There are a lot of “final” events in the season (see last week’s blog post, even) but it seems we can finally put the 2024/2025 season to bed with this year’s edition of Cochrans Nordic Cross. The fact that there was just barely enough snow to complete a course, and we were scraping snow back over the grass of each slalom gate before the second round really meant we carried out the season to the bitter end!
On Saturday a few MNC skiers braved the cold and rain to scope things out and help lay out a potential race route. The conditions were very soft, and Jimmy Cochran was going to have to wait until the day of the race to actually move the majority of the snowpack where it was needed. Creative measures like sneaking under the rope tow line and utilizing all of the left- and right-side slopes were critical. But the all-important “usual” features like the drain-swirl start, the massive bumps, the pond jump, and the “dead-bug-roll” over hay bales were not left out!
For race day, it was a celebration of the best parts of the New England ski community. World Cup and Olympic athletes like Ben Ogden and Julia Kern were present, wearing outrageous outfits and crashing just like the rest of us. The kids race was full of young shredders on everything from waxless fishscales, to skate skis, to alpine skis! It felt like a full 1/4 of the EISA collegiate field was in attendance, as well as most of the familiar Masters names from across the region. MNC had BKL, Junior, and Masters racers all competing.
In heats of 5, athletes took off from the top of the mountain. Pennie Rand had fun with the start list, putting together lots of friends and skiers of similar age and ability. The top 8 men and top 8 women each got to race a second time in the “finals” which meant another trip UP the mountain as well as down!
While this race takes a lot of skill, and does require some serious capacity (this year featured even more uphill than usual), everyone is at very different points in their season. Some Juniors are taking advantage of their best fitness ever, while others have begun track or soccer practice. