Archive | BKL Jackrabbits

Skate sprint at 2005 Junior Nationals

Scoreboard at U-23 World Champs in 2004

Here are a number of exciting events that take place every season. They are in order by ascending age (and degree of difficulty to qualify!):

• BKL Festival: A weekend-long festival for kids up to age 13 (K-8th grades). This is not just a “race” weekend — the event is more like a fair with different theme each year. Kids get to enjoy face-painting, mini-tours, some short races if they desire, food, friends, and a great time. Typically 400-600 kids participate each year! This event is open to anyone in this age group. Venue changes each season: Weston Ski Track hosts in 2013.
• New England J2 Championships: A weekend-long race series for the top J2’s in the region (ages 14-15). Athletes must qualify to participate (at the EHS/J2 qualifier races in mid-February each year). 2013 J2 website. Each state in New England has its own qualifier races. Vermont has a 3km classic followed by a 3km skate. Finishing time = the sum of your 2 races and the top 20 J2’s from Vermont earn a spot on the J2 Champs Team.
• Eastern High School Championships: a 3-day weekend of racing for the top high-school skiers in the region. Athletes must qualify to participate (at the EHS/J2 qualifier races in mid-February each year). The qualifiers are a 3km classic + 3km skate, with the top 24 high school athletes being named to the team. At the EHS Champs, athletes compete for individual honors, and also represent their home-state in a team competition. Events include a sprint prologue, a relay, and 2 short distance races. 2013 EHS Champs website.
• Junior National Championships: athletes from age 14-19 qualify to represent their region at this week-long race series, which includes a sprint race, 2 distance races, and a relay (as well as a dance that kids get really excited for). Skiers compete against their age group for individual honors (J2 = 14/15; J1= 16/17; OJ = 18/19). There is also a team competition which pits the 12 regions against one another. New England has won the team competition for the past 4 years!! 2013 Junior Nationals take place in Fairbanks Alaska. To qualify in New England, racers must participate in the Eastern Cup races and score NENSA Points. After the last Eastern Cup, the New England coaches use the NENSA Points in each age-group to select the team: 6 J2’s of each gender, and 15 J1/OJ’s of each gender (total = 42 athletes). There is an entire section of the NENSA website dedicated to athletes that would like to participate at JN’s.
• J1 Scandinavia Cup Championships: This is an international trip sanctioned by the US Ski Team. Based on results at Senior Nationals, the top-6 boys and girls from the J1 category are named to this team (age 17 or younger). The competitions take place in Scandinavia in late-January or early February. Link to J1 Scando Cup blog.
• Junior World Championships: Another international trip. Location varies from year-to-year; typically it takes place in Central Europe or Scandinavia. Athletes qualify based on results at Senior National Championships. The top-6 boys and girls (age 19 and younger) are selected each season. 2013 JWC’s take place in Czech Republic.
• U-23 World Championships: International trip that overlaps with the Junior World Championships. This is for athletes up to age 22. 2013 U23WC’s take place in Czech Republic.
• World Championships/Olympics: we all know about these! Only for the best-of-the-best. There is no age limit — you’re never too young or too old!

Senior National Championships: held annually in early January. Typically a 4-race series that includes 2 sprints (skate & classic) and 2 “short” distance races (approx 5/10km for gals, 10/15km for boys). These events are open to anyone with a USSA license. The best juniors in the country will participate in hopes of qualifying for the J1 Scando Trip, Junior Worlds, and U-23 Worlds. The races are hosted by Soldier Hollow (Midway, UT) in both 2013 and 2014.

This past weekend we had our last training of the summer session, followed on Sunday by the Catamount Trail fundraiser “Race to the Top of Vermont” which is either a running or mountain bike race up the Mansfield Toll Road (Stowe). There were a ton of skiers and former skiers in the event: including a group of MNC athletes, Craftsbury Green Racing Project Elite Team members, and coaches.

Running results

In the women’s run, 5 of the top 9 are skiers:

• 1-Kasie Enman (Eli’s wife)
• 2-Caitlin Patterson (UVM Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 3-Ida Sargent (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 5- Clare Egan (UNH Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 7-Robyn Anderson (Middlebury Grad, VTXC)
• 9-Hannah Dreissigacker (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)

Other female skier sightings include current & former NENSA board members and other former coaches and recreational skiers and HS ski families:

• Hollenbachs, Spillanes, Eastmans, Pribrams, Rands, Hosmer, Geer, Van Dyke, 

In the men’s run, 12 of the top 20 are current or former skiers:

•  2-Gordon Vermeer (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 3-Nils Koons (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 4-Scott Patterson (UVM Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 6-Jordan Fields (Woodstock HS Grad)
• 7- Dylan McGuffin (UNH Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 8-Eli Enman COACH MNC and CVUHS!!
• 10-Tim Reynolds (Middlebury Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 11-Patrick O’Brien (Dartmouth Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 14-Mark Gilberston (Former US Ski Team / Olympian)
• 16-Bryan Cook (NMU Grad, Craftsbury GRP)
• 19-Nathan Alsobrook (Bowdoin College Head Coach)

Also sighted in the results:

• Kerrigans, Harmeyers, Skyler Davis, Howe, Kelloggs (Charlie formerly US Ski Team, Terry formerly Middlebury College), Darling

Mountain Bike:

•  Won by 2012 Olympian Lea Davison (Middlebury grad, former alpine racer, currently uses XC skiing as part of her winter-time training for MTB)
• Also seen: Harmeyer, Jamiesons (Mad River Valley BKL participants)

Cally Braun early in the race

MNC folks at the summit: Annavitte, Karin, Ethan, Liam, Bill, Penny, Alice

Pre-race: Annevitte, Bill, Henry, Autumn, Emma, Cally, Tatum

Saturday AM rollerski at Mud Pond: working on skate drills

A doctor at the Mayo Clinic recently published some thoughts on a subject that I find intriguing: should “deconditioning” (a fancy term for being out-of-shape) become a medical diagnosis? An excerpt from his article in the Journal of Physiology:

“Physical inactivity and lack of exercise – deconditioning – is one of the most common preventable causes of morbidity and mortality known for an impressive array of diseases (Thyfault & Booth, 2011).   . . .   If deconditioning were a recognized syndrome or diagnosis . . . it would be easier to educate the general public and medical community about the one universally effective treatment for it – exercise training.”

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Yesterday we trained at the Range on a perfect Vermont summer day. We were lucky to have 2 awesome MNC graduates back: Eric and Ben Lustgarten (Burlington HS alums that now ski at St. Lawrence and Middlebury, respectively). They’ve been training out in Sun Valley for most of the summer. Ben was one of the best XC runners in the state in ’09 as well as State Champ in skiing in 2010. Eric has come on full-bore in the past year, winning 2 Junior National Championships in one season! As a sophomore at Middlebury this past year, Ben qualified to represent the United States at Junior World Championships in Turkey! These guys represent some of the “old guard” that paved the way for the expansion of the Mansfield Nordic Club. Along with Peter Hegman [UVM], Jared Supple [Colby], John Dixon [Colby] and Emily Stitt [Middlebury], this crew of folks is kicking ass in the collegiate ranks. It goes to show just how much talent we have in this area.

The coaches set up technique and skills stations and the athletes did a continuous rollerski with stops to do the drills. We practiced sprint starts, 1-ski downhill balance, running uphill, striding through an uphill slalom, kick double pole, jumping on rollerskis, and bounding up a grassy hill with rollerskis on.

After no-pole warm up and about an hour of drills, everyone did some specific strength work. The big boys double-poled about 3 loops and the gals did a variety of double-pole and single-stick repeats. We ended with some max-power drills on a gradual up: go as far up the hill as possible in 10 poles.

Bounding on skis: notice the different body positions of Eric/Ben (left) and the younger guys

Sprint starts

Craig Calhoun working on the specific strength

Destyni catchin air! That takes confidence, power, agility, balance

Ethan Thibault – specific strength

Molly, Sienna, Leslie sprint starts

Most people do slalom downhill… we do it uphill (diagonal stride)

Bounding

Jordan Lamay catching air

Liam John working on the power

Junior National champs (and BHS grads) Ben and Eric Lustgarten are going to ski fast this winter!

Sienna looks excited – like Michael Jordan

Will Kay has got some power for a young guy – not to mention wicked determination.