With the heart of the season fast approaching, our younger racers will be competing and travelling all over New England (and beyond). There will be many great performances and memorable times to keep track of…Yesterday after training everyone took some time to fill out an “athlete profile”. Now, fans of the MNC Pugs will get to know a little more about the athletes themselves besides the name on the results sheet.
Answers provided were edited only for spelling and not content (…mostly). This was intended for our high school team members, but we let the older BKL athletes who were around get in on the action, too! If you were not at practice yesterday, Coach Adam will have more profile cards on-hand…or, send your responses to the prompts below to me via email: adamRterko@gmail.com. Some of these photos (Tim, Eliza, Kai) came to us from the Bishop Family photography studios…thanks Andy and Daria!
Click on an individual athlete to expand their profile:
Calling all MNC racers and interested future-racers! As one of the largest clubs in New England, Mansfield Nordic has quite a strong presence with the NENSA framework. We encourage as many of our members as possible to get out there, try a ski race no matter WHAT level you are at, and get in on the fun! We live in the best region in the country for fun, competitive, social adult racing and we’re excited to have Mansfield Nordic Club represented across New England at events large and small.
But there is a side of our club that in some ways has never been tapped to its full potential…our opportunities to score points in the NENSA Zak Cup and Club Cup standings! We have many talented racers at all levels, but the Zak and Club Cup standings are not determined by fast skiing alone…participation is key, and with a large member base we can really make our mark.
Here’s how it works, in a nutshell:
Zak Cup points are determined by the top 15 finishers within each age group in a sanctioned Zak Cup event (the MNC Duathlon, for example!). Racers also need to have completed a minimum number of races within each season for these points to count: participation is rewarded!
NENSA Membership at the time of the race is required for Zak Cup Scoring.
Club Cup points are given to all NENSA members competing in a sanctioned Club Cup event (the MNC Duathlon, for example! Again!), with 10pts for first, 9 for second, and so on. However, after 10th place every skier for a club still gains 1 point, so the more competitors a club has in a race, the more points they will get!
To read more details on how the Zak and Club Cups work, check out the NENSA pages by clicking HERE
In essence, the Zak Cup and Club Cup present ways for experienced and newer racers alike to get out there and compete for fitness, fun and the thrill of the race! This season, I’d encourage anyone in the club who has not raced to give it a try…chances are you will have a memorable experience, and you may just get hooked!
Don’t let the rain and thunder fool you…the snowmaking loop at the Range should survive! We hope everyone had a great weekend and maybe even got some extra skiing in! Those that weren’t racing the Middle School races at U-32 this weekend were out at Trapps on Saturday. Ava competed in the Race to the Cabin while others got in a nice long ski!
A little selfie action at Trapps ft. Sammie, Ali, Coach Adam, and Will
Tuesday 1/12 :
Skate at the Range.
Thursday 1/14:
Check back later in the week for a technique! We hope to go classic, but we need to make sure conditions will be suitable with tracks set.
Saturday BK Racers:
Group ski at Craftsbury, 10 :00AM with Rick Costanza. Technique: TBD. Please E-mail Rick if you plan to go: rtcostanza@gmail.com
Upcoming: Jan. 19th: Wax Clinic for parents and kids during practice! Hot waxing and binder application (two things every skier and ski-parent should know!)
Youtube special: a little double pole mass start at the Range last Thursday!
Friday Foxes
Friday 1/15
Watch for Coach Eden’s email to the Friday Fox group. Any questions: eden_shullenberg@hotmail.com
After the December struggles of long drives and yellow klister, snow has finally arrived in our backyard. Today the rain and wind are working their hardest to eliminate the skiing, but with a long enough stretch of cold weather the snowmaking loops at Sleepy Hollow and the Range should handle the challenge.
Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Range have been a mob scene of young athletes covering the fields playing games, practicing technique and racing around. The High School teams and MNC Juniors have enjoyed the home training site, too.
The week kicked off with an exciting and unique event at Cochrans. Much of the HS Tour De Chittenden had to be cancelled, but the “hillclimb” was held…problem was, only half the hill was present. For this reason, Eli designed a course that went up a short grade before slaloming downhill, only to swing up again for a longer climb…the descent was another slalom, and racers did all of this TWICE. That it was held in fading darkness under spotlights made it even cooler.
A very cool scene for a ski race
Tuesday featured some skate intervals for some and easy skiing for others. Fresh off her biathlon races in Anchorage, Eliza and Karen rocked the Wednesday Night Worlds race at Sleepy, and followed it up with the delicious potluck that accompanies the event each week:
Wednesday Night World’s potluck: a family affair
On Thursday, the Devo Team and Will hit up Pit Loop for double pole intervals. It all culminated in a mini-mass-start (Will had a 10 sec handicap). Check out this short clip of the action!
This weekend the HS racing continued with Greg taking his third win in as many races and a great performance by the other Pugs representing their respective high schools. Quincy and Camille again went 1-2 in the women’s middle school race, while Aidan was only bested by Brian Bushey, an honorary MNC member after his attendance at our Thanksgiving camp!
A small crew of MNC racers also attended the Race to the Cabin at Trapps, and after the event Will, Ali, Sammie and I toured all over the trails, did some gymnastics and also took some selfies:
(This video goes out to Amy Bruce and her bar-flipping skills)
Trapps selfie-ing
This week marks the return of the Eastern Cup! Good old Rumford plays host to an interval-start freestyle and a mass start classic race. Wax plans are already formulating, and Adam’s Virtual Team Meeting is being created for the event. Check back often for updates and info, and for parents looking to contribute to the EC food table please see the link below or get in touch with Sharon Henry for more info:
