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2026 NENSA BKL Festival Location Announcement

By on 15 July, 2025 in BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

This just in from NENSA: The New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) is excited to announce that the 2026 New England Bill Koch League (BKL) Festival will be hosted by JacksonXC BKL and JacksonXC in Jackson, New Hampshire from February 28 to March 1, 2026.

The BKL Festival is the marquee event of the Bill Koch Youth Ski League, whose mission is to introduce young people to the lifelong sport of cross-country skiing—and the many associated health, fitness, and social benefits—in a fun, inclusive, and safe environment.

The BKL Fest is open to all MNC BKL skiers and families. It’s always an amazing weekend of skiing that includes some races, ski adventures, games and activities on skis. Here are a few tips from Coach Liz if you are thinking about going to the Fest this year.

Lodging There are lots of lodging options in the Jackson, NH area including hotels, condos and houses. Some MNC BKL families are staying at the Eagle Mtn House. MNC families typically stay wherever works best for them and we don’t have a specific team hotel. Here is a great list of lodging options from the NENSA website. And even if we don’t all stay in the same place we spend all day together at the event and we’ll plan to have a team dinner one of the nights we are there.

Registration will begin in December. If your family is considering going we encourage you to register for a NENSA Membership soon. NENSA memberships are required to register for the BKL Fest.  Once you your child has a NENSA Memberhsip you will begin to receive information about the Fest. We will also post registration reminders on the MNC website and in MNC Club communication.

 

Why PRO?

By on 9 June, 2025 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

As we exit the transitional spring period and start seeing more structured training, more athletes arriving, and more group sessions, the excitement around the Mansfield Pro Nordic team feels palpable. At least to me.

It may not be breaking the surface just yet, but speaking from the perspective of someone who is now entering their 10th summer with MNC I can say that there’s a different feeling in the air.

When Coach Perry and I sit down each Friday and look ahead to the upcoming week, we are coordinating locations, sessions, and workouts with young Juniors, collegiate champions, and World Cup skiers alike. The conversation is open and productive. “Does it make sense for Juniors to join this one? What is one of the Pro skiers came to this day with the high school athletes? What if we all start from here as a big group?” etc…

This is just the start of something that has potential beyond just competitive Junior athletes…when we need coaches in a pinch for regular sessions OR when traditional coaches are at a camp, we’ve got a rolodex of insanely competent older athletes to reach out to. What about a BKL game day? Certainly cool to have great role models attending. Would the Masters want to have some of the Pro Team share their strength training exercises? No doubt.

But it trickles down much further…we have a chance to expand the visibility of skiing in Vermont and beyond.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have that road sign on Cochran Rd say “rollerskiers” in addition to “cyclists” and “pedestrians” and other athlete users on the shoulder? It seems like having a team of professional skiers, maybe with some Olympic hopefuls or one-day Olympic athletes could help sway a town to make that addition.

Speaking of roads, we’re also in more places at once as a club. Rollerskiing can start to be a more visible part of our communities. We can reach out to other clubs in the running, biking, or youth scene and bring even more to the table. And that’s just the summer…

I hope you’ll consider supporting and engaging with this new team! It is a team FOR the COMMUNITY but it also relies so heavily on COMMUNITY SUPPORT. This is a new part of MNC that we want to grow and nurture!

If you are around on June 20th, check out our kickoff event and meet the team, get in a run if you like, play games, and enjoy dinner at Cochrans!

REGISTER HERE

Cross is Boss

By on 8 April, 2025 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog, Uncategorized

There are a lot of “final” events in the season (see last week’s blog post, even) but it seems we can finally put the 2024/2025 season to bed with this year’s edition of Cochrans Nordic Cross. The fact that there was just barely enough snow to complete a course, and we were scraping snow back over the grass of each slalom gate before the second round really meant we carried out the season to the bitter end!

