A snowstorm of mega proportions on Friday couldn’t put a stop to the start of Eastern Cup action for the season. Although travel was made pretty tough, the sight of almost two feet of snow blanketing trees, streets, cabins, and (most importantly) ski trails was the perfect way to signal that it was time to finally race.
We’ve had timetrials, local races, and hard efforts on snow already this season, but it was time to “rip the Band-Aid” off as Coach Bednar put it. That can often lead to a lot of stress on the first weekend: how well did I really train? How hard did everyone else work? Where do we stack up?
It’s important to remember what we can and cannot control. Some other teams had been cruising around the powder of Silver Star, and other teams were going to get their first classic skiing of the season on race day…we were somewhere in the middle, and while we’ve had to get creative we’ve largely had a productive and focused chunk of training from Thanksgiving onward, even if snow wasn’t always involved.
And for this weekend, snow was certainly involved!
A car in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I got up at 4AM and couldn’t sleep, so I took a 5AM walk down Main Street to take in the calm snowy scene
We’ve been skiing klister all year so far, with solid ice, crushed ice, melty ice, and sugary ice being the primary conditions up until this weekend. This type of skiing puts you in a good place for “snow feel” because you are always aware of what’s happening underfoot. While we weren’t on klister for Saturday’s classic race, we experienced a near brush with the “32 and snowing” phenomenon that makes waxing and kicking so difficult.
The wax room was firing on all cylinders, testing all sorts of wax, from blue to yellow and everything in between. Turns out, the best solution was a homemade wax I made from melting together different waxes in my kitchen and re-pouring them into an old container. It was used all day by our team, to the point that I needed to order more raw ingredients to make more after the weekend!
But before we settled on that specific wax, the Open Women had to race. It was the transition zone where different parts of the course featured vastly different conditions…wet and packed in the stadium, dry and fluffy on the big climb out back…hard to test for, but even harder to mentally prepare and commit to as a racer. There was some serious stress in the wax room and among athletes warming up and trying to figure out how much wax they needed.
Coach Bednar’s coffee mug
Turns out, our crew really knows how to ski and was able to use their experience and technical skills to succeed where many would have struggled. Weird conditions? Hard course? Not anything too foreign to this group. Emma had a great race in and among the UVM athletes, and our U18 squad really threw down with Virginia winning that age group, Julia finishing in 3rd, and Gillian taking 4th. Not far behind was Elsa who overcame a few weeks of sickness to begin a return to racing!
Women’s U18 podium, featuring Virginia and Julia who will be wearing their MNC parkas on the podium next time (right? RIGHT??)
While it was exciting to see a lot of big finishes at the top of the results sheet, not every race goes well for every athlete. It’s too easy to celebrate the top performers and not acknowledge when things don’t go well, especially in race recaps, social media, and posts like this. The skis and wax weren’t a slam dunk for everyone, and Rosie and Emma Crum both had tough days on course. I’m really impressed with how they handled this. As I told the team later that evening, it felt like whether skiers had great races or terrible races, everyone carried themselves with a pretty neutral attitude around others: that means a lot for the consistency and stability of a team. There are bound to be days when skiers who have been doing great won’t have their best day, just as those who had a tough first race can certainly rebound to their best days in a heartbeat.
For the open men’s race the course stabilized a bit (400+ laps from the open women helped create consistent tracks) and it was time to send skiers out to the big hills of these new courses once more. Rye led the way with the best classic race, and maybe best distance race, of his career thus far, starting the year off with a bang as the 4th U18. Nico had a solid race next, and I’m always reminded of the fact that two years ago Nico’s classic race skis were a pair of 197cm (aka far too soft/short) Zeros that he just put kickwax over…the ability to handle mixed conditions and hilly classic courses shows a big developmental growth for Nico!
With a tight pack of Geo, Brady, Anders, and Taylor finishing near each other, the stage was set for an exciting pursuit the following day for this group. Farmer (or “Krueger” as Tom referred to him all weekend from his Atomic skis), Sam and Pat were also slated to start near each other, and while Kai’s missed start may have cost him some time on the course it lit a fire for the next day.
Looking at NENSA results, or the World Cup results??
