Blog | Mansfield Nordic Club

“Travel Teams” — what are they? How to qualify?

Skate sprint at 2005 Junior Nationals

Scoreboard at U-23 World Champs in 2004

Here are a number of exciting events that take place every season. They are in order by ascending age (and degree of difficulty to qualify!):

BKL Festival: A weekend-long festival for kids up to age 13 (K-8th grades). This is not just a “race” weekend — the event is more like a fair with different theme each year. Kids get to enjoy face-painting, mini-tours, some short races if they desire, food, friends, and a great time. Typically 400-600 kids participate each year! This event is open to anyone in this age group. Venue changes each season: Weston Ski Track hosts in 2013.
New England J2 Championships: A weekend-long race series for the top J2’s in the region (ages 14-15). Athletes must qualify to participate (at the EHS/J2 qualifier races in mid-February each year). 2013 J2 website. Each state in New England has its own qualifier races. Vermont has a 3km classic followed by a 3km skate. Finishing time = the sum of your 2 races and the top 20 J2’s from Vermont earn a spot on the J2 Champs Team.
Eastern High School Championships: a 3-day weekend of racing for the top high-school skiers in the region. Athletes must qualify to participate (at the EHS/J2 qualifier races in mid-February each year). The qualifiers are a 3km classic + 3km skate, with the top 24 high school athletes being named to the team. At the EHS Champs, athletes compete for individual honors, and also represent their home-state in a team competition. Events include a sprint prologue, a relay, and 2 short distance races. 2013 EHS Champs website.
Junior National Championships: athletes from age 14-19 qualify to represent their region at this week-long race series, which includes a sprint race, 2 distance races, and a relay (as well as a dance that kids get really excited for). Skiers compete against their age group for individual honors (J2 = 14/15; J1= 16/17; OJ = 18/19). There is also a team competition which pits the 12 regions against one another. New England has won the team competition for the past 4 years!! 2013 Junior Nationals take place in Fairbanks Alaska. To qualify in New England, racers must participate in the Eastern Cup races and score NENSA Points. After the last Eastern Cup, the New England coaches use the NENSA Points in each age-group to select the team: 6 J2’s of each gender, and 15 J1/OJ’s of each gender (total = 42 athletes). There is an entire section of the NENSA website dedicated to athletes that would like to participate at JN’s.
J1 Scandinavia Cup Championships: This is an international trip sanctioned by the US Ski Team. Based on results at Senior Nationals, the top-6 boys and girls from the J1 category are named to this team (age 17 or younger). The competitions take place in Scandinavia in late-January or early February. Link to J1 Scando Cup blog.
Junior World Championships: Another international trip. Location varies from year-to-year; typically it takes place in Central Europe or Scandinavia. Athletes qualify based on results at Senior National Championships. The top-6 boys and girls (age 19 and younger) are selected each season. 2013 JWC’s take place in Czech Republic.
U-23 World Championships: International trip that overlaps with the Junior World Championships. This is for athletes up to age 22. 2013 U23WC’s take place in Czech Republic.
World Championships/Olympics: we all know about these! Only for the best-of-the-best. There is no age limit — you’re never too young or too old!

Senior National Championships: held annually in early January. Typically a 4-race series that includes 2 sprints (skate & classic) and 2 “short” distance races (approx 5/10km for gals, 10/15km for boys). These events are open to anyone with a USSA license. The best juniors in the country will participate in hopes of qualifying for the J1 Scando Trip, Junior Worlds, and U-23 Worlds. The races are hosted by Soldier Hollow (Midway, UT) in both 2013 and 2014.

Whitewater Rafting on the Hudson August 2012

By Cara Nelson on 31 August, 2012 in BKL Race Blog

MNC Skiers Tim Cobb, Emily Wolaver, Martina Costanza with NYSEF Skier Gabby Armstrong. Along with parents Melissa, Shayn, Rick and guide Bob – the group paddled 17 miles through the Hudson River gorge.

