Archive | Masters Blog

BK and Masters 1/25- 1/31 UPDATED 1/27

By Adam Terko on 25 January, 2015 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule, Masters Blog, Masters Training Schedule

TWO NEW ITEMS

THURSDAY 1/29 – BK and 3:30 Masters will Classic ski at Catamount in Williston. All skiers must purchase a trail pass for $5. WE should have a few inches of new snow by then but just in case bring older skis if you have them. Also if you have some kick wax you could bring that would be helpful because most of the club kick wax will be up in Craftsbury in preparation for the marathon on Sunday.
The 3^rd Eastern Cup race of the season is scheduled at Craftsbury for Feb 7-8 and there is a BK race about noon on Saturday February 7. Here is the link describing the race details. https://www.nensa.net/calendar/index.php?id=1701 We would like to provide a big potluck for the team. If your child plans to race, please click on the link below and help contribute to this potluck. Please see: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0E48ABA928A3F85-craftsbury1 The link is being shared with the Junior Team parents as well because the Juniors will be racing Saturday and Sunday mornings. Thus, we’ll have a large portion of the club together on Saturday! It is a great opportunity for some of the BK kids to see some top competitors skiing.

Thanks for your contribution.

Victoria and Sharon

Tuesday 1/27 – BK and Masters at Range regular times. CLASSIC SKIS.

Masters that will be racing on Thursday – this should be an easy day! Especially if you plan on racing TH and SAT.

BK – Meet inside for kick waxing. If you get there early look for cones for agility skiing then as a group: No poles warmup 10 – 15 minutes. Followed by 10-15 minutes DP. Then off with your coaches.

Thursday 1/29

Range is closed during daylight hours due to army artillery training. Please DO NOT go to the range during the day. BK and early Masters location TBD but we are looking at Catamount in Williston. Check back for details. Note: Coach Rick will be in Craftsbury with Masters today.
6 pm Masters will be at the range – SKATE SKIS
National Masters 10km skate race at Craftsbury 2:30 start time:– http://www.craftsbury.com/skiing/marathon/masters-national-championships/ . MNC will have coaches on hand to help and we will post a wax recommendation by Tuesday night. Also check http://www.tokous.com/racewaxtips.htm for race wax recommendations. Hope to see lot of MNC Masters skiers there!

Saturday 1/31

Craftsbury Marathon and National Masters Championships 9AM Start. http://www.craftsbury.com/skiing/marathon/general-information/ . MNC will have coaching and wax support from Murray Banks and Peter Davis. If you would like a particular drink/feed please label your bottles(s) and give to Murray prior to the race and he will have it on course for you. We will be testing kick waxes on Friday and post our recommendations in the late afternoon. So far it looks like a straight forward wax day with cold temps but keep an eye on the forecast.
If any BK kids are going to ski the Marathon (25 KM) as a tour please email Coaches Rick, rtcostanza@gmail.com and Anna anna.r.schulz@gmail.com. Anna will ski with kids that would like to do this. See the Craftsbury website for details. Multiple kids can ski w/one or more full price adult coach(es).

OTHER:

Carpooling to Carftsbury Marathon: Ben Gorskey is looking to car pool from the burlington area. Contact him at: bengordesky@burlingtontelecom.net
There have been some complaints about speeding vehicles on Ethan Allen Road. Of course it isn’t any MNC members but…please observe the posted speed limit. Thanks!

Weekend Race Recap; Links to results

By Adam Terko on 25 January, 2015 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

Link to all Pursuit race results.

Friday afternoon was the annual High School Pursuit race at the Range. This is a highlight of the winter for many skiers as it is such a big, exciting, and hotly-contested race. MNC skiers — representing their respective high schools — had more great results this year. The MNC boys trio of Charlie Maitland, Ethan John and Greg Burt (CVU, EHS, MMU) swept the podium. In the gals’ race, it was MNC’s Amy Bruce followed closely by Rachel Slimovitch (MMU, CVU) to take the top-2 spots!

Also in the top 10, which means they each get a delicious homemade pie as their prize, were Chloe Lemmel Hay (EHS), Abby Grab (MMU) and Tatum Braun (CVU) in 8th/9th/10th, respectively.

