by Mike Gaughan
On the way back from the Mt. Washington Cup this past weekend we passed by the infamous Bolton Access Road where my season began in earnest…last June! The threat of another long offseason in the background always makes the March races a touch more precious and urgent for me. They are my favorite for these reasons and one more—they’re typically warmer, I said it.
For masters, the month also means that citizens races are the raison d’être of a nordic event versus a sideshow from the aspiring Olympians. The reprioritization gives all of us MNC masters a chance to freshly experience what it means to be on an athletic team knowing that your event is the main event.
On Saturday, the team experience was greatly aided for many of us by a ride to the race in the team van! Mike Millar played the willing role of Coach Terko by driving, prepping test skis, and applying some secret sauce just before the start.
The van ride to the race had all the feelings of a yellow school bus team trip of yore with soft nerves broken by way too much excitement over a convenience store stop where we met up with other MNC’ers.
I walked out with a breakfast sandwich, Coca-Cola Classic, and Gatorade while doing my best to channel my last team sport ride twenty years earlier. Fortunately, that is where the parallels ended because on this team, members have the benefit of age to know that opportunities to cast aside everything else in life and ski don’t come around every day.
Bretton Woods is the perfect place to drive home the scarcity of such experiences, particularly on a brilliantly sunny day like we had Saturday, given its awesome setting against Mt. Washington on one side and the historic hotel on the other.
Perhaps it’s this reason that the Mt. Washington Cup tends to attract new and seasoned racers alike among over 90 racers. Included in MNC’s crew was a first-ever skate race participant and many others either new to the race or new to racing, who were feeling the loaming end to the season (or sunshine) as a reason to jump-in.
The course this year followed much of the same path as last year staring with mellow rollers, followed by a long gradual climb into long descent, and then ski as fast as you can without falling smashfest back to the finish. New this year was a finish that ended in front of the hotel.
The new ending had the added advantage of eliminating a favorite falling hazard of the old course and providing the hotel as a visual cue of the finish, although for those of us masters that ski without eyeglasses, the hotel cue is tricky given its enormous size—anyone’s guess if we were 5k or 1k away when we came out of the woods.
It became clear that MNC was having a great race day as racers came through the finish line. One, because we had top finishes in nearly every age category and two, because scarcely a self-critical comment was heard at the finish line or skiing around afterwards. The results speak for themselves but there’s likely a touch of March in this observation as well. Making peace with your race or season goals is easier when you still have skis beneath your boots and you’re basking in a snowfield of sunshine.
The March race season continues this weekend in Jackson, NH for the Long Hall Loppet and then the following week at Craftsbury for the Spring Fling and New England Club Relay Championship. The other benefit of age on a master’s team is the mad Excel skillz from several members who universally agree that the Club Cup is ours if we turnout in numbers for these next two races. Let’s all win together!
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