Blog | Mansfield Nordic Club

4th of July Parade

By Adam Terko on 8 July, 2024 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Uncategorized

Big crowds!

For years now we have rollerskied in the Williston parade for Independence Day, complete with “snow” (leftover ice rink snow gathered in the morning from Gutterson and Cairns hockey arenas) and candy to appease the excited crowd. This year was no different, and with bright sunny skies and a road full of onlookers it was great to display our club to the masses.

I do have to say, it was a little underwhelming to have only 7 Juniors and 1 BKL participant. We have so many great and enthusiastic club members, and we hope that in the future more will come out to this event! It is a great way to represent the club, grow awareness of skiing in general, and have a good time. As alluded-to in the Eblast and other postings, skiing isn’t even required…we’re happy to have walkers or bike riders!

Maybe we need to rethink our communication channels, especially in the summer when skiing isn’t front-of-mind. A lot goes into this event, from organizing the float/vehicle system to an early morning of snow shoveling, so a signup form and a minimum participation number may be in our future.

Again, this is a really cool thing that we are able to do, and it’s an easy date to remember for next year 🙂

Bella with a sampling of snow!

Off and rolling

Skiing straight to creemees after!

Introducing: Masters Fitness at MNCC

By Adam Terko on 2 July, 2024 in Masters Blog, Masters Training Schedule, Uncategorized

Strength training is of critical importance for skiers, and especially Masters! Getting stronger, more stable, and more controlled in the gym can help improve ski technique and reduce injury risk.

In the past we have arranged partnerships with local gyms and trainers for our Masters to get together for indoor strength training.

Well…we have our own gym now! We’re excited to offer a holistic and accessible strength/fitness training class most Wednesdays at the Mansfield Nordic Community Center (MNCC).

Starting next week, July 10th, you can join to get in some great training, learn about exercises and movements, and connect with other Masters on the same quest for strength!

Coach Adam will lead these sessions, and they will involve a mix of bodyweight and weighted exercises. With some basic movement screening techniques, we can adapt exercises and add/remove options based on individual needs.

Sessions are offered most Wednesdays from 6-7pm or 7-8pm. Each session is $15, or $40 for a 3-class option. All signups include gym access, strength plan, coaching oversight/leadership, movement analysis, and follow-up resources for participants.

We will be looking to cap each hour-long “session” at 6-8 athletes for coaching and space reasons, and if we hit some of those limits the form below will be adjusted accordingly. We can be pretty flexible though!

Schedule sessions here (also available when submitting the form above)

Getting to the MNCC:

The MNCC is located on Route 2 in Jonesville (Richmond) near the intersection of Stage Road and Cochran Rd. The address is 3214 East Main St. Look for a big, blue building on the south side of the road. The MNC flag will be flying!

There is only parking for two (2) cars at the space itself currently. We encourage carpooling and parking at the gravel lot at the end of Cochran Rd and walking over, or even biking from one of the parking areas on Cochran Road itself. We have a brand new bike rack right outside the door!

Join the MNC Race to the Top Team!

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 2 July, 2024 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

The 2023 MNC Race to the Top Team!

Race to the Top: a 4.3 mi. bike or run race up the toll road to the top of Mt. Mansfield! Benefits the Catamount Trail Association that manages the Catamount Trail, the backcountry ski trail that runs the length of Vermont.

Date: Sunday, Aug. 25th.

Consider joining the MNC Team: It will cost $60 to register as a team member and it costs more now to register as an individual. Plus, it’s a whole lot more fun to be a part of our team! All ages welcome! To join the the team, email Jim Adkisson by JULY 22 at jimadkisson@gmail.com

Jim will do the team registration. Then you will get an email from Outside/Runreg to finish the registration process and you will reimburse Jim for $60.

For more info on Race to the Top, check out the registration page: RACE TO THE TOP

Join MNC at the Williston Parade! Rollerski, walk, or bike!

By Adam Terko on 1 July, 2024 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

If you are a rollerskier of ANY AGE please join us in Williston on the 4th of July to rollerski in the parade!

Oh, and if you don’t want to rollerski but still want to join in the fun…you can certainly walk or ride your bike with us as well!

This is a super fun event…why?

We get to show rollerskiing to the whole town
We see lots of fun other floats and celebratory groups
Music, games, friends, and family

But most of all…

We get SNOW! That’s right, early in the morning we secretly acquire some magical snow and distribute it to the parade-watchers from our rollerskis! It’s a big hit every year, and a totally cool (literally) experience.

The route is about 1 mile and almost totally flat, and we ski at about 1 mph. It’s great for everyone!

The logstics:

Meet at 9:30 at the Johnson Farm on Rt 2 in Williston…this is the field just past the Korner Kwik Stop if you’re heading toward Richmond.
Wear a hi-viz MNC shirt if you can! We will have extras on-hand.
Bring your rollerskis, bike for riding, or shoes for walking, and also gloves as the snow gets cold!

We can go for an actual rollerski in the neighborhoods after, for those Juniors who join us and want to get in some training after-the-fact.

Summer week ONE

By Adam Terko on 1 July, 2024 in Junior Blog

The first week of summer training is in the books! It was a busy one with a lot of sessions offered, and all sorts of activities. For many of our older skiers it was a pretty big volume week, one of the first such weeks of the training year.

I’m totally impressed with the efforts put forth to capture a great deal of training in a summer week…a group of rising and graduated seniors managed to complete a 3-hour point-to-point run on Wednesday, double pole repeats on Thursday, bike rides on Friday, L3 running miles on Saturday, and an adventurous 3+ hour ski from the MNCC all the way up to the top of App Gap on Sunday. Don’t forget strength sessions, big team sessions like the first day of practice on Tuesday, and individual responsibilities, and you have a great accomplishment.

Cruising through Huntington en route to App Gap

Not everybody in this club was out training for 16+ hours this week, and that’s totally fine! We had a handful of skiers complete their first-ever laps of Sprint Loop at the Range on Tuesday, which is not an insignificant milestone to cross. Improvement comes in all sorts of ways. We ended our first practice session with a big tug-of-war match and got some of the MNC University kids involved too…you’ll have to place your bets on who won.

Another “bonus” option this week involved a great use of the new club space at the MNCC. Sharon Henry and Coach Sara combined their PT skills to have a group of athletes take part in some movement screenings. These were really useful in a number of ways:

Individual athletes got analyzed for movement patterns and received good recommendations
Trends and patterns for skiers in general were analyzed by experienced practitioners such as Sharon
Coaches got to take note of movements and areas to incorporate into our strength training!

So, even if an athlete did not sign up to get a screening done, chances are they will still benefit and be involving themselves in a number of the prescribed exercises and movements going forward. Thank you to Sharon for coming to the MNCC to help us learn!