And in the boys field, Ben Carnahan (CVU) nabbed 6th overall for one of his best races ever, followed by Charlie Cobb (MMU) and Baxter Bishop (CVU) in 8th and 9th, respectively.

In the middle-school races, more MNC athletes took the podium positions. Kai Richter and Quincy Massey Bierman each won the middle school races (boys/girls). Hot on Kai’s heels were some of our other BKLers: Aidan Burt and Charles Martell came in 2nd and 3rd.

On Saturday a half-dozen MNC juniors went to race in Lake Placid on the 1980 Olympic trails at Mt Van Hovenberg — where I spent a lot of time skiing as a young’n. The 7.5km classic course was really tough, but the trails are just so incredibly fun and the conditions were perfect. Gary Solow, normally our race-day photographer, became part of the wax crew and helped the athletes have great kick when he suggested I use some Start kick wax.

The athletes did great and got to see an awesome venue on a beautiful day. A few photos from Gary are below, and here are links to Harry Eldridge Men and Harry Eldridge Womens results.

Impossible not to smile on a day like yesterday. Especially once the sun came out!

Henry making his way up

Bill bombing the down

Will Solow on the big ascent

Olivia Cuneo now representing GMVS

Amy Bruce – fresh off her victory the day before at the HS Pursuit Race

Eliza Thomas loved the big climbs!

BK INFO for 1/25 and 1/31, Masters class too!

By Adam Terko on 22 January, 2015 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule, Masters Blog, Masters Training Schedule

MNC Duathlon 1/25/15 – Craftsbury

RACE DAY
Team wax bench will be set up by noon. Look for the blue MNC Tent. Please arrive to have your skis waxed 1 hour before your designated class starts. Glide wax recommendations for Sunday -predicted high temp 31F. TOKO RED LF or NF, SWIX CH or LF 8. A thin hard-wax binder like TOKO green ironed in the night before should be fine. Don’t forget you will need both skate and classic gear!
First Course Preview at 12:30 and the with later start groups previewing as needed. Coaches and Parent skiers – we will need your help to make sure kids understand the course.

GENERAL INFO
http://www.mansfieldnordic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Duathlon2015raceflyer1.pdf

Three things to do at this point:

1) Register on-line: https://www.skireg.com/Net/bkl-duathlon

2) Let christine.massey@uvm.edu know your choice of Volunteer Positions from below! Blank spaces still need filling.

3) Sign up to bring snacks/treats (cookies, fruit, cheese/crackers, pretzels, paper goods, etc.)

CRAFTSBURY MARATHON 1/31/15

Kids can participate too!! Checkout the link: https://www.skireg.com/25or50km

This is a great chance for parents and kids to ski 25km on a supported course. We will have the MNC tent set up and have plenty of coaches to help with waxing. Bring food, smiles and lots of energy to New England’s biggest ski marathon. Many of our MNC Masters will be competing so join the fun!

[Updated] Rumford Eastern Cup Recap & Photos

By Adam Terko on 19 January, 2015 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

This past weekend was the 2nd of 4 Eastern Cup weekends. We traveled to Rumford, ME, for a freestyle distance race on Saturday followed by a classic sprint on Sunday. The crew was slim due to the conflict with the HS pursuit race, but MNC had an exciting weekend and good racing by each of our athletes. Highlights from the weekend were Bill Harmeyer’s 8th place finish on Sunday (top U18), and all of the MNC athletes qualified to ski in the head-to-head heats on Sunday!

Bill Harmeyer and Forrest Hamilton celebrate their top-12 finishes in the sprint

Saturday started with bitter cold temps and strong winds putting the U16 boys out onto course in brutal conditions. The trails at Black Mountain are really fun, and a nice contrast to the Breadloaf and Trapp’s race courses that were designed by John Morton. Morton loves to pack trails into a small area, resulting in lots of twists and turns. Further, he is known for making lots of “s-turn” downhills which are technically very challenging and become not very fun if the conditions are really hard and fast. Rumford, however, has wide trails and is not a terribly technical venue. The trails are tough due to the hills, which is what I like: bomb the downhills and carry your speed into the big climbs!!! Even the younger athletes can just get down in a tuck and relax and smile when they descend, rather than worry about sliding into a ditch or a tree.

Will Solow was our lone U16 boy this weekend. He looked strong and raced amidst a pack of the best boys in the country. Battling the cold, the winds, and the infamous “High School Hill,” Will skied to a strong 13th place which is his best of the season. Bill Harmeyer was our lone U18 boy and he go to ski the 5km loop twice. He started fast and was reeling in some of the earlier racers, then tired and lost some time in the 2nd lap. Overall a solid distance race for Bill, but he was looking forward more to Sunday’s sprints! Marika Massey-Bierman was also racing for Craftsbury and she skied strong to a 13th place showing.

Saturday were the sprints and the Harmeyer bros – perenially very strong sprinters – were stoked to get after it. Will and Marika haven’t had much experience in sprints, so I think both were feeling a mix of excitement and perhaps some anxiety! Temps were a bit warmer and eventually we had some snow, rain and then freezing rain, but the course was good in spite of very little snow.

The coolest thing about the weekend was seeing all 4 of our MNC athletes qualifying for the heats. Bill and Henry were in the top-30 overall so they advanced to the Open Men’s Heats. Marika Massey-Bierman and Will Solow were in the top 12 U16s so they got to compete in the J2 heats.

Marika had some strong striding up the big hill to advance from her semifinal to the A-final, but didn’t quite have the gas in the finale. She ended up having her first-ever top-1o result at an Eastern Cup!

Will Solow also skied strong in his semifinal during the brief rainstorm. All the boys had really slick skis but Will was able to double-pole the big climb while others did a herring-bone. He came into the homestretch in 4th but with lots of momentum and a strong double-pole. Sadly he was boxed-out and couldn’t pass anyone in the last 100m, so he finished 4th and went on to the B-final. Conditions continued changing and Will decided to do what the World Cuppers do in his B-final: he elected to double-pole the entire 1.4km course on his skate skis!! He was right in the mix early, then tangled with a boy and they lost some time and momentum. He had a hard time recovering and ended up 6th in the heat and 14th overall on the day.

Bill and Henry were unfortunate to be in the same quarterfinal along with the fastest skier of the day (a Canadian U23). While Henry was a bit off the pace, Bill was hanging tough and finished 3rd in the heat — good enough to move to the semifinals as “lucky loser” along with Forrest Hamilton from a later heat. Bill had a tough semifinal and lost contact with the leaders and ended up with Forrest in the Men’s B Final. Bill skied really strong and had a fierce double pole down the homestretch to finish 2nd in the heat meaning 8th overall on the day and top U18!

After that we all had scary drives home in the freezing rain and black ice.

Henry Harmeyer in the qualifier round

Will Solow rounds the fast corner in his U16 semifinal

Bill Harmeyer edges out a Dartmouth skier to advance from quarters to semis

BK and Masters 1/20-1/25

By Adam Terko on 19 January, 2015 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule, Masters Blog, Masters Training Schedule

Tuesday 1/20 – SKATE SKIING

BK
BK Racing -biathlon shooting with EABC
Jackrabbits and Penguins -Tennis ball biathlon

MASTERS
Focus for the day is on skiing hills – both up and down
3:30 Group – Guest Coach JoAnn Hanowski

Thursday 1/22 – CLASSIC SKIING

BK
BK Racing and Jackrabbits – Pursuit/Duathlon Race Training – Please bring both classic and skate skis

MASTERS

COMP GOUP 6:00 – Special Guest Coach Peter Davis – Learn from the master of classic skiing!
Intermediate and beginner groups – focus on hill skiing both ups and downs

Friday 1/23
BK COMP GROUP ONLY – ski as forerunners/sweepers between heats of MMU Pursuit Race at the range. Schedule TBD. Need skate skis.

Sunday 1/25 – MASTERS AND BK GREAT OPTIONS!

MNC Classic/skate Pursuit Race at Craftsbury – Competitions for all age group. REGISTRATION at http://www.mansfieldnordic.org/event/mnc-duathlon-2/?utm_source=Copy+of+%2714-%2715+MNC+eBlast+%2313&utm_campaign=eBLast&utm_medium=email

Marathon Pre race recon and tour with Murray https://mlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/08f8a34a301/a34bfe9b-b1bc-49a3-b4a5-08dd83faff34.pdf?utm_source=Copy+of+%2714-%2715+MNC+eBlast+%2313&utm_campaign=eBLast&utm_medium=email