If you’re involved in Nordic skiing it’s kind of a given that you need to embrace long car trips. I’ve done my fair share, but this weekend was the only rivaled by the Canton, NY -> Waterville, ME trips that I made with the EISA circuit…something about driving 3-4 hours PAST Mont Sainte Anne just to turn around 2 days later seems so insane, but luckily it was a great weekend with a nearly-constant stream of action.
After departing from South Burlington at 7:30am on Friday morning, we arrived in Fort Kent with just barely enough daylight to park the trailer. Our route through Canada was primarily flat and straight, but it was cool to steadily see an increase in the height of the snowbanks and Laurentian mountains as we progressed northeastward. I couldn’t help but think of our training and racing…like the snow and the mountains, the training we do all year doesn’t just shoot upward and happen all at once, but over time things build up until you think back and realize “dang, there’s a lot of snow here!” or, ideally “dang, we’ve gotten really strong and fast compared to last year!”
View of the open road, featuring Ali’s clay pug crafted en route. If you want to relive our drive, just visualize this view for about 7 hours!
Since the venue featured an welcoming lodge and well-lit trails, however, we were easily able to check out the fun and flowy sprint course for the next day. We then got set up in our hotel, and got to work meeting about the race while chowing down on some now-traditional “Room Pasta” which is an MNC technique wherein spaghetti is cooked on a hotplate for all to enjoy. Pro tip: cook your Room Pasta in the bathroom so that you can use the fan to avoid unintentional fire alarms.
The coaches may have been sleeping on the hotel room floors and eating Room Pasta, but at least the wax room in the basement of the Northern Door is the most legit motel setup I’ve ever seen!
Saturday morning dawned cold and crisp…technically, it just stayed cold and crisp for the entire 72 hours we were up in Northern Maine. At least this made for consistent ski testing conditions! The qualifier was interesting…I think as a group many of us looked at the results and were feeling like more had been possible. Not putting anyone in the open heats was certainly a bummer as I think more than a few have reached the level where the Junior and U16 heats are not necessarily a primary target. The course also suited the Pugs, featuring an ending segment of up-and-down rollers not unlike our the trails we train on at the Range.
Kai and Jenny were both a single spot out of the Junior heats, each in 13th place for the U18/U20 rounds. Gotta also give a shoutout to Rose and Lily who both notched their first Eastern Cup races ever with some aggressive skiing and great efforts. Aside from ones combined with college races, the first Eastern Cup is usually the most intense and competitive one of each year. Not to be taken lightly!
Have you met the newest Pug yet? A big welcome to Jenny Wilbraham, who has made the transition from Pug Fan to Pug Member this season. Jenny joins us from Bath, ME as we’re proud to expand to “MNC Coastal” along with “MNC South” aka our contingent in Brattleboro! Photo from Jenny
Marika crushed it and was able to qualify for the open heats, taking 5th in her quarterfinal for 24th overall. A great start to the season after a bit of sickness put the trip to Maine in jeopardy altogether! Isaac was solidly in the Junior heats in 37th overall, so he was our sole racer repping the Pugs for those contests. In his first heat however, he snapped a pole in the first 100 meters and was forced to ski it in and relegated to the B-Final, which he won convincingly.
In the U16 boys heats, Aidan drew a pretty ideal semifinal in which he was able to ski controlled and save a bit of energy. In his final, he couldn’t quite match tall Carl Kellog’s surge on the flatter V2 section, but brought it home in 2nd with a clear lead on 3rd. Aidan raced in some EC races last year, but with Will Koch the only U16 qualifying for the open heats and therefore “winning” the U16 race, Aidan was officially on the podium (3rd) in his first official Eastern Cup result ever! Nice!
