up the skate race; this is what laying it all on the line looks like!
Much like Baxter, Sammie has a powerful engine to work with and a rapid-fire V1 to match, so the hills don’t stand a chance!
A big congrats to all the skiers who raced this past weekend and represented the Pugs…some that were absent in the photos above include Eli, Kai, Phil, Isabella, Henry, Quincy, Marika, Aidan, and Sam. What a busy but fun and fast day! Here are some numbers to look at:
EHS Qualifiers: 7 (Isaac, Will, Baxter, Timmy, Ali, Sammie, Magda) with special note that Aidan and Ava (U14s) would’ve scored spots on the EHS team although they are not yet eligible!
U16 Qualifiers: 3 (Ali, Sammie, Magda) with special note that Timmy qualified but will be at Junior Nationals, and both Aidan and Ava would’ve also qualified.
Teams/Clubs in the women’s overall top 15: 5 (MNC, Craftsbury, SMS, GMVS, Auburn)
Teams/Clubs in the men’s overall top 15: 6 (MNC, Craftsbury, GMVS, SMS, CVU, Frost)
Some happy Pugs after the conclusion of a long sunny day!
Final bonus photo: young Niko out for a rip, racing up with the big boys! Way to go! Thanks to Gary Solow for ALL the photos in this post!
Super extra bonus: Eliza, Timmy and Marika all raced the Biathlon Nor-Am in Lake Placid this weekend, with Eliza and Marika going 1-2 in the Youth Women and Timmy taking 2nd in the Youth Men!
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