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Th Pig Race is this Saturday 3/16!!

The Pig Race is the infamous end of season race at Blueberry Hill in Goshen, VT. It is a very fun event!

Here are some details about the event. We can’t wait!

  • Day of Race registration and check in will be in the Outdoor Center starting at 10 am. This will be your zone for leaving belongings, bathrooms, etc.,
  • The 2km kids race will start at 11, and everyone else at ~11:30. The Pig Race is self-timed. We’ll have a big timing clock if you don’t have a watch, and also make Strava segments for the competitive types. You’ll write your name and time down right when you cross the finish line.
  • We’ll serve pizza n’ pig around 1pm-~3pm.
  • A map of the short course and long course can be found at these links. The course will be well marked with pink flagging tape and signs at intersections.
  • This will be good old-fashioned VT spring skiing! Expect water bars and muddy sections. Don’t bring your best (or second best, or third best) skis–old fish scales are your best bet, or wooden skis with pine tar. Feel free to hike/run the course as well if you prefer, or take skis off for sections! All obstacles except some water bars will be optional 🙂 The Pig Race is about embracing whatever winter throws at us, and acknowledging that we don’t need perfect conditions to enjoy all that VT has to offer. There are some pics of current conditions on our Instagram.
  • We will have Red Clover Ale Company beer for sale. Please bring cash or card and an ID if you plan on purchasing.
  • We still have some meal tickets available for friends and family. To make sure you get one, you can pre-order on Skireg. We’ll have some for sale day of as well.
  • Costumes encouraged!

Thank you for your support of the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center! It’s been so fun to bring the Pig Race back this year. Our goal with this event is to have fun and break even so please consider an additional donation to the Outdoor Center if you are able–it will help us fund some more bridges for those water bars!

Feel free to reach out with any questions. See you soon.

End-Of-Season Party Cancelled :(

Due to the unfortunate weather, Craftsbury has closed-up for the season. We’re sorry to announce that our end-of-season party has also been called-off.

Any attendees who have already paid via the website will be refunded directly through PayPal.

Please stay tuned for additional/alternative season-ending events for our programs in the coming weeks.

 

U16 Championships wrap

MNC and Team Vermont had a great time at the NENSA U16 Championships!

Hosted by Gore Mountain, a challenging venue in North Creek, NY, this event is held every year to bring together the top U16 athletes from New England (24 from each state). MNC had a handful of athletes helping Vermont bring home the overall trophy, and everyone raced great despite some tricky conditions and mixed weather as an absent winter made a furious return partway through these races.

Charlotte, Astrid, James and Henry with the CUP!

Coach Sara was the trip leader for all of VT, and helped everyone push their hardest and feel their best. Vermont often takes the win not only because of fast skiing, but everyone having a great time and enjoying every moment. It’s very likely that some friendships formed at this championship will endure for entire ski careers.

Sara with just a couple pizzas for the team

It was the first U16 Championship for three of our athletes, who are actually all 8th graders fresh off graduating at their final BKL Festival…Astrid, James, and Henry all had standout races competing against many skiers in their freshman and sophomore years of high school.

Astrid stole the show for Team VT, taking home a podium in every race: 3rd in the 5km freestyle, 3rd in the 5km classic, 2nd in the freestyle sprint, and helping VT take 2nd place in the relay. That’s a serious display of ability across all sorts of events!

Astrid 2nd in the overall rankings, breaking up the NH sweep 🙂 

You can check out the results on Underdog Timing. Congrats again to all of the athletes and coaches!

U16 Results

Junior Nationals Week Schedule/Viewing

Junior Nationals week is here! Racing kicks off tomorrow (Monday) with individual start skate races. You can find a schedule of events, link to livestreams, and more below.

MNC is excited to have 10 athletes representing out club, the most ever! We have athletes in every age group and race, so the action will be happening for the Pugs all day long!

Live timing through Bullitt

Video streaming link

Event Schedule

 

BKL Fest and Graduates

While our Juniors are preparing for the post-season events like JNs, U16s, and EHS, it’s time to recognize our latest class of BKL graduates who are now officially Juniors themselves!

The snow was slushy and the skies were (mostly) grey at Rikert over the weekend, but the energy was still amazing at the BKL Festival. With over 700 young skiers it was the biggest festival ever! MNC had the most skiers of any club in the 7th/8th grade group, and everyone skied great.

Many of these skiers participated in Mini Mtn Camp over the summer. From that experience, as well as the great overlap and organization with Coach Kristen taking on this Devo group alongside the Juniors, it feels like I know this group and better each year.

James giving a good display of the “East Coast” conditions

The classic relays on Saturday were won in strong fashion by MNC teams on both the girls and boys side! Mia started

Mia in the classic relay

gaining a lead about 100m into the start of the girls race and never looked back extending it by a wide margin and tagging off to Astrid who only increased the margin. In the boys race, Matthew Northcott (Southern VT) double poled on skate skis, meaning a fast downhill start and flatter section. But when the trail went uphill, James closed the gap significantly. Henry then made the charge past the second skier from that team and came in for the win!

The skate individual day belonged to Mia and Astrid, with Mia a scant 1 second ahead. It was strong skiing through some of the slushiest snow I’ve seen, with standing water in places. Isaiah had a standout race and finished fifth, and it was a grouping of MNC all near each other with James, Oakley, Liam and Ansel all pushing hard through deteriorating snow.

Isaiah climbing into the finish in his trademark orange hat

While some of these skiers are 8th grade U16s (Brooke, Astrid, Henry, James) and many of the 2nd-year U14 skiers got to try out their first Eastern Cup race this winter, the fact that they are in middle school and get to participate in a final BKL Festival, complete with a graduation ski and send-off, is really nice.

These skiers have officially capped-off their BKL careers, but I’m sure they’ll take lots of great memories with them!

 

 

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