Race to the Top of Vermont skier sightings

By Adam Terko on 28 August, 2012 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

This past weekend we had our last training of the summer session, followed on Sunday by the Catamount Trail fundraiser “Race to the Top of Vermont” which is either a running or mountain bike race up the Mansfield Toll Road (Stowe). There were a ton of skiers and former skiers in the event: including a group of MNC athletes, Craftsbury Green Racing Project Elite Team members, and coaches.

Running results

In the women’s run, 5 of the top 9 are skiers:

1-Kasie Enman (Eli’s wife)
2-Caitlin Patterson (UVM Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
3-Ida Sargent (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
5- Clare Egan (UNH Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
7-Robyn Anderson (Middlebury Grad, VTXC)
9-Hannah Dreissigacker (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)

Other female skier sightings include current & former NENSA board members and other former coaches and recreational skiers and HS ski families:

Hollenbachs, Spillanes, Eastmans, Pribrams, Rands, Hosmer, Geer, Van Dyke,

In the men’s run, 12 of the top 20 are current or former skiers:

2-Gordon Vermeer (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
3-Nils Koons (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
4-Scott Patterson (UVM Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
6-Jordan Fields (Woodstock HS Grad)
7- Dylan McGuffin (UNH Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
8-Eli Enman COACH MNC and CVUHS!!
10-Tim Reynolds (Middlebury Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
11-Patrick O’Brien (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
14-Mark Gilberston (Former US Ski Team / Olympian)
16-Bryan Cook (NMU Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
19-Nathan Alsobrook (Bowdoin College Head Coach)

Also sighted in the results:

Kerrigans, Harmeyers, Skyler Davis, Howe, Kelloggs (Charlie formerly US Ski Team, Terry formerly Middlebury College), Darling

Mountain Bike:

Won by 2012 Olympian Lea Davison (Middlebury grad, former alpine racer, currently uses XC skiing as part of her winter-time training for MTB)
Also seen: Harmeyer, Jamiesons (Mad River Valley BKL participants)

Cally Braun early in the race

MNC folks at the summit: Annavitte, Karin, Ethan, Liam, Bill, Penny, Alice

Pre-race: Annevitte, Bill, Henry, Autumn, Emma, Cally, Tatum

Saturday AM rollerski at Mud Pond: working on skate drills

Grass Skiing, Plyos and Strength @ CVU

By Adam Terko on 23 August, 2012 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

Yesterday was a perfect morning for training at CVU. Fall sports are going through tryouts, so there was a lot of activity beyond our training. After warmup, the crew did a circuit-style plyometric and strength routine. The athletes jogged between 5 stations that included plyos, abs, push ups, bench dips, narrow-pushups, and walking lunges. Coach Eli Enman and I supervised the plyos and helped with technique and timing.

After nearly 60 minutes of that, we put on our skis (thats right, snow skis!) and did some short relays. Grass skiing is extremely taxing on the body – it is like trying to ski uphill through about 10″ of heavy snow. There is almost zero glide, meaning you can never really relax your muscles and recover. The benefits of grass skiing are that striding uphill is nearly exactly the same as on the snow: the body position, the balance, the kick phase, and the resistance from the grass is like a steep climb on snow. Rollerskis are nice, but they give you 100% guaranteed kick every stride – no matter how steep the climb. And there is much less resistance (friction) on a rollerski than on snow. If you don’t believe me when I say it is like real skiing, look at the pictures (below) of the athletes on the ascent. Body position is dead-on.

I remember seeing Kris Freeman (US Ski Team) and Pat O’Brien (Craftsbury GRP) doing some short sprints on grass skis last summer with coach Zack Caldwell. Earlier this summer, there was video of the Craftsbury athletes practicing sprint starts. And just recently, the athletes at Rochester Nordic Racing (coached by Jason Hettenbaugh and my dad, Roger Weston) posted video of their own relays on grass!

CVU has such perfect grass and also many steep hills between the fields. The hills were actually steep enough to glide down! It wasn’t fast, but it was fun and good for balance.

Click the pictures to enlarge!