This past weekend was the Castle Conquest, a big rollerski racing event in Lake Placid. The weekend featured a skate sprint at the new rollerski track on Saturday, and the legendary Climb to the Castle race on Sunday.
MNC partnered with the team from Gould Academy to share in some housing, meals, and camaraderie. It was fun to see another team operates a lot like ours…rolling in with coolers and boxes of food, coaches willing to crash on the floor and couches, teams groggily getting their gear ready to race early in the morning under constant prodding…thanks to Ben, Jacob and the whole Gould squad for connecting with us!
There was fierce competition at the race from the likes of SMS T2 (including a few Olympians and World Cup skiers) as well as local Juniors and athletes from Paul Smiths College. There was a noticeable lack of collegiate participation, which I touched on in another post, but that didn’t stop the racing action from being intense.
The “royal court” format meant everyone raced a qualifier and multiple heats. Taylor got to go up against World Champs sprint medalist Julia Kern…pretty cool!
Both Sara and I were running around frantically capturing video and photos from the Saturday of sprint racing…with a course that loops around to make for great spectating, it was inspiring to see MNC and other Junior athletes not only racing head-to-head with others their age, but also folks like Ben Ogden, Julia Kern, and Lauren Jortberg…it’s a very small world of Nordic skiing, and these athletes are all incredibly approachable. A couple of our juniors recently stopped-in at the Richmond farmers market to get some dinner from Ben Ogden’s new weekly hotdog stand. That’s about as “old school Vermont” as it can get for a skier.
Jonah and Lorenzo found themselves battling in multiple heats!
Junior women’s podium. Virginia, Elsa, and hey, that’s Ava!
Junior men’s podium, Ellis + Anders + Niko
We competed in this race last year, and it was cool to see that on the same skis and in the same weather conditions, those that raced prior (Elsa, Anders, Niko) all had significantly faster qualifying times than their 2022 efforts! Spoiler alert: the same would hold true for the next day!
Video from the qualifier, featuring mostly MNC skiers (+ a few special celebrities and guests)
Sunday brought the epic Climb to the Castle. In contrast to a speedy sprint with a rapid downhill finish at max mph, Sunday morning was a grueling 5-mile ascent of Whiteface Mountain.
This year, everyone was greeted by clear skies, which can be rare at this event! The MNC squad had another great day…some tagged onto World Cup skiers to claw their way up the hill. Others joined packs of fellow Juniors or Masters, and some spent part of the race in between groups stoically grinding their way up the hill.
In all cases, the efforts were incredible and inspiring. A special shout-out to Duncan who competed in his first rollerski race this day. What a way to kick things off! Most hills this season will feel quite short by comparison! Duncan even scored a podium in the 5km race to start off his rollerski race career on a strong note.
Scenic podium with a view!
We’re already looking forward to next year!
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