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BKL Fest. Is. Awesome.

By on 7 March, 2023 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

Marshmallow roasting in Reid’s stove

Not many places can do it like New England can! The BKL Festival was an amazing experience this year, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it may possibly be the best event on skis in the country. There was a snowstorm dropping plenty of new snow on an already-good base, perfect temps in the upper-20s, bright sun on Sunday, an impeccable venue with the perfect layout for hosting, and 600+ young skiers all taking it in.

We’re often used to Craftsbury utilizing their deep resources of lodging, snowmaking, grooming, buildings (“campus”), and extensive trails to put on the highest quality races around. But when all of those resources are leveraged toward a giant party on skis it’s quite the scene.

In fact, it reminds me of our weekly BKL practices at MNC, but on an hugely expansive scale. Games? Activities? Jumps? Races? Maple Syrup? Nature experiences? Radar speed trap? Parade? Often on a weekly basis the trails at the Range are abuzz with different groups of kids playing and cruising around on skis.

This festival was no different, and my challenge for future years is for more of our own members to get out and experience the vibe of this thing! There was plenty to do for families and skiers alike, and racing isn’t even a prerequisite to participation or enjoyment.

You can check out some great photos from the event, spanning all the age groups and various activities/race happening all weekend, via Phillip Belena’s album here. If you choose to buy a print, 25% of proceeds will go to NENSA! Here’s a couple “action shots” from MNC’s end:

Astrid in the 7/8 classic race!

Isaiah in the classic race

It doesn’t matter if it’s a race or a casual ski…if you see a tutu on the trails, you KNOW it’s Bella!

Be sure to keep an eye on the NENSA calendar and announcements from them, and MNC, as the location and details for next year’s festival come out! Here’s a great video recap from NENSA themselves:

 

Adventure Week

By on 26 February, 2023 in Junior Blog

Although States is in full swing, with many MNC athletes racing fast and helping their HS teams compete against the rest of Vermont, we have in general a bit of breathing room between the end of Eastern Cup season and the start of the “postseason” (JNs, Easterns, U16s, etc).

The Juniors have been mixing it up a bit. It has been a really stressful winter of chasing snow, travelling all over New England (and the country) and racing hard. What have we been doing to keep it fresh?

Laser tag and arcade day at Spare Time

Before the final Eastern Cup we got some nerves out by competing for laser glory and points at the arcade. Not a bad way to spend a few hours when the weather is gloomy and you just can’t ski another lap around Sprint Loop at the Range..!

Niko and Jonah enter virtual reality to race each other

Not even a team’s worth of tickets could get us the best prizes

Nordic Cross training at Cochrans

We brought our cross country skis to the T-bar slopes of Cochrans, where we got in some early training for the famous Nordic Cross which is returning on April 2nd!

Did we get a few looks in the lift line? Possibly. But once everyone saw us absolutely tearing up the slopes on our skinny skis I think we probably will see some new faces at Mansfield Nordic next winter!

Rye and Geo with that hybrid nordie/piner style

Elsa, Paige, and Emma atop the big mountain in Richmond

Lo-Fi Stowe-Fi 2

Ok, maybe this is still just a regular ski day…but with actual fresh snow and cold temps, it was really nice to visit Trapps over the weekend and get in a long easy tour. We ran into a big group of fellow Nordic athletes, including Katharine Ogden and a few other Ford Sayre coaches/friends out for an AT ski, skinning up the Nordic trails after they emerged in Stowe coming off Mansfield. It reminded us of the big tour we took a few years ago when we started in Underhill and ended up…well, on the other side of Mansfield. Thank goodness for mapping apps on our smartphones I guess!

Anyway, it has now become tradition to take some video on the most beautiful Trapps day of each year in order to create the “LoFi Stowe-Fi” edit. This is the video you should be watching in July when the heat and humidity hit their peak!

 

Emma and Niko’s JN fundraiser

By on 24 February, 2023 in Junior Blog

You can help support Emma and Niko on their journey to Junior Nationals with the page below!

This is a big trip, and an expensive one, too. These two athletes have started a fundraising page to help collect support, and the MNC community can jump-in:

Emma and Niko’s JN fundraising page

Left photo by Adam Popkin

Thanks for your support of these awesome athletes!

Eastern Cup Finals and JN Team

By on 23 February, 2023 in Junior Blog
It was a really busy weekend at Dublin for the last Eastern Cup, and when you take into account some of the added stress and pressure of a “final weekend” experience there’s definitely some extra energy expended for many.
That said, everyone skied great. The last weekend is always something that seems to go well for us, and having that happen is very representative of how much everyone has developed and improved throughout the season.
Our in-season intervals often reflect either a skill that I identified for us to try working on after the previous race, OR a skill/technique element that I think will be beneficial to spend time on leading into a particular course or weekend. By the end of the season, that all adds up to a skiing skillset that allows MNC skiers to handle anything the weather, uphills, downhills, corners, or competition throws at us
A wise MNC alum (Meredith Stetter, who is not necessarily that old or that far removed, let’s be real) once said “results are inevitable, but how you process them is your choice”…with skiers on the verge of making or missing a championship trip, it can be hard to see the bigger picture of all the growth, and appreciate it, in the stress of moment. The fact that so many of our athletes stayed around for the final races to cheer super loud, run alongside athletes with the speaker and deafening shouts, and generally be excited for the races of others regardless of their own races, means a lot.
It also takes a lot of self awareness and interpersonal navigation to know how to best support teammates through the good times and the bad times…not to mention using those same traits to handle your own reactions to everything going on. I’m super proud of the way all everyone handled themselves this weekend, with emotions that certainly ranged from joy, to disappointment, to indifference, and everything in between.
Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing, and sometimes the best thing to have is a long conversation. Sometimes what you need is a hug, and sometimes what you need is a walk alone in the woods. Despite the heckling this young generation may receive for being “screenagers” and such, this team deserves credit for the human connections and empathy they’ve built.
Congratulations to everyone on a great Eastern Cup season, and our 6 JN qualifiers and 2 alternates:
Rye MacCurtain
Niko Cuneo
Emma Page
Gillian Fairfax
Julia Thurston
Virginia Cobb
Kate Carlson (Alt)
Rosalie Brown (Alt)
And thank you to our coaches who helped make these Eastern Cups a success…Sara, Rosemary, Kristen, Tom, Danny, Dana, and more!
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