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Mad River BKL Race Recap

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 24 January, 2022 in BKL Race Blog

Off they go! The Lollipopers kick off the racing at the Mad River BKL Race on a gorgeous winter afternoon!

It was another bluebird day for the Mad River BKL Race at Ole’s Touring Center in Warren, VT. Race organizers Justin Beckwith and Brie Pike-Springer planned well, scheduling all the races for the afternoon when things had warmed up after a very cold night.

It’s been a long time since Ole’s has held a race and an even longer time since I have skied there. It turned out to be a great venue with great snow and grooming. A 1.5 km loop was groomed out in the fields across from the airstrip and we had that whole side of the road to ourselves. The Races started with a challenging Lollipop race where MNC’s Daisy Tremble and others had to ski up a hill, down and around a corner and back to the finish line where they collected their lollipops. Brother Oliver Tremble skied the 1/2 classic race, easily leading the way for a first place finish. Oliver also skied the 3/4 skate race along with MNC’s Mazzy Merritt who came straight from Bolton’s alpine hill, putting in a Ski Meister day.

We had a great squad of 5/6 racers who dominated the field. Liam Vile, Fiona Repp, Oakley Crawford, and Ansel Sprague all skied incredibly well and finished at the top with Liam leading the pack. Fiona had a sprint to the finish and kept two speedy contesters at bay with her incredible tempo and push.

Mary Moyer skied the 7/8 race and did a tremendous job in a very competitive field. She and the other racers had to ski 3 times around the loop which went up a big hill, moseyed around the top and then descended steeply to the finish. She skied very hard and finished fourth for the girls! Congratulations to all these MNC racers!

Results

Lollipopper Daisy Tremble looking very steady on her skis!

Oliver with a fast start in the 1/2 race! Look at that forward lean!

Mazzy Merritt (on the right) in a speedy finish! It was a skimeister day for Mazzy who left the alpine hill just in time to race here.

Liam passing the lap zone with his solid V-2 technique.

You can tell Fiona is pushing hard through the lap!

Ansel with focus and grit doing such a great job through the lap zone!

You can tell Oakley is gathering a lot of power for his next V-2 push here!

Mary Moyer had a good start and leaves many behind in the 7/8 race. I think that’s a smile on her face!

MNC Skiathlon coming up!

By Adam Terko on 24 January, 2022 in BKL Race Blog, Masters Blog

The MNC Skiathlon is on Sunday, February 13th this year! Join us for the big race that WE host every year, with races for all ages and abilities!

The BKL races are a main highlight, but with Zak Cup and Club Cup points up for grabs the Popular/Citizen races should certainly be a draw for adults. There is even a “what the heck” race for first-time racers and low-key fun competition!

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact organizer Christine Massey (Christine.Massey@uvm.edu) to help out.

Registration can be found at the link below on SkiReg:

MNC Skiathlon Registration

Full schedule:

BKL Sliver Fox Trot Photos & Blog!

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 17 January, 2022 in BKL Race Blog

Ollie Laber skiing in the Lollipop race.

It was a bluebird day with temps in the teens for this year’s Silver Fox Trot held by the Ford Sayer Club at Rikert Touring Center. This is always a fun, well-attended, well-run race and this year was no exception. With a dinosaur leading off the lollipop race and a pair of chickens leading out the 1/2 race the fun factor was high and there were lots of smiling kids! Add to that the post-BKL Citizens Race where you get to watch the juniors, the coaches and maybe even your parents race while you hang out with your ski buddies and you’ve got a fun day in the sun for any BKL skier! Congratulations to Ollie Laber, Finn Laber, Brooke Greenberg, Oakley Crawford, Ansel Sprague, Liam Vile, Dylan Torrizo, Matias Citarella and Jonah Gorman for doing a great job on the challenging terrain at Rikert!

Finn Laber tearing up the hill to the finish line.

Brooke Greenberg skied so fast that she won the 5/6 girls race!

Oakley Crawford pushes hard as he heads out on his second lap.

Ansel Sprague kicks up powder as he rounds the turn.

Liam Vile charging up the hill to the finish.

Jonah Gorman storms up the hill.

Dylan powers up the hill to the finish.

Matias charging through the lap lane.

Matias charges through the lap lane!

Silver Fox Trotting / Craftsbury Scrambling!

By Adam Terko on 17 January, 2022 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

It was a great Sunday for racing! According to a NENSA post, between the three large citizen/popular races on the schedule in New England this Sunday, a total of over 600 skiers were registered to compete! That’s an awesome stat and a real reason why our part of the country has such a strong skiing culture.

MNC members were mostly split between the two Vermont-based events: The Silver Fox Trot at Riker, and the Craftsbury Scramble at (of course) Craftsbury.

The Silver Fox featured a big BKL field, and races from lollipop competitions all the way to middle school and open races where Juniors and Masters went head-to-head. The bright sun and fast snowmaking loop meant for speedy racing and fun challenging corners.

Start of one of the BKL races at the Silver Fox

Our middle school contingent was well represented by skiers like Brooke, Jonah, Matias, and Dylan. Here’s a short clip of them in action.

The biggest mass start of the day was the Open/Citizen’s race, where a large group of MNC Juniors and Masters took part. Unlike an Eastern Cup, this was self-seeded and so even arriving to the start 5 minutes early was a bit too late for most of the Juniors (and their unaware coach Adam) and so starting near the back made for an extra fun challenge. Mass starts at Rikert are notoriously sketchy (a wide field that narrows quite rapidly, with large trees acting as guard rails) but this provided extra practice for bigger races! The crew skied great, and it is so fun to have races with everyone competing. Special shoutout to MNC’s southernmost racer Dave Johnstone who made the trip up from the Brattleboro area to fly the club colors.

Results for U16 and Citizen races here

Up north of Rikert, the MNC skiers were teaming up for a partnered relay featuring jumps, bumps and obstacles.

With a slate of funny and clever team names, it’s hard to tell just what kind of MNC speed was in the mix, but we are aware that the team Last One Fast One, comprised of Sara Falconer and Michael Gaughan, took a podium and some great points! Congrats to that quick duo,

Results for the open mied scramble can be found here, and the main page of Webscorer has links to other categories too!

Most of the Juniors will have a week off from NENSA racing before really hitting a big slate of competitions for the rest of the winter. Masters have options ranging from the White Mountain Classic, to the Gunstock Freestyle or Prospect Sprints. Check out the NENSA calendar for links!

Wax tip: Silver Fox Trot

By Adam Terko on 12 January, 2022 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

Note the date of this race has changed from Saturday (1/15) to Sunday (1/16). You can register for the race here.

Times vary from BKL races in the morning to the open/citizen races after noon.

Temps will be very cold the day prior, with abrasive manmade snow. To prepare for this, put at least two cold layers of wax (Swix CH4, Toko Blue, or other similar cold, hard glide wax) into your skis to harden the base. If you have a cold, hard graphite wax, apply this layer first (scraping and brushing before subsequent layers).

If you have Toko X-Cold powder or Swix CH3 powder, these are good options to put on the skis as a final layer. The preferred method here is to crayon or drip an amount of blue or green wax onto the skis first. Then, before ironing, sprinkle cold powder over the glide zone. Iron the glide wax and cold powder together. See video below for reference. Be sure to brush out skis thoroughly!