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Author Archive | Adam Terko
Rollerski Safety Piece
A quick link to a recently (re)published Fasterskier article about rollerski safety, with advice from the US Ski Team. Our Juniors have really stepped it up in the past years, although it has admittedly been a multi-year process.
Rollerski Safety Best Practices
No matter how friendly to skiers our community is, there are always a few bad apples. It’s also too easy for any of our skiers (and coaches) to get distracted now and then, and when safe clothing and signs and habits are on our side it really keeps the odds working for us.
MNC skiers, spring 2021
What’s the latest on the Range?
Recently, the government has opened CEATS (Camp Ethan Allen Training Site, also known as “The Range” to most of us) to civilian use once again. Access requires lots of documentation and permitting…COVID plans, insurance clarification, organizational certification documents, schedules for each and every day of intended use, and more.
MNC has submitted all the necessary paperwork, including scheduling outlines. We are waiting for the National Guard and land management officials to certify and approve our “Short-Term Lease” as it is called. This lease grants use for no more than 30 non-consecutive days in a calendar year along with a fee of $3/day per athlete. We have requested access and use of the rollerski/ski loops and Walker Building beginning in July, with the intent to finish our 30 day span in mid-December.
Our intent is to rollerski 2x per week (Tues/Thurs) in July and August. In the fall, we transition to 1x per week as many of our Junior athletes are only training with the club once per week as they compete in fall sports. We want to ensure a safe, car-free, well-lit rollerski option in the fall and we feel this is arguably the most important and relevant use of the facility.
In the early winter, we will continue to mix 2x per week with some “blackout” weeks such as Thanksgiving. Through careful planning, this will allow us to stretch the 30 day usage through this calendar year. We are unsure currently if the Range will be our home training facility in the midwinter months, but we are pursing options to engage National Guard officials in a dialogue to reassess this new policy.
For now, we’re crossing our fingers for a summer and fall that look more like years past!
Shoes, bikes, and boots
If you’ve been following Vermont sports this spring you’ll likely already know that not all of our Junior athletes have been training with MNC these past couple months. Our skiers have busy putting down fast times and scoring big goals in spring sports like lacrosse and track, with the TF State Meet having wrapped up this past weekend.
Running hard
It was a smattering of MNC names at the top of the charts in many distances: Emma Crum and Rebecca Cunningham went 1-2 in the 3000m with Finnegan right there in 6th.
Emma repeated her win in the 1500m followed closely by Hattie Barker. Quincy and Hattie were 2-3 in the 800m with Gillian Fairfax hot on their heels in 9th. In the 200m Quincy and Finley Barker were 4-6. Quincy also anchored the BHS team to a win in the 4×800.
Jack Crum posted a 10:16 in the 3000m, a time that would’ve taken top honors in our own MNC 3k run a few weeks ago! Noe Lindemuth snagged 3rd in the 400m dash while Willem Smith posted a 4th in the 800.
Head swimming from all that? Just go to this link to view the complete results. Way to go track runners!
Riding fast
Did you know that Hanna Holm has spent this spring training and riding with the OGE Enduro Race Team? This is a female-driven race team competing in the Eastern States Cup, essentially the mountain biking version of the US Supertour for XC skiing.
In her first race for the team down in Pennsylvania this weekend, Hanna took home 2nd place for Juniors, ahead of big names from the UVM cycling team and 90+ other competitors! Right on Hanna’s pedals in 4th place was UVM skier and MNC summer collegiate training group member Jenny Pedersen.
Poling power
Closer to home, the Juniors took to the pavement of Richmond again in a go at our double pole test. Nearly every ski team in the world has a double pole test…a trip up a measured hill where you can only double pole: no striding, no kick double pole, and certainly no skating. This measures not just arm strength but core (trunk, back, shoulders, glues) and leg strength too. Double poling is a far more “complete” movement pattern than it was even just 10 years ago.
I put out the call to Ben Lustgarten, local World Cup and World Championship competitor, and he said he’d give the test a go with us as well as spend some time skiing with the gang and doing a few passes up another hill with them. Thanks Ben!
You can catch some clips below: the first video is all of the competitors, and the second clip is just a shot of Ben that includes some slo-motion. Nothing says “strong core” like watching Ben maintain a neutral spine and engaged, active hips and legs throughout the whole poling motion.
MNC University
Coach Perry Thomas has helped bring together a great group of collegiate athletes as part of MNC this summer! Unofficially dubbed “MNC University”, this crew has met separately from Juniors on most days and pushed themselves with some key workouts.
College group DP sesh
More and more, sessions are aligning with certain Junior workouts to form the biggest spring group we’ve ever had at once.
Having this group be it’s own entity with it’s own coach (I attend some rollerski sessions to help film and support, but Perry is still the lead on those days) has helped it gain much more of an identity than in seasons past when we’ve tried to have it just be part of a general Junior programming.
Instead, what we have are two groups (College/Junior) that each get the training that benefits them. As our Juniors grow in numbers and scope, covering a wider range of abilities than ever, this has proven extra beneficial. But our collaborative training schedules mean that on certain days some Juniors may jump up and train with the college skiers…or, if looking for more on-time the college skiers can arrive at a Junior session too.
With summer around the corner, the Junior squad is poised to grow. We’ll see new faces, new rollerskiers, and the return of skiers from spring sports in great shape. It’ll be exciting to continue working together as much as possible to get the most out of summer training. Having a dedicated college crew has definitely brought another level of strong programming that is capable of benefitting all MNC skiers!
