Author Archive | Rosemary Shea-Cobb

BKL Festival Info: Reposted

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 23 February, 2017 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog

This year’s Festival is March 4 & 5 at Gould Academy in Bethel, ME. The theme is “Protect Our Winters”- Superheroes! Saturday will be a Skate Relay (1 or 2 km) and Sunday will be the Individual Classic Races (traditional age group distances). Coach Rosemary is also the Northwest VT Regional Coordinator and will set relay partners (you may e-mail her and make a request).

To Register: SKI REG

Festival Website (Schedule, Directions, Lodging & more): 2017 BKL Fest

Team Lunch Sign-up: Festival Lunches It’s a potluck and makes it fun and festive for all of us!

MNC Plans:

Friday: Meet Coach Rosemary at 2 PM at the Field house to ski and preview the course (we can move this back an hour if needed).

Possible Friday Team Dinner: Rooster’s Roadhouse- 1 mile from Bethel, casual, lots of variety & a children’s menu.

Dinner Saturday: Buy tickets to the Festival Dinner. It’s very affordable, kid friendly, the food should be good and there are not many other dining options in Bethel. We will all be scheduled for the same seating, so we can sit together. There is usually a raffle to peruse at the dinner as well.

Waxing: During the week before, Rosemary will send out a wax recommendation (probably on Wed). Those kids that can’t glide wax at home can do so at the end of practice at the Range on Thursday, March 2 and get help from the coaches. Everyone needs to clean their classic skis of all kick wax (we can do this on Thursday as well), in addition to hot waxing.

BKL Practice 2/28- 3/5: Vacation Week

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 21 February, 2017 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

Tuesday 2/28: Craftsbury Day! Instead of normal practice at the Range, we will meet at the Craftsbury Outdoor Touring Center at 10 AM. Bring SKATE skis and money for a trail pass ($5 kids, $10 adults). Pack a lunch, because we will ski until noon and then we can all have lunch together in the Touring Center. After lunch, there will be time to play on the hills or go for another ski.

If you’ve never been there, skiing at Craftsbury will be a treat! 91 km of trails groomed for both classic and skating! This is probably the largest cross-country ski area in Vermont and the terrain is perfect for cross-country. There is something for everyone from the easy, rolling Duck Pond loop, to the challenging Elinor’s Hill downhill, to the long, gradual ascent of Ruthie’s Run. There is even a cabin to ski to with cookies and hot chocolate. They get lots of snow, but just in case, they make snow too and have a couple of huge mounds of it that kids love to play on. It’s about an hour’s drive from the Range in Jericho and definitely worth the trip!

Thursday 3/2: CANCELLED! Range trails closed. ;(

Future Dates & Notes:

Tuesday March 7 & Thurs, March 9- Practices at the Range, normal time.

Sunday, March 12- Shooting Stars Biathlon Festival at the Range. Details coming.

Tuesday March 14: BKL Program Awards & End of Season Party

BKL Practice 2/21-2/26

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 19 February, 2017 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

Tuesday: Classic We may explore some new trails after we klister-up!

Thursday: Skate: It’s the lollipop time-trial! Grades 1-4 will ski 1 km and grades 5-8 will ski 2 km.

Saturday: Bogburn Classic BKL Race. Rosemary will be on hand to help wax. See the details on the event calendar and register on Ski Reg.

Another Race Option: Sunday: Stowe Derby Short Course. Details & Register on Ski Reg. Rosemary will not be at this event.

Strafford Nordic Relays Recap

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 19 February, 2017 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog

Eight Mansfield Nordic BKL skiers and two Coaches teamed up to ski in the Strafford Nordic Relays on Sunday in warm temps under a sunny blue ski. The Nordic Center is located at the home of the Strafford Organic Creamery. They have a small, barn-like touring center and most of the trails run through farm fields. The Strafford folks built quite a course for this event featuring a couple of jumps, a few bumps to ski over, hairpin turns and an uneven bump section. We all skied one or two legs of the skate race in the morning and then klistered up and skied the classic relay in the afternoon.

Kate Carlson and Ryley Morigeau made for a very fast 1/2 girls team, sporting their Jessie Diggins socks and skiing faster than many of the 3/4 teams. Watch out for this relay team at the BKL Festival in March! Next we had a slew of teams in the 5/6 category: Brady Morigeau & Taylor Carlson, Cole & Jordon Shullenberger, Julia Thurston & Virginia Cobb. These guys all skied two laps.

Watching from my vantage point by the biggest jump, I am happy to report that all these kids fearlessly took the jump and most of them “got air”. Brady impressed everyone watching by getting the lots of air, doing a little knee bend trick while aloft and landing it! I think we should hook this kid up with Billy Demong- he could have a future in Nordic Combined!

Coaches Jen and Rosemary teamed up to race in the open category, but unfortunately, missed their start (the race time was moved up!). However, they jumped right in and due to the improved structure of their skis (they missed the start because they went back to structure their skis), they weren’t last! Their classic race was a lot better!

After a morning of racing, the kids all had lunch while Coaches Eden, Jen and Rosemary tested the wax, structured and klistered ten pairs of skis in thirty-five minutes! All that klister we’ve applied in practices has paid off! We have this klister thing down now!

We all had good wax, skied our classic legs and then, were treated to Strafford Organic Creamery ice cream cones in lieu of prizes. Yum! What a fun race! Below are some photos: