Our busy and eventful trip to US Nationals in Utah was not without a fun and adventure…thanks to a lot of video footage (mostly captured by the athletes) here is a vlog recap of the wild west journey:
Silver Fox Trotting / Craftsbury Scrambling!
It was a great Sunday for racing! According to a NENSA post, between the three large citizen/popular races on the schedule in New England this Sunday, a total of over 600 skiers were registered to compete! That’s an awesome stat and a real reason why our part of the country has such a strong skiing culture.
MNC members were mostly split between the two Vermont-based events: The Silver Fox Trot at Riker, and the Craftsbury Scramble at (of course) Craftsbury.
The Silver Fox featured a big BKL field, and races from lollipop competitions all the way to middle school and open races where Juniors and Masters went head-to-head. The bright sun and fast snowmaking loop meant for speedy racing and fun challenging corners.
Start of one of the BKL races at the Silver Fox
Our middle school contingent was well represented by skiers like Brooke, Jonah, Matias, and Dylan. Here’s a short clip of them in action.
The biggest mass start of the day was the Open/Citizen’s race, where a large group of MNC Juniors and Masters took part. Unlike an Eastern Cup, this was self-seeded and so even arriving to the start 5 minutes early was a bit too late for most of the Juniors (and their unaware coach Adam) and so starting near the back made for an extra fun challenge. Mass starts at Rikert are notoriously sketchy (a wide field that narrows quite rapidly, with large trees acting as guard rails) but this provided extra practice for bigger races! The crew skied great, and it is so fun to have races with everyone competing. Special shoutout to MNC’s southernmost racer Dave Johnstone who made the trip up from the Brattleboro area to fly the club colors.
Results for U16 and Citizen races here
Up north of Rikert, the MNC skiers were teaming up for a partnered relay featuring jumps, bumps and obstacles.
With a slate of funny and clever team names, it’s hard to tell just what kind of MNC speed was in the mix, but we are aware that the team Last One Fast One, comprised of Sara Falconer and Michael Gaughan, took a podium and some great points! Congrats to that quick duo,
Results for the open mied scramble can be found here, and the main page of Webscorer has links to other categories too!
Most of the Juniors will have a week off from NENSA racing before really hitting a big slate of competitions for the rest of the winter. Masters have options ranging from the White Mountain Classic, to the Gunstock Freestyle or Prospect Sprints. Check out the NENSA calendar for links!
BKL Practice Week of 1/17/22
With snow on the way, the skiing should be great this week if everything gets plowed, groomed and it doesn’t get too cold.
*Be sure to check the website before you leave on Tuesday to be sure nothing has changed.
* Please check in at the Range gate as MNC.
Tuesday, 1/18: Classic for everyone
There should be powder but don’t count on tracks- the groomers may have their hands filled just getting things packed out depending on how much snow we get.
Bundle up the kids in layers and wear buffs, hats, and warm gloves or mittens! The high is supposed to be only 11F today.
Wax at home if you can: Swix special green, V20, Toko Blue, or anything else for cold, fresh snow. Most greens & blues will work well today.
Thursday, 1/20: Skate
It’s supposed to be a bit warmer with highs in the teens. Bundle up again!
Saturday 1/22: BKL RACE in the Mad River Valley
Technique will be SKATE except for grades 1/2 which will classic. The race will be at the Ole’s in Warren, in the afternoon, 12:30-2:15 PM.
Registration is online until Friday. Day of Race registration also available. See the link below for all information!
Coach Rosemary will be there to preview the course with kids. Please sign our MNC race roster so we know your child is coming (& for last minute updates).
Mad River BKL Race at Ole’s 1/22/22
Wax tip: Silver Fox Trot
Note the date of this race has changed from Saturday (1/15) to Sunday (1/16). You can register for the race here.
Times vary from BKL races in the morning to the open/citizen races after noon.
Temps will be very cold the day prior, with abrasive manmade snow. To prepare for this, put at least two cold layers of wax (Swix CH4, Toko Blue, or other similar cold, hard glide wax) into your skis to harden the base. If you have a cold, hard graphite wax, apply this layer first (scraping and brushing before subsequent layers).
If you have Toko X-Cold powder or Swix CH3 powder, these are good options to put on the skis as a final layer. The preferred method here is to crayon or drip an amount of blue or green wax onto the skis first. Then, before ironing, sprinkle cold powder over the glide zone. Iron the glide wax and cold powder together. See video below for reference. Be sure to brush out skis thoroughly!
MNC Juniors: COVID return-to-play
With Omicron continuing to spread and causing a lot of missed training and school time, we’d like to share the return-to-play documentation used by high school athletic teams. In the interest of safety and health we’d like to also follow these guidelines as a club.
Please stay safe and healthy everyone.
