Super Ski Hero Photo Shoot: Julia & Virginia!
500 skier kids from over 25 different ski clubs, filtered into 10 Districts from all over New York and New England all descended upon Great Glen Trails at the foot of the Mt. Washington Auto Road for this year’s New England BKL Fest! Great Glen Trails is a nearly perfect site for a kids’ ski festival with it’s gently rolling trails, tubing hill, beautiful mountain views and large stadium. Nineteen MNC skiers ranging in age from lollipop to eighth grade came to race, to tube, to try the radar runs and other activities all with glittered and painted faces and a super-hero attitude for this year’s Super Ski Hero themed festival.
Saturday: Freestyle Relays
Coaches arrived early to set up our team tent site and test wax and structure for the day’s Skate Relay Races. There soon was a village of club tents and we enjoyed being neighbors with our district friends Frost Mt. Nordic, Mad River Valley/GMVS and Sleepy Hollow.
The Festival always kicks off with a parade and this was a parade of Super Ski Heros in capes! After the parade it’s time for the relays.
We had no grade 1/2 kids or 3/4 boys, but we did have Ryley Morigeau and Astrid Longstreth who glittered up and skated amazingly well to a second place finish in the girls 3/4 race! They were a pair for the rest of the day and hit all the fun Nordic Adventure activities!
That’s Ryley and Astrid on the podium!
An amazing spread of food provided by the parents gave us all a great lunch. Our “wax techs” Adam and Rick went to the Lodge for a much needed warm-up break and shortly after, it was time for the 5/6 girls race. Kate Carlson teamed up with Pippa Diller and both skied very fast for a 4th place finish! Tessa Diller teamed up with Violet Anderson from Frost Mt. and Camille Edgecomb from Mad River and finished right behind the Frost Mt. Team of June and Mary. Great job girls! The MNC 5/6 boys, Dylan Torrizo, Cole Shullenberger and Matteo Dezon-Gaillard teamed up and skied themselves into a great finish as well! Cole scrambled and tagged off to Dylan and Matteo who skied one behind the other, pushing themselves to the finish line. Dylan said it was his best race yet. Great work 5/6’s!
The 7/8 races are always very exciting as kids often take large leaps in growth and skill in this age group. In addition, some of these kids have been racing against each other since they were in first grade and have built up friendships and friendly rivalries.
In the 7/8 girls race, Virginia Cobb scrambled and lead the field out of the stadium. Ford Sayre’s Sarah Gluek sneaked ahead right after the corner but Virginia stayed right on her heels. You can see Putney’s Sadie Bell and Craftsbury’s Annika Leahy right in the mix as well.
Virginia tagged off to Julia Thurston and Finley Barker in second place. Julia and Finley shot out of the tag zone in hot pursuit of Ford Sayer and put some distance on the third place Putney team. Finley pushed Julia and Julia just pushed the whole way securing the their second place spot on the podium!
An awesome day and performances for all three of these girls who are all in 8th grade and have been skiing together for years! How awesome to land on the podium together in their 8th grade Festival!
The 7/8 boys race was not without it’s drama as well. 44 teams lined up- the largest field ever! For MNC we had teamed up long-time relay partners Niko Cuneo and Brady Morigeau. Early this past week, I got word that Brady had broken a bone in his hand! Would he be able to race? The doctor said yes and they put a hard splint on it and a huge glove. Brady would have a hard time double poling, but luckily we had put him as the second leg. Then a couple days later I learned that Niko sliced his hand cutting an avocado and had five stitches! Would he be able to race? It hurt a little when he put a lot of pressure on it, but Niko is tough and he was more than game to try.
In addition to the “One-handed Wonders”, we had Taylor Carlson team up with Adrien Dezon-Gaillard, and Carl Priganc team up with buddy Bo Clayton.
The 7/8 boys start can be quite a messy scramble with poles and skis flying, falls & subsequent pile-ups. Niko, Taylor and Carl all did a great job of keeping out of the fray (there was one small pile-up) and cleanly worked their way into good positions.
You can see how congested the start of the race was but Taylor and Carl both maneuvered well and stayed out of the fray.
Niko stayed close to the leaders tagging off to Brady within good chasing distance. Theses “One-Handed Wonders” skied amazingly well and landed on the podium for third place! An amazing job for two injured skiers who showed an extraordinary amount of GRIT!
Taylor tagged cleanly off to Adrien (above) who finished by tucking down into the stadium for a top 20 place.
Carl (above) tagged off to Bo (below) who looked awesome as well and finished not far behind Taylor and Adrien. Totally awesome job boys!
Sunday: Individual Classic, Lollipop & 8th Grade Graduation
After fueling up at an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, the coaches headed to the venue to test kick wax and get our tent base set up. When we got there we found it windy and cold. Face tape, hand warmers and Coach Rosemary’s extra parka came out!
All you could see of Coach Adam was the tip of his nose! Luckily it was much more pleasant in the woods and the sun made more appearances as the day went on.
With cold temps and the wind not allowing the sun to warm up the tracks, it was easy for Rick and Adam to nail down the wax. The report from the field was that the tracks were great and the skiing excellent. Conditions stayed pretty much the same thoughout the day and we were able to provide fast skis and good kick for everyone with minor adjustments.
Astrid and Ryley were our first skiers to go in the girls 3/4 race. The classic race was an individual start with skiers going out every 15 seconds. It’s a nice format for BKL because it means everyone will have a clean start, but it also means that it’s hard to tell how you are doing against your competitors until you see the results board and most of the racers are finished. 
Ryley has been skiing really well this year and competing in a lot of middle school races. She came in first place today!
Astrid is relatively new to racing, but she knows how to push herself really hard. She skied to an impressive 6th place today and I think she surprised herself and everybody else! Congrats to these fast girls!
We had no 3/4 boys this year, so it was time for a break for the waxers, and time for the 8th graders to get ready for the BKL Graduation. Virginia Cobb, Julia Thurston, Finley Barker, Mia Diller, Taylor Carlson and Adrien Dezon-Gaillard are all 8th graders and this was their last BKL Festival. All the 8th graders skied up the auto road as a group and as their names were announced over the loud-speaker, they blasted down to cheers and received chocolate and certificates.
Julia, Taylor, Adrien, Carl, Finley, Virginia and Coach Rosemary.
I have coached most of these kids since they joined MNC as Penguins or Jack Rabbits. Many of them have been part of summer, winter and fall adventures I’ve led and I will miss their energy, enthusiasm, and humor. But I am really looking forward to seeing what’s next for this crew as they move on to being Juniors, high school racers and the newest MNC Eastern Cup U-16’s. Have fun with these guys Coach Adam, they are an awesome bunch with great energy!
So we turn from the oldest to the youngest! The 8th graders graduated and then headed over to the Nordic Cross field where they helped hand out lollipops at the finish of the lollipop race.
Bella Altodonna was our sole lollipop racer and did it up right in her usual ski-tutu! Her mom reports: “Bella had a wonderful time and when she finished her little race, she said ‘I had to stop in the middle of the race because they were handing out the lollipops! Isn’t that strange? It was right in the middle of my race!’ Mom: ‘that was the end of your race.’ Bella: ‘oh, well that was way too short! I think I should race with the big kids!’” Hang in there Bella- you will be racing with the big kids soon!
After that flury of fun, we were back to the wax bench to get the 5/6 girls skis set for their race. Kate, Pippa & Tessa headed out with coach Jen to warm up and test wax. A few small adjustments and they were ready to go!
Kate double poling up on her toes in great form. She finished third!
Pippa skied herself to a 10th place medal!
Tessa has grown this year and her skiing has too. She landed a 21st amongst this fast field!
Cole Shullenberger, Dylan Torrizo and Matteo Dezon- Gaillard all skied super fast in the 5/6 boys race. Cole has not been able to get to many races this year, but I am so glad he got to the Festival. He finished in the top 20 today. Dylan has been skiing better and better. He finished not far behind Cole. Matteo skis with the MMU middle schoolers and he also did a great job today, tucking down into the stadium at the finish! If anyone has any photos of the 5/6 boys, please send them to me so I can add them here.
The girls 7/8 race was next. By the time kids get to 7th & 8th grade, they are pretty self-sufficient on race day. They know how to warm-up, how to check their wax, when to get to the starting gate, and they don’t want their parents hanging around at the start. It’s nice as a parent or coach because you can say “ski fast & have fun” and head way out on course and get to the top of the biggest hill to watch and cheer. That is exactly what most of us parents and coaches did. We spaced ourselves out on all the uphills and cheered them on. They each skied those hills well! These girls have really learned to ski over the years!
Virginia had a great day and skied her way to 4th place. The look on her face says it all! I think the hairstyle by Finley helped too!
Julia finished right behind Virginia in 5th place today. A great finish although probably not her best race. Julia has won almost every middle school race this year!
Finley looked great on the uphills and narrowly missed the ribbons in 21st. A great finish in a fast field of skiers, she is an excellent skier who knows how to carry a high tempo!
Mia skied smoothly on the steepest hill and here she is coming into the finish.
We all stayed on course for the 7/8 boys race while Coach Rick stayed at the wax bench to help with any last minute touch-ups.
Brady, injured hand and all, gritted it out today and finished 16th in what was only his second classic race of the season. Can’t wait to see what he does next year in 8th grade!
Niko did a great job and tied for 11th place! I like how high his hands are at the start of his double pole. He used to not like classic skiing, but I think his technique is getting better and better.
Taylor looked very smooth and strong on the uphills. Here he’s giving it his all in his double pole as he skis down into the finish.
Adrien rising up on his toes to double pole for all he’s worth as he heads to the finish!
Carl showing off his strong double pole just before the finish turn.
And it wouldn’t be a Great Glen Festival without some time tubing with your friends! Tubing is one of the best things about this Festival!
What a weekend! Back at the team tent, everyone pitched in, packed up our equipment and helped load the van. As we drove away headed towards home, I was exhausted but happy and satisfied. Great fun, great kids, great on-snow activities and great races! Who could ask for more?
I heard there was a rumor that this was my last Festival since my daughter graduated this year. Let me put that to rest- I’ll be back next year! It’s so much fun working with all these great kids at this fun event! If you & your kids didn’t get there this year, definitely put it on your calendar and I will see you there!
More photos from Dave Priganc: Dave’s Flikr
Complete Results: Bullitt
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