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Introducing Friday Foxes!

By Kort Longenbach on 1 November, 2015 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule, Uncategorized

This season, we are excited to announce that the former Mt. Mansfield BKL group will merge into MNC, broadening the BKL offerings of the club and simplifying the Nordic options in our area.

As a result, a “Friday Foxes” program, which will primarily take place at Underhill Central School, will be added to our program menu in addition to the current Penguin, Jackrabbit and BK Race groups offered on by MNC on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Range.

The Friday Fox program is an introductory program for elementary- and middle school-aged skiers looking to learn the sport, have fun in an amazing setting and engage in the fundamentals of skiing. Many of the same leaders and volunteers that have been a part of the long-standing Friday tradition in Underhill will continue to be a part of the Friday Foxes group.

As a part of MNC, the Friday Foxes program registration will run through Mansfield Nordic’s online, PayPal-enabled sign-up system. All Friday Foxes participants will pay the same price as previous years for this program and will benefit from being part of the larger MNC club infrastructure.

Additional program details:

We are going to be skiing at Underhill Central School Fridays from 3:30-4:45 (later as the days grow longer). As you know, our long time hosts, Donna and Bob Hamill, are moving toward retirement and as such need to reduce their commitments. Our Friday ski program required a great deal of Donna’s time. We wish Bob and Donna lots of fun with their kids and grand children!!

Below are a few important points to be aware of:

We will ski primarily on UCS property and some immediately adjoining land
We hope to offer a couple of “off-site” days that will include sites like The Range, Mills River Side Park and Casey’s Hill
We will NOT be renting equipment this year. The Hammil Training Center Committee will be selling the current stock of rental skis Oct 26 3:00-5:00 and Oct 30 4:00-5:00 if stock remains. You may also seek-out rentals through NENSA www.nensa.net or The Alpine Shop. Check for used equipment on our ‘Gear Swap’ page (tab on top of home page) at www.mansfieldnordic.org . You can purchase at The Ski Rack, The Alpine Shop or at ski swaps.
Roy Dunphey will be coordinating Friday volunteers. He will e-mail all of you at a later date. Volunteers will be needed for:
- Leading children to their appropriate ski “groups”
- Helping kids, especially our youngest skiers, if they need to get inside to warm-up
- Hot Cocoa preparation and clean-up
- Management of the indoor space at UCS. The room location is TBD, but we will have access to a warm classroom to use in the fashion that we used the Hammil’s back porch.
- Clean-up of that room at the end of skiing
- Tidying of boy’s and girl’s bathrooms

This is going to be a GREAT year, but we cannot succeed without volunteers – please help out!!
Sign up will be online through the MNC website and will very closely resemble the program we have run at the Hamill’s for many years.

NNF Drive for 25: Harmeyer Edition

By Adam Terko on 29 October, 2015 in Uncategorized

Want to support the development of our sport? Check out the awesome fundraising page put together by the Harmeyer brothers as part of the National Nordic Foundation’s “Drive for 25”. Help America’s developing skiers achieve their dreams and compete (and top) the world’s best!

Ski swappin’

By Adam Terko on 27 October, 2015 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog, Uncategorized

It is ski swap season…in fact, a few have already passed us by! Finding some real gems at a local ski swap is one of the joys of the sport…

prized boards from the Colchester ski swap of 2006

prized hot pink and neon boards from the Colchester ski swap of 2006

If you were not aware, MNC has it’s own “Gear Swap” page…check it out HERE! You can find this page at the very top of the MNC homeage.

The club is happy to work with individuals who have gear they are looking to sell, and equally happy to help set up skiers with the right used equipment. If you are interested in donating or selling gear, please contact Karen at kalence@comcast.net.

As the weather turns cold, also be sure to check out local ski swaps, many of which are fundraisers for schools or local ski clubs and programs just like MNC! A listing can be found on the Ski Maven website by clicking HERE.

MNC Membership

By Kort Longenbach on 11 October, 2015 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog, Uncategorized

This season, Mansfield Nordic is introducing and promoting a MNC Club Membership. MNC wanted to create a means to enable all club participants and supporters, including those who don’t participate in training programs, to both support our mission and share in the benefits that our club offers. We have a number of great incentives for membership and are continually working to develop new partnerships for even greater rewards! This membership also involves a fee structure, which addresses the increasing insurance costs and overhead associated with our programs and the hiring of a full time Executive Director/Head Coach.

To offset this fee, we will no longer require all of our members to purchase a NENSA membership. In addition to club discounts and promotions, all club members will also have access to special MNC events, activities and celebrations throughout the year.

Once they have joined, club members will be provided with an official MNC Membership number that allows them to enroll in our training programs and take advantage of club benefits.

For more information and to sign up, please see the MNC Membership page on our website.

Mad River Field Trip (East Warren TT)

By Adam Terko on 3 October, 2015 in Junior Blog, Uncategorized

We took an extremely fun field trip to the Mad River today…rallying in the valley and up over App Gap to our friends at GMVS! The first order of business was to gather up with the new GMVS coaches Kat Howe and Garrott Kuzzy (hey, that name sounds familiar??) for a lo-down on the course and races: 10km and 5km mass start races on East Warren road. (results at the bottom of this post)

When the morning fog lifted we were greeted with an awesome fall day with great foliage and even some frost and ice on the mountaintops.

5km racers just after the gun goes off! Yes, Ben is on classic gear…he double-poled the whole 5km including the Plunkton hill!

Will, Elliot and Forrest out of the gate!

Here’s a short clip of the 10km men…I was very excited about the skiing and also about the scenery as you can tell!

A nice handy tailwind allowed for some very fast times, and all three of the 10k boys posted some of the faster times ever for the course! Kat and I only got to witness the start and finish, but Garrott (in van #2) saw the battle unfolding. He said it was an impressive display of smart, aggressive skiing: lead changes, quick little breakaways and re-connections and great head-to-head racing for the whole 10km!

In the 5km, Greg stuck to his pre-race plan: go out hard and push the whole way. He threw down a blistering race in just over 13 minutes and came across the line looking strong. Greg has put in some great training this summer and was slamming his poles down into the pavement with some jackhammer forces! Andre hung tough and tried to latch on to Greg for the first section of the course, ending up with a really strong performance for his first-ever rollerski race. Just like Greg, Andre is still a U16 and is going to turn some heads this season!

Andre rounding the turn…possibly hitting 40mph

Due to nerve injuries that are still getting diagnosed, Ben C has been classic skiing and double poling all summer. He definitely put that to the test today as he double poled the entire course…tough stuff. It takes a lot of perseverance to only be able to ski one technique but the payoff has been big gains in strength, power and technique!

Due to XC running season and SAT exams, the MNC female contingent was unable to make it. Coach Sara jumped in to double the women’s field size and had a great race…there are rumors she may put Alaska behind her and roll VT-style to jump in some Eastern Cups this winter!

Happy gang at the finish…never forget the flag!

Heading back to base...and spotting some frost on the hills!

Heading back to base…and spotting some frost on the top of the mountains!

After a cooldown both groups enjoyed some large burritos, cokes and mingling at the Mad Taco in Waitsfield…a classic apres-ski joint if I have ever seen one. All in all it was a pretty great lunch…Greg limited himself to one soda, Kai learned what cilantro was and nobody burned their faces off with hot sauce.

A burrito from the Mad Taco

After parting ways with GMVS we saddled up for another adventure. The Gumbies were finishing off a week of intensity but we were after volume, and we weren’t just about to drive all the way to Waitsfield for a rollerski hammerfest and some mexican food! On Garrott and Forrest’s advice we headed up to Blueberry Lake for some light distance training.

I went out for a mountain bike ride with Kai and Greg, while Sara explored the same trails on foot with Andre and Ben. Great trails with only a few Jerry’s in the way to inhibit maximum speed and gnar on the downhills!

Greg shreds so hard he can bike on water!

Happy group after session number two…coach is too tired to keep his eyes open?

What started as a frigid morning turned into a spectacular fall day in the mountains. Adventures like this are a great way to make the most out of the incredible terrain (and friends/competitors/teammates) we are surrounded by. Here in VT we are lucky to have ski clubs and training partners around every corner, so it’s easy to coordinate and get groups together for collaborations like this. Plans are already in the works for our next rendezvous with the GMVS crew…discussions of a rollerski sprint race under the lights at the Range were tossed around…stay tuned!