Archive | Junior Blog

It has been great to get on some early season snow this year…and by early, we mean REALLY early. It’s rare to find groomed snow before Thanksgiving, much less natural groomed snow! But thanks to generous local groomers like Peter and Tom, spots like Tomasi Meadow (in Underhill) and Dac Rowe Field (Waterbury) are viable options. Of course the Notch has seen a lot of skiers, and places like Sleepy Hollow, Rikert, and Craftsbury are hard at work making and pushing out skiable terrain.

It’s going to be a mixed-bag for us with regard to the Range in December, as we have limited access until the calendar year turns over in January. However, with a few days of accessible Range skiing, combined with options for other great areas and early cold temps, we can look forward to some fun group days among BKL, Masters, and Juniors alike.

Last weekend the Juniors got in two great days at Craftsbury, where we even got to reunite with some alumni up skiing with their college teams. We’ll do even more of that at Thanksgiving Camp, which starts tomorrow (Tues).

And of course, there’s some video content as evidence of the great skiing and fun times!

It has been a busy few weeks for the Junior team, with a lot of athletes finally reuniting after a long XC running season! The jump in team numbers coinciding with the darkness setting earlier definitely makes for a complicated after school training scene. We’ve broken out the headlamps and reflective vests a lot, and have moved away from the roads and onto the trails more frequently than usual.

Luckily we have a ton of great trails and safe locations to train even in the dark, and when we hit the timing right the sunset moments are pretty epic!

Up on the west side of the hills behind Cochrans

While the sunsets are great, we’re often out beyond that timeframe, and that’s when the headlamps and vests come out. We have a bunch of random headlamps that I keep in a bag in my car, as well as several mini flashlights that I picked up at Dollar Tree. The more visibility, the better (and safer) we are.

This run at Chamberlain ended in total darkness…we still have 30 minutes to go from here!

What is even more appreciated this time of year are morning workouts, when the athletes involved in MNC Academy have a bit of extra availability for daylight training. This means that rollerskiing can happen in the morning, without compromising the consistency of that training mode. Of course, the battle then becomes with the cold temps…but overall we’ve had a pretty unbeatable fall when it comes to comfort.

Early morning upper body work in Williston, and staying hydrated with our new Toko belts

Our days at the Range are extremely numbered until January, meaning we have precious little time to utilize the lights in Jericho. However, we’ve still been making an effort to stay consistent with training on rollerski tracks. This past weekend we visited Craftsbury and joined with some of their Juniors for a skate sprint workout. The rain ended just in time for a really productive and good hard effort.

Getting ready to train with Craftsbury, featuring Coach Anna and Coach Sara

Despite all the efforts to optimize our training and stay safe and productive, some things just can’t be controlled. We’ve got a bit of a hand/wrist injury theme at the moment…Kate is in a cast due to a gym class volleyball incident, and last Thursday Niko and I had to bail out of the Range and make a speedy trip to the Emergency Room after a rollerski crash left him with a thumb that was so dislocated that…well…I won’t put the actual photos up in case anyone is eating dinner while reading this blog. The good news is that Niko handled it like a champ and should be able to get set up with a cast that will allow skiing soon.

Good reminders that even with the best preparation, things don’t always go your way. Rather than just plan on perfection, it’s best to just shoot for consistency in training and know that sometimes incidents arise that just have to be navigated around. While injuries may not happen to everyone, blips in the training and life situations certainly will!

Niko and his good hand…the injured hand stowed safely under an ice blanket awaiting X-ray results

Juniors, it’s time to register for winter programming and trips! We’ve got a lot on the schedule this year, and there are a lot of resources linked below which I hope are helpful in navigating the confusing scene of Nordic racing and training in the winter.

Junior Winter Primer (which includes many of the links below): An outline of frequently asked questions, schedules, licenses, and more which can be important reading before the winter begins.

22/23 Race Calendar (subject to editing as the season goes on): Races at the Eastern Cup and regional (NENSA) level outlined in one document. Note that this does not include VPA high school races.

MNC Juniors Expected Costs: A slightly more detailed (and current-season-specific) version of this page which exists on the Juniors dropdown menu of the MNC homepage.

Link to MNC Registration Pages: The home for program registration, including MNC Membership and other age groups.

Congrats to Ava (and SMS skier Fin Bailey) on receiving the prestigious Gallagher Award from NENSA!

From NENSA:

In 2014 NENSA began the tradition of honoring the most outstanding male and female Eastern Cup skiers with the Gallagher Award.  As we build excitement for the new season, NENSA is pleased to announce that Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic) and Fin Bailey (Stratton Mountain School) are the 2022 Eastern Cup Champions.  Their inspired efforts are a perfect way to celebrate Mike Gallagher’s legacy as an athlete, coach, and community leader.

Thurston matriculated to Dartmouth College this fall after one of the most storied Vermont High School careers in both cross country running and skiing — including numerous State titles in each sport.  On the Eastern Cup circuit she was the top junior woman in six of the eight races, placing second to two different Canadians in the events she did not win.  Thurston went on to Junior Nationals in Minnesota last March and swept all three individual events and anchored the New England U18 Team to victory.  If you pull up the most current F.I.S. points list you will find Thurston is ranked 1st for her birth year (2004) in distance and 2nd in sprint — now, that is something that would make Mike Gallagher proud to see!

Adam Terko, Mansfield Nordic Ski Club Head Coach, describes Thurston, “Ava has a lot of strengths, both literally and figuratively. But her pure love of skiing (not just racing, but skiing itself) is what strikes me most. She’s motivated to be a better skier, not just a faster skier. Because of that motivation it’s hard to imagine something she won’t be able to do on a pair of skis or for the sport itself.”