Skiers, parents, and families…the 2021/2022 Eastern Cup season is laid out and all of the final details for the competition season are coming into place.
Below are two links and pages that will hopefully provide lots of answers to questions about what racing is going to look like!
The Eastern Cup Primer: What licenses do I need? Where are the races located, and are there team trips and lodging? What is Junior Nationals and how do athletes qualify? What about Easterns and U16 Championships?
This race calendar involves all NENSA and open races that MNC Juniors attend. Note that many public HS/VPA races take place midweek: this means athletes racing for public HS teams may benefit from resting on certain non-EC weekends rather than adding additional races.
And the annual Southridge Rollerski Timetrial happens without a doubt!
The Southridge timetrial. fall 2019
Join us thisSunday morning, November 7, for a yearly event with a storied history. This timetrial is 6km in length and located on a generally forgiving course with gradual climbs and only one downhill turn. Racers can choose classic or skate, with skate being the primary technique that most times are recorded on.
Southridge is a popular rollerski spot with nice drivers and mostly smooth pavement. This timetrial has happened at least 8 times, likely more before “official” records were kept. You can find the archives here.
Racer arrival and warmup: any time after 9:00AM
Race start time: 9:45AM
Parking is located at 118 Southridge Rd (the first house in the neighborhood), including the small grass lot across the street. Or park at the Allen Brook School and ski over on the bike path, about 2 kilometers.
Please wear bright colors, yellow or orange!
MNC Juniors will be meeting at Allen Brook at 9AM and heading over to the start to compete.
Special note: we are seeking a few short interview clips/blurbs for an MNC promo video, so bring along any MNC gear (jackets, hats, etc) you can wear if you’d like to be involved!
Looking for a holiday gift for the skier in your life? Or just looking to learn about the growth and stories of amazing American women? A new book put together by a collection of US skiers shares the journey of female Olympians and Nordic skiers with personal stories, historial info, photos, and more.
Fifty-three American women have participated in cross-country skiing in the Winter Olympics between the years of 1972 and 2018. In 2018, forty-six years after the first team competed, Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall won Olympic gold in the Team Sprint, in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the first Olympic medal for U.S. women’s cross-country skiing. Five decades of women skiers stood up and cheered, celebrating this long-sought-after achievement. This book shares the collective journey of these women Olympians, with the skiers themselves telling the story.
Part I combines individual stories along a variety of themes, to collectively demonstrate the challenges of competing against the best in the world. In Part II, virtually every one of the fifty-three wrote her own profile to describe her skiing career and post-Olympic life. Photographs throughout put faces with the stories and add vibrancy to the narrative. The anecdotes in Trail to Gold: The Journey of 53 Women Skiers, paint the picture of women’s cross-country skiing over 50 years–a fascinating history recorded in personal heartbreak and triumph and in fun vignettes from life on the trail.
Once upon a time in 2016 we held the very first Mountain Camp…it was quite a big deal, as MNC has never put on any sort of training camp or trip aside from Thanksgiving Camp.
That camp took place Thursday through Sunday and included three quintessential workouts that over the years grew to “legendary” status for a variety of ways…
Classic skiing up the Kancamagus Highway became a staple for it’s amazing views, beautiful riverside setting, and questions from intrigued tourists along the way.
Bounding at Attitash became significant for it’s brutal challenge of all-out efforts and intense coach speeches intended to motivate and inspire like sports films of old.
Mount Washington became significant less for the endeavor of climbing it, but moreso because there always seemed to be some obstacle (whether literal or metaphorical) for the team to overcome en route to the summit.
This fall, we returned to the North Conway area for a different type of training camp. Mountain Camp had already happened, the third iteration of Mini Mountain Camp had already happened…so what was left? With a group of skiers eager to take their training up a notch and match programs of higher and higher levels, we headed to the White Mountains in mid-October for Fall Camp 2021.
Coinciding with the US Ski Team fall camp, as well as long weekend training camps by teams such as Middlebury, Bates, and Colby, this trip allowed us to maximize a volume week and split the long wait between the end of summer and the start of Thanksgiving Camp. It was so rewarding to see this camp come to fruition because it represents another step forward in what MNC can provide for athletes in any season…5 of the 7 athletes signed up for camp were not running XC in the fall, and instead focused fully on Nordic.
Whether through MNC Academy or just flexible athlete schedules, we’ve had ski-specific groups of this size in past autumn seasons, but I’m not sure we’ve ever had the kind of motivation to put together a whole training camp. And just like Mountain Camp, there is a strong possibility for this camp to become a regular part of our yearly adventures.
There is something even more significant in terms of showing where this club has come. Despite camp only taking place from Friday to Sunday, we still fit in all three of the infamous NH workouts. They definitely all had some October elements: The Kanc was foggy and offered zero views, and the Attitash bounding was a little less extreme based on our training goals for the camp.
The Kanc doesn’t disappoint, even when the only view is the climb ahead
Attitash bounding
Mount Washington lived up to it’s reputation with our team as providing challenges, this time both mental and physical. Despite warm comfy temps at the bottom, we spent an hour or more fighting through brutal gusts, zero visibility, and a wind chill of 14F before being rewarded with a lot of interested stares and questions from the tourists who had driven or taken the train to the summit restaurant. Luckily, we went down a more secluded route and could literally feel the weather (and our bodies) warm up with every successive step downhill.
A worthy reward: the only true “view” we got all weekend was after surviving the crazy Mt Washington fog and wind
Every time training camp happens, growth happens. It doesn’t just happen from the hours trained or the summits reached. It happens through teammates spending time together, whether it’s during a rollerski, an interval, or making prank phone calls to a Petsmart in Minnesota. I’m so impressed with the athletes of this club for putting their energy into all types of group experiences (this trip was largely the concept of the athletes, not the coach) and much like the skiers I can’t wait for Thanksgiving Camp and all the other journeys that lay ahead.
Our BKL, Juniors, and Masters registration is now live and we are excited to announce the return of training to the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site (“The Range”) in Jericho. Please be aware that due to the National Guard instituting a daily per person usage fee, the MNC program fees have increased to cover these costs.
You can use the links below to register for Winter ’21/’22 programming.
Junior training on non-Range days will most likely take place at Sleepy Hollow, and a season pass there is recommended if you are not already purchasing one through a high school team. Early season skiing is most consistent at Craftsbury, and given the frequency of trips, races, and events at that location a season pass to Craftsbury is generally recommended.
Masters and BKL ski sessions not at the Range are also most likely to take place at Craftsbury on the weekend!
Racing Notes
Junior racers, please take a look at the Eastern Cup Primer for some notes on racing and travel this season.
Masters, whether you are an experienced racer or interested in competing in your first race, we are encouraging Masters to come race with us! Our club has an active group of racing masters competing at all levels, distances, speed and abilities. Races are going on every weekend during the ski season. If you are interested in being part of the fun, email Karen kalence@comcast.net to get on the racing masters list. You will receive mid-week email updates on race entry and course details, meeting places, carpooling etc.