The U16 women’s heats were also a battle for 2nd place in the JN points, as Nina Seeman had qualified for open heats (along with a Canadian U16 competitor). A look at the qualifier results would tell you that it could come down to a battle between Quincy and Ali. In their semifinal things played out in that fashion, with Quincy and Ali pulling away from the group. Magda also skied strongly in the other Semi, making a good bid for the final. Camille hung tough and narrowly snagged a spot in the final as well, meaning the A-Final featured a strong presence of MNC-affiliated skiers with Magda, Ali, Quincy, and Camille lined up with Craftsbury’s Adriennne Remick and CSU’s Shea Brams. With a 5th-place finish in her heat, Sammie was set to rep the Pugs in the B-final too!
In the final, Quincy and Ali again broke away off the front, but on the final rollers before the stadium Quincy put in a big surge that Ali wasn’t quite able to match. Quincy took home the win, while Ali skied to a clear 2nd place. Magda finished 5th in the final, with Camille taking 6th. It was pretty exciting to see this group all skiing well and racing in the heats together as it felt kind of like an MNC interval day!
After a busy dinner at the local hotspot (maybe the only spot?) known as the Swamp Buck Restaurant, we talked a bit about the day at our team meeting. Good, but with hunger for more, was the general mood. That sentiment came from the team without much prodding, which is great. It felt like the right blend of motivation: the kind that comes from confidence and desire and not cockiness and chance.
After a winter that has thus far consisted almost entirely of klister for every training session, we got to break out the green hardwax for the classic mass starts. When do you know if it’s really, really cold? If you’re on the same few thin layers of green kickwax from 8am to 12pm.
Things got underway with another stellar U16 race from Aidan, as he took home another 3rd place behind Finn Sweet and a Canadian competitor. Great tempo, and a double pole that looks like Klaebo in an MNC suit, tells me that there’s even more to come from Aidan this year…
Aidan on the podium. Can’t you feel the cold just radiating from this photo?
The women’s race featured a slew of blue, green, and white at the front of the staring line with Ali, Magda, and Sammie lined up in the front row. Camille was not far behind, and the start was furious right into the big downhill.
As the skiers came back into the stadium area and up the final hills, Quincy was bolting up the final rollers just like the sprint the day previous, pulling away from Nina Seeman for an outright U16 victory. Congrats Q!
As the top competitors continued to appear, a storm of MNC suits strode into view with Magda, Sammie, and Camille crushing it with 7th, 8th, and 9th place finishes. Both Magda and Sammie have shattered their previous personal-best Eastern Cup finishes in this first weekend!
Magda storming up the hill with some great power and drive. Sammie and Camille spotted in the background! Photo from NENSA
Unfortunately Ali had a bad crash and some breathing issues during the race, but after a brief trip to the ER she was back with the group. Happy to report good health and spirits!
Furious corking and frozen hands aside, the open races were a mixed bag. Our hunger was there, but in a metaphor that might parallel some real-life situations this weekend, we may not have had the best eating habits…big standout performances again came from Isaac (21), Kai (38) and Jenny (37) in the open races, where the competition from some college and Canadian racers upped the ante and the depth of the field. Rose and Lily again held their own, and got a taste of that crazy mass start action where poles and skis are flying.
It was great to see Dakota skiing many groups higher than the day prior, as he took the mass start well and used the skiers around him to push hard. Timmy and Baxter both had days they weren’t psyched on, but were pretty quick to identify changes to work toward for next time. We have a good little break before the next Eastern Cup to put in some volume, get in some low-key races to fine-tune those changes, and just keep working hard and skiing well.
Special thanks to all the parents who contributed in so many ways…Richters with lots of gear and transport, Lisa Burt for helping when things got hectic with the ambulance and hospital, Priganc’s for loaning us a vehicle that’s one step closer to a team van, and Dan Clayton for quickly jumping on a wax bench (not to mention splicing some trailer light wiring!). There are many more who supported and made the weekend great despite being so far away, cold, and remote. These next few Eastern Cup weekends are going to feel like smooth sailing, and I think the skiing is going to be even more exciting and strong!
