Mansfield Nordic Club

Thanksgiving Camp looks a little different this year. When COVID-19 cancelled camp for 2020, our reservation was rolled-over. All athletes from the 2020 camp are returning for 2021, but we were able to secure additional lodging for 7 more athletes. These spots will likely fill up quickly! You can find a registration link here:

[Camp Filled!]

This form will automatically close when spots have filled-up. If you get a message that the submission limit has been reached, please shoot an email to adamRterko@gmail.com to jump on a waiting list. We continue to explore options for additional lodging.

A few notes on Junior Fall Training as we prepare to enter a new season. We’ve never had such a productive summer with such a motivated group! It’s time to keep the momentum rolling.

The Range

We have access to the Range one day per week in September, October, and November. Right now we have Tuesday afternoons slotted-in but the consensus seems to be that Thursday afternoon works better for the majority of skiers. The primary weekly rollerski day would therefore be Thursdays from 4-6PM.

Afternoon Training

We will plan afternoon training (4-6PM) on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Morning Training

There is a really great interest in more morning sessions for either skiers with free periods, OR skiers just willing to get up a little early. Based on athlete feedback and schedule notes, it sounds like the following allows for the most flexibility and attendance:

Tuesday OR Wednesday morning 8AM (may change weekly, may be 7:30): Morning rollerski at Cochrans in Richmond

Thursday OR Friday morning 7:30AM (may change weekly): Morning rollerski at Burlington Bike Path (meeting at skatepark)

Weekend Training

With most XC races taking place on Saturdays, we will try to parallel our own MNC training with a harder running or skiing workout on Saturdays, balanced with a long easy-distance rollerski on Sundays.

Rollerskiing vs Running midweek

We will rollerski in the afternoons on some days as long as daylight provides, in addition to our time at the Range (where lights allow for skiing after dark).

Once it gets dark earlier, we will need to switch to trail-only (running/biking) options and be off the roads in the afternoon. We will then rollerski during

• Our Thursday Range timeslot
• Our morning sessions
• Either Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings, or in some cases both days

1-Day? 2-Day? 5-Day?

1-Day program is ideally for skiers looking to add one weekday (Thursday) rollerski session, which will often be upper-body focused

2-Day program is for experienced skiers looking to add weekday rollerski training and possibly a weekend ski such as an overdistance roll on Sunday

5-Day program is for athletes not competing in a fall sport. This is realistically more like a 6-Day program, with Sunday often being a training day and Monday as our “off” day

You can read more sample details on this page, and sign up for MNC fall programming at this link.

Waiting on some bad news…but it won’t slow us down!

Sunday marked a big end-of-summer feat, as 27 of our Junior and Collegiate athletes descended upon the quiet roads of Ferrisburgh for a 100km rollerski.

Across the fresh pavement by Kingsland Bay and around toward the outskirts of Vergennes and back on a 20km loop, the crew skied around, and around, and around until ticking off all 100km! The general timeframe ended up being about 6 to 6.5 hours of on-time.

This is a huge feat…big skis like this have become increasingly popular after COVID led pro skiers in Norway to end their summer and winter seasons with epic distances. But is it possible that this was the biggest collection of Junior skiers completing 100k? I’m not sure…but let’s just say that an impressive crew hit those roads yesterday.

When we did this ski in the spring at Craftsbury, the conditions turned from ice to slush and we had to absolutely slog through the final 65 kilometers. There were a lot of stops, sitting in chairs, and questioning our life choices. This time, the sun got a little bit toasty, but the skis didn’t slow down and the loop was very flat. The kilometers clicked-by as the crew was laughing and vlogging and downing some snacks on the move.

At the end of the ski we made sure to grab some ice cream as the temps were about 80, although we were all a little bummed that the McDonalds right across the street was closed because at 75km a bunch of us decided that McFlurrys would be our best post-ski option. To the Jolley station it was, where we also stocked up on recovery chocolate milk.

Soon most of the team starts pre-season for fall sports like XC running and soccer…it’s always a bit of a sad time to see such team camaraderie go in different directions with the onset of other obligations (oh yeah, there’s school classes somewhere in there too). But more than ever I think this crew is excited to find ways to keep working together, be it morning sessions, weekend adventures, or just staying in touch while we all keep preparing for winter.