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NOTE: Rick Lelito is missing a black Swiss army knife from the event. If you happen to have found it during clean-up please contact Adam via email: adamRterko@gmail 

Yesterday the club hosted a new event. Branching out from our popular Duathlon, one of the  biggest BKL and Zak Cup races in the area, we put together a trail run in order to bring racers together in the summer. Our first go with this event went smoothly, with an incredible course (thank you Keenan family), a delicious sampling of BBQ food (thanks Grillmasters Rick and Gary) and a competitive and excited group.

MNC Trail Run Results

Here are some photos from Gary Solow:

A group photo before the start

They’re off!

Beautiful fields, wooded paths, and rolling hills

Inaugural men’s champ Brendan Copely

Women’s champ Coach Sara

Thanks to all the participants and supporters! I am looking forward to this event possibly coming back, and maybe growing more.

The trail run was only the final event of a busy week, however. I’d like to take a moment to welcome and introduce two international skiers who have joined the MNC Juniors, and who will be around for the rest of the summer: Marti and Mathilde! Marti is with us from Spain, where he is involved with both Nordic skiing and biathlon. Mathilde has joined us from her home of Oslo, Norway, right in the heart of the Scandinavian ski world.

Both Marti and Mathilde have brought some great new dynamics to the group. We are definitely humbled by their multilingual abilities (Marti speaks 4 languages!) but also by their dedication to training and new experiences. I’ve been trying to learn some new training words and phrases each practice, and finding out little tidbits of how clubs and groups overseas do things.

Mathilde working on some ‘styrke’ by towing Sara along!

It was interesting to hear that Mathilde had never heard of grass skiing…maybe it’s at least one leg-up we have on Team Norway? Regardless of how widespread it is, we did a little of this last week and it gave me some more ideas to take the exercise up a notch. On Thursday we expanded our grass skiing drills with a custom course and even more skis.

What’s more, we now have a GoPro to use at practice, which means even more fun videos. Here is a quick edit of our grass skiing session. Special thanks to Adam Glueck, another guest athlete this summer, for helping film some of this!

Thanks for a great race everyone! Results are linked below, with photos to follow soon!

MNC Trail Run 2016 Results

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our End-Of-Season Party at Craftsbury on Sunday! There was still skiing to be had, believe it or not! We had snow, sun, and great food from the Outdoor Center staff. Here are some photos from Dave Priganc…find more at the MNC Flickr page!

Ok, maybe there wasn’t snow EVERYWHERE…

Never too old for some swinging

Coach Adam gives a little speech to recap the season

Evidence of who started the snowball fight on Mt Craftsbury…

Happy club of skiers!

A photo staged by Coach Adam earlier in the day…big air in the tunnel!

Given what nature doled out these past few months, it might be all too easy to remember this by the weather. While the “year of the purple klister” was certainly sad in terms of snowfall, there were some serious highlights for MNC. This club pushed past the brutal dry grass and pavement, and came away with big successes!

I’ve gone through some of the many stacks of results that have been filtering in throughout the season. While this club is far more than its results alone, I thought it would be cool to look back at some of our accomplishments. Be it a local, regional or national stage, MNC certainly showed it’s speed and depth this year!

-The ever-growing MNC Duathlon was a big success, and brought tons of skiers together for a day of racing for all ages. Podiums and wins were numerous!

-For the first-time ever, Mansfield Nordic was on the podium in the NENSA’s Zak Cup championship thanks to big participation and results in regional events. Heck, we even beat Dartmouth! Congrats as well to many MNC members who were on the podium in their respective age groups, and JoAnn Hanowski for capturing the individual crown.

-At the VT High School State Championships, MNC skiers achieved 17 top ten results, including 5 podiums

-MNC had 8 athletes on the EHSC/U16 Championship teams, and achieved 7 top ten results at these regional events

-MNC was represented by Greg Burt at Junior Nationals in Wisconsin. Greg picked up 2 top ten individuals and a 5th place finish in the relay

-On the Eastern Cup circuit, MNC athletes achieved 13 top tens, 6 podiums and 1 victory. What’s more, 4 U16 men from Mansfield Nordic ended the season in the top-15 of the rankings – a feat only matched by SMS

-33 top ten finishes, including 15 podiums, were recorded by MNC athletes at the NENSA BKL Festival

-Eliza, Marika and Tim picked up 8 podium finishes in the week-long North American Biathlon Nationals in Fort Kent. Tim swept the series with three gold medals in the Senior Boys division!

-Tim’s results in biathlon qualified him to race in the “Liatoppen Skiskytterfestival” in Norway this spring. That marks 2 years in a row MNC athletes have been racing in Europe!

Eastern High School Champions…Team Vermont!

JN relay action

Eliza racing at Jr World Biathlon trials in Alaska

Will, Baxter and Kai crushing the Eastern Cup

Don’t mess with these three! Future of the sport right here

It has definitely been a season I will remember…and NOT just because of the weather. The trips, the races, the venues, the training, the travel, the waxing, the cheering, the food, the games, and most of all the athletes, have made this an incredible 2016/2017 winter. Go Pugs!