Our U16 skiers were up next, as daylight was rapidly fading (the whole day featured postponements as a snowplow hit a propane pipe at the venue and led to a bit of an emergency situation early in the morning). Everything was on a 2.5km loop, meaning two laps made for one of the hilliest U16 courses I can remember.
Niko and Jonah showed their big commitment to ski life, such as travelling to training camp in Utah and working hard rollerskiing all fall, paid off with a double top-10. Niko notched his top EC finish in 5th, and Jonah had an impressive debut as a first-year U16 in 10th. It was also a day for our Devo skiers to try out their first Eastern Cup, with James and Henry getting to see what the real deep end was like in these World Cup courses.
In the women’s U16 race Kate made a splash on the scene, taking 4th in her first Eastern Cup race as a U16. I can’t overstate how consciously and carefully Kate has taken the transition to Junior skiing, especially with a birthday that puts her in this age group while still an 8th grader. It’s a tricky social, phycological, and physiological balancing act to increase your training and competition level while also not straying from a love of the sport. This race showed how hard work can lead to a lot of fun and rewarding experiences even beyond the results sheet.
Two others also their Eastern Cup debuts, with Huntington’s Seven Bowen jumping right into MNC training and racing this winter. That’s the opposite of Astrid, who has come up through the BKL program for years and now got to check out what the upcoming level is all about. Both did great!
Pursuit start…let’s go!
It was time for a Pursuit race on day 2 (Sunday) meaning skiers started based off their time and place of the day before. With a 5km distance for everyone and lot of chasing on-tap it was a fun one. At the front of the race it was cool to see Ava, in her new Dartmouth colors, chase down recent Supertour winner Alex Lawson (Green Racing Project) and almost close the gap, ending the day a scant 6 seconds back in 2nd. Not far behind, Hattie was charging up the hills in her UNH suit to another great finish in her favorite format.
MNC of a few generations: Julia, Emma, Hattie, Virginia, Ava
Speaking of favorite formats and course strengths, Gillian charged across the course to cement her fitness from a great XC running season swap it for skiing skills, notching a 3rd place in the U18 category, her first podium of any kind at the Eastern Cup level! As a first-year U18 this was a serious gauntlet thrown down against the competition in New England.
Gillian and Julia descending together
Women’s U18 podium
In the men’s race, packs formed quickly as a result of tight times the day prior. Rye continued to show his ability to go dig deep into the pain cave, finishing the overall pursuit weekend as 4th U18.
Brady bounced back from a classic race he was unhappy with to really turn it on with the skate skis, while not far behind Anders was making up similar ground.
Niko starts it off!
In the U16 men’s race, the pace started out hot for Niko, who started right alongside and led a rival Gould skier for the whole first lap before hitting the wall pretty hard (metaphorically). It turns out Niko was churning-out the 3rd fastest split of the day for the first lap, but it was a little too much too soon. He wasn’t able to hold it on lap two, and the flooded legs resulted in a crash, but despite the pain he brought it home.
Several recent articles have stressed how often Norwegian athletes at the beginning of the season are known for absolutely pinning it out of the start and seeing if it holds, as a way to gauge what the capacity is in the early season. Suffice to say, Niko employed this strategy whether he was realizing it or not…and next time, it can end up that much better!
Jonah took the opposite approach, trying to be a bit strategic in his chase of a few competitors tantalizingly in eyesight ahead of him. The result was moving up over the two laps, putting in a day just outside the top 10. Another solid indicator for the first weekend!
Jonah putting in the work up the A-climb
In the women’s race Kate started out in her 4th place from the day prior, and similar to Jonah she had a few competitors just far enough ahead to keep within sight and work toward. Kate held the time gaps to those ahead, and kept those behind her at bay, and on the tricky fast downhill corner one of her competitors ended up crashing and breaking a pole. Like I mentioned earlier, there are always parts of racing that you just can’t control, and a fall or broken pole can just as suddenly happen to you as it can to a competitor. But because Kate had pushed to the limit and kept the time gaps in range, she was able to ski past and put herself into 3rd place overall for the weekend pursuit! Seven then crossed the line and was happy to announce that it was a good time, and she’d be looking to be at the next Eastern Cups too!
A really great and fun ending to the first weekend.
Kate, who is still racing in a cast as a result of a gym class volleyball incident
And on the podium (including post-race interview with Pete Davis)
