Author Archive | Adam Terko

BK Racer Updates (2/12)

By Adam Terko on 12 February, 2016 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

The Stowe Mini-Eduro is cancelled due to low snow and cold temps

The Frost Mtn BKL Race (click for schedule link) has been postponed until Monday, Feb. 15 at 1 PM

BKL Racers: All the races for this weekend are cancelled and it is going to be so cold (highs of 2 and 4 with -20 wind chills) that we are not going to have practice, but I have some indoor homework for you:

1) Clean and hot wax your skis – especially if there is any klister left of them!

2) Make your costume for the BKL Festival “White Mountain Magic”. Think wizard & witches hats, robes, magic wands. Here is a link on how to make a wizard or witch hat: http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Wearables/witchwizardhat/wizardhat.html

3) Bake cookies or muffins for the BKL Fest and freeze them!

4) Have Mom or Dad help you check the size of your poles. Most kids were sized for their poles in October or November and if you’ve grown, your poles may be too short for you now. Classic poles should hit somewhere between the top of your arm pit and the top of your shoulder. Skate poles should hit somewhere between your lower lip and your nose.

If you need new poles you’re in luck! Ski Rack is having a big sale this weekend!

Stay warm and see you on Tuesday!

An Open Letter from Craftsbury

By Adam Terko on 9 February, 2016 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

A note from Craftsbury to be mindful of after this weekend’s events (and for all ski events, at any host location, in the future). Originally posted to NENSA.

Skiers,

We were happy to have been able to provide snow for you at Craftsbury this weekend, and it was terrific to watch you all race. From young Bill Koch skiers “racing up” – to the best in the country – it was a pleasure to watch you all race.

BUT.After we finished picking up the stadium, and sending you all on your ways, we had to deal with the mess you left behind.

It was distressing to hear how long it took the Housekeeping staff to clean up the gym after you left.
It was sad to hear that you had trashed a number of yoga mats.
It was disappointing to learn that you had made yourselves at home in the Cedar Lounge—a space reserved for paying house guests, and that you had used the toilets in Cedar when there were plenty of other toilets designated for your use.
I also heard that you were not always courteous when passing recreational skiers on the non-race trails.
And, there was a lot of trash left all over the place, including much that could have been recycled.

We didn’t put up a lot of signs saying things like “Racers Keep Out” and “Clean up after yourself” and “Be courteous on the ski trail”. We didn’t rope off the gym to keep you out. We had high expectations for you and we trusted you to be respectful and responsible.

After all, look at all the work we did for you.

I know it wasn’t all of you—it was only some of you. But we are all Nordic Skiers, and we need to look out for each other and uphold the honor of our sport.

Judy Geer, for the Craftsbury Crew

BKL Training 2/9 – 2/11

By Adam Terko on 8 February, 2016 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

Big post…please read through for all relevant info!

Congrats to all BKL members who competed in last week’s Lollipop Timetrial! Here are some results:

Lollipop TT Results 2016

Penguins ready to race the Lollipop TT!

A lack of snow didn’t get the younger MNC crew down as they headed indoors to MetroRock in Essex for some climbing adventures at practice last Thursday!

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We also had several BKL Race members racing in the Eastern Cups at Craftsbury. Ali, Sammie, Magda, Aidan and Camille may not be U16’s yet, but they are ready to race fast!

Ali rounds the turn hammering out a 5k!

Notes on the 2016 BKL Festival

There are only two weeks left until registration fees go up for the White Mountain Magic Bill Koch Festival at Great Glen Outdoor Center,March 5-6th! Register on SkiReg: https://www.skireg.com/2016nebklfestival

*There are still rooms available in our Mansfield Nordic room block at the Royalty Inn, Gorham for Fri & Sat. night. For info, e-mail Rosemary: sheacobb19@gmail.com. This year, we will use the Festival Pasta Dinner as our team dinner on Saturday night, so be sure to buy tickets along with your registration!

*We will be organizing a pot-luck lunch and snacks for our team for both Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned for a sign-up link for that.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, the BKL Festival is held everyear in a different spot and features a relay race the first day and an individual race the next day. The Festival also features lots of fun, not-competitive activities including snow tubing, games and a ski tour. It is always a lot of fun!

Training this week:

Tuesday: Technique: Skate- The annual MNC BKL Mini- marathon! See how many laps you can do! We will warm up from 3:45-4 PM. At4 PM, we will gather at the Range for a mass start and instructions, then ski, ski, ski and stop for a snack and water every now and then. This year, we will all count our own laps. If parents have not signed up to bring snacks or water, please do so here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084fa4ac283-feb9food

Thursday: Technique: Classic- Air Rifle Biathlon for BK Racers who didn’t get to try it and Jack Rabbits aged 10 and over. Tennis Ball biathlon for all other Jack Rabbits.

Weekend Events:

Frost Mountain BKL Race: Saturday, Feb. 13. This will be a low-key BKL race at Rikert Touring Center with a pot-luck lunch to follow. A great race to do if 1) you have never skiied in a race before and want to try one 2) want to get in a good practice race before the BKL Festival or 3) just want some good snow to ski on that is different than the loop at the Range! Rikert has 5 km of skiing on their man-made race course. For info and registraion: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wUT2TbM3XfB-0-RCGroEv97qAFpd26XyM786zE2QmQ0/viewform?c=0&w=1

Coach Rosemary will be there to help you warm up and preview the course. E-mail her if you plan to go: sheacobb19@gmail.com.

Stowe Mini Enduro: Sunday, Feb. 14. Stowe Mt. Resort Cross-country Area: We have inquiries out to see wether this event will run or not. Check the back here later in the week to find out. On-line Registration is closed, but Day-of-Race registration is available. Learn more about the event here: https://www.nensa.net/calendar/index.php?id=1777

Masters Training 2/9 – 2/11

By Adam Terko on 8 February, 2016 in Masters Blog, Masters Training Schedule

A busy weekend at Craftsbury just finished up…many MNC Masters were out volunteering and helping out, so a big thanks to all! Tim Janson was even out racing in Saturday’s 10km…here he is hammering up “Chip Hill” and looking fast!

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This week it sounds like conditions are back to “good” at the Range after last week’s rain. There are still only a few loops to ski on, but given what we’ve seen this winter it is great to have something! Here are some scheduling notes:

2/9 Classic: We will work on double pole technique and mobility. We’ll have a chance to get in some intervals focusing on tempo/cadence/glide.

2/11 Skate: We will work on some serious distance training with a mini Olympic marathon. Like the “NoSnolympics” from earlier this year we will represent nations of our choice to ski as many laps as possible…optional of course but a fun way to challenge endurance! We can celebrate with a (optional) trip to either the Jericho Tavern or Mountain High Pizza in Jericho.

Video of the week: Therese Johaug wins the Holmenkollen 30k by the largest margin in WC history! That is some serious endurance inspiration!

Eastern Cup Finals 2016

By Adam Terko on 8 February, 2016 in Junior Blog

The Eastern Cup series went by fast and furious this season. The 4th weekend was moved to Craftsbury after rain and warm temps continued to thwart any sense of winter this season. Another amazing job was done by everyone at the Outdoor Center. I always say that “Craftsbury is the future of the sport” but more and more it seems like Craftsbury is both the future AND the present. So many thanks go to them!

The weekend started off with a high note, as Greg WON the very first race of the day. It was a close-fought battle with Ben Ogden from SMS but in the end Greg prevailed by just under 2 seconds. This is a shot from the classic race the next day where Greg placed third. Great form and momentum ripping up the final hill toward the finish.

Yes…this is a photo from the classic race, not the skate victory. It’s just too great a shot not to post! (by Gary Solow)

The rest of the U16 boys continued their strong racing. In Lake Placid we set a goal of having 3 in the top 10 and narrowly missed it with a 2nd, 9th and 11th. This time the crew succeeded with Greg 1st, Kai in 9th and Tim in 10th. Baxter was not far behind in 15th.

Kai getting after it in the skate race

Baxter ripping around the corner with confidence

Tim loves hills but even on this flat course he showed his strong fitness in 10th

The final U16 rankings show 4 male Pugs in the top 15. SMS is the only other group with that depth in this category. In the women’s U16 field, MNC has a big crew of racers ready to make the leap into those standings next season! The Devo group of Ali, Magda, Sammie and Camille each raced their first Eastern Cups this weekend to get their feet wet (or cold, I guess) in the scene. They had a blast and you’ll see mor e of them next season. Ali, Sammie and Magda will be U16 racers next year, while Camille is still a 7th grader…whoa!

Sammie takes on the Eastern Cup field for the first time!

Having a group to ski with (and support) you definitely makes it more fun! When the girls weren’t racing they were cheering on each other loudly!

The longer races were combined again with a collegiate and Supertour field. Lots of confusing results, deep fields and fast racers all over. When all the dust settled the results were again strong for MNC. Eliza got back into racing after sickness left her out in Lake Placid, while Charlie and Peter continued to show good form and better technique than ever.

Charlie found some fast skier to rip with

Charlie found some fast skiers to rip with

Eliza was blazing on some fast new boards: thanks Leigh Mallory!

Ben hung tough and was rocking the glide on the V2-alternate sections…it’s well-known that Ben doesn’t like to V2 but it has been looking good when he does it!

Peter Unger, wondering just how many times he’s climbed the steep “Chip Hill” at Craftsbury this season

Sunday brought about a classic race in some classic East Coast conditions…granular corn and icy tracks, with new snow falling. We broke out the klister and hardwax covers and got everyone happy with the kick on the first try! Greg was on the podium again, while MNC summer training bud Conor Munns took his first Eastern Cup win! Conor and Greg have been training and racing together for a long time so having them each win a race this weekend was pretty special. Way to go boys!

Greg, Sam Hodges and Conor all racing together. These 3 are all headed to JNs! Greg and Conor are even with the same NENSA point average…138.23 vs 138.69

After watching the other Devo kids racing the day prior, Aidan got in on the action Sunday

The open races were huge…4 laps, 15-second intervals and fields of 200+ had things looking more like a mass start. A day before I predicted that the top 10 men would all be double poling without kick…Garrott Kuzzy seemed to doubt me but it came true! There was a lot of skate skis out on course…you can bet we will keep upping the ante with out DP workouts.

Will had another strong classic day to close out his Eastern Cup campaign, while Charlie skied smoother than ever. Marika again notched a top classic event as well.

With 4 laps and 15-second interval starts, the men's and women's races looked more like a mass start! Here is Will chasing Walker from GMVS. Another strong classic race for Will!

Here is Will chasing Walker from GMVS. Another strong classic race for Will!

ALL RESULTS

ALL PHOTOS

We had a big support crew this weekend…Rick helped out at the wax bench, Sara was a great ski tester, Kate took lots of video (and made sure I remembered to eat food), and parents provided a wealth of goodies…alongside fuel from our new sponsor Bobo’s Oat Bars! We even had a big morale boost by the appearance of our team mascot Tyke on Sunday! Here are some other non-racing photos: