Mia cruising out of the start!
After several major meltdowns and unseasonably warm weather in the past few weeks skiers from around New England gathered for the Bogburn on January 6th. Miraculously the Rikert Nordic Center put together a 1.5km snow making loop that included open fields and woods. And it was a great spectator course, BKL racers were cheered on throughout the course by family and teammates.
This year was the biggest in the Bogburn’s 35 year history. There were 263 total racers for BKL, Juniors and Open racers.
The traditional slate of BKL in the morning followed by Open and Junior races in the afternoon created a fun race day for the whole club! MNC had racers in every category. Masters and Junior racers were just arriving to wax skis and warmup as the BKL Awards were happening. And some BKL skiers stayed on to cheer for the afternoon races.
Coaches cheering for Silas up the last hill.
We had sixteen BKL racers from lollipop to Grade 7/8. The morning started with Grade 1/2 and Grade 3/4 all racing together on 1 lap of the race course. The 15 second individual starts created a long lineup of kids at the start line on the far side of the stadium. Grade 5/6 were next and raced 2 laps of the 1.5k course and in quick succession the Grade 7/8 skiers were underway for 3 laps on course. There was lots of lapping and passing on the double tracked course due to the short start interval and number of racers. Skiers had to dodge a big snow making ice flow on the second downhill that crossed much of the trail and we heard about several close calls.
The last BKL race of the day was possibly the most anticipated. A dozen lollipop skiers kicked and gilded their way to a gummy bear treat at the finish line.
Mazzy striding through the open field.
Course conditions were expected to be klister for the snow making loop and the coaches were glad to have some last minute intel from the MNC Juniors that had races at Rikert the day before for the Tour de Chad high school race. The kick wax report came in that it was hard wax conditions! Everyone was able to find a wax they liked for the race.
Congratulations to Mansfield Nordic Club skiers Claire Dolbec (lollipop), Daisy Tremble (lollipop), Margo Dillon (1/2), Rory Dolbec (1/2), Ollie Laber (1/2), Bella Altadonna (3/4), Rory Dillon (3/4), Mazzy Merritt (3/4), Oliver Tremble (3/4), Finn Laber (5/6), Kaisa Weaver (5/6), Isaiah Bowen (7/8), Mia Gorman (7/8), Ansel Sprague (7/8), Silas Weaver (7/8) and Liam Vile (7/8).
Thanks to all the parents and everyone that helped with waxing, course previews and getting kids to the start line! It was fun to watch everyone race at the Bogburn! Nice work MNC BKL!
Kaisa at the finish line!
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