On Saturday a few MNC skiers braved the cold and rain to scope things out and help lay out a potential race route. The conditions were very soft, and Jimmy Cochran was going to have to wait until the day of the race to actually move the majority of the snowpack where it was needed. Creative measures like sneaking under the rope tow line and utilizing all of the left- and right-side slopes were critical. But the all-important “usual” features like the drain-swirl start, the massive bumps, the pond jump, and the “dead-bug-roll” over hay bales were not left out!

For race day, it was a celebration of the best parts of the New England ski community. World Cup and Olympic athletes like Ben Ogden and Julia Kern were present, wearing outrageous outfits and crashing just like the rest of us. The kids race was full of young shredders on everything from waxless fishscales, to skate skis, to alpine skis! It felt like a full 1/4 of the EISA collegiate field was in attendance, as well as most of the familiar Masters names from across the region. MNC had BKL, Junior, and Masters racers all competing.

In heats of 5, athletes took off from the top of the mountain. Pennie Rand had fun with the start list, putting together lots of friends and skiers of similar age and ability. The top 8 men and top 8 women each got to race a second time in the “finals” which meant another trip UP the mountain as well as down!

While this race takes a lot of skill, and does require some serious capacity (this year featured even more uphill than usual), everyone is at very different points in their season. Some Juniors are taking advantage of their best fitness ever, while others have begun track or soccer practice. Some college skiers have gotten a good night’s sleep, and others have…spent the night prior celebrating the end of the season, you could say. Masters are coming from long tours in the mountains, or even the Craftsbury Mud n’ Ice Quadrathlon the day prior.

After the first round shook out, it was up to Astrid, Acadia and I to head back up for the finals. Those two girls did MNC proud finishing in 5th and 6th, and they rocked some sweet coordinated tracksuits along with Mia. For the U16 podium they were joined by Ford Sayre’s Ollie Hanna.

As you can see, snow was minimal but the excitement was high!

Link to results

 

New Pro Team in Town…OUR town!

By on 1 April, 2025 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

There is a new professional cross country ski team based out of Northern Vermont. Welcome to the racing world, Mansfield Pro Nordic!

Led by coach Perry Thomas, this team is centered on collaboration, commitment, and community. 

Collaboration not only between teammates, but also with Nordic skiers and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.

Commitment to pursuing ski racing at the highest levels, and achieving lofty goals.

Community connections, in our sport and beyond.

Interested in learning more?

Press Release

Pro | Club Breakdown

Mansfield Pro Nordic Website

 

BKL Summer Ski and Bike Camp at Sleepy Hollow

By on 1 April, 2025 in BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

Our friends at Sleepy Hollow BKL host a couple great camps each summer. This year there is an Outdoor Camp and a Ski Camp. Heather LaRocca, director of Sleepy Hollow BKL, has extended her camp invitation to any MNC BLK families that want to join. All the info is below.

Sleepy Hollow Summer Camps 2025

SLAMMIN’ OUTDOOR CAMP: Get outside and adventure in Sleepy Hollow’s 850 acres of forest and trails! We head out on the trails every day to explore the natural world around Sleepy with a new outdoor theme every day, including forest, stream and pond studies. We also do fun outdoor activities every day- hiking, mountain biking, swimming and more!  Campers can expect a fun week outside packed with activities, art projects and games.

Ages: 8-12 years old

Cost: $350 per camper

Weeks: July 21 – 25 OR July 28 – August 1

Time: 9:00 am – 3:30 pm

SUMMER SKI CAMP: Spend the week outside at Sleepy Hollow’s 850 acres of forest and trails, with running, hiking, mountain biking, rollerskiing*, swimming and more! The camp is geared towards kids that are excited to try some summer nordic summer training. We get out on the trails every day and do activities, art projects and games too, all with the focus of summer fun outside! *Rollerskis not needed- we team up with NENSA for rollerskiing, and they provide a fleet for us to use.

Ages: 10-14 years old

Cost: $350 per camper

Weeks: July 14 – 18

Time: 9:00 am – 3:30 pm

Go to the Sleepy Hollow Summer Camps webpage for the registration link.

Questions? Contact Summer Camp Director, Heather LaRocca at laroccabeal@gmail.com or 802-345-7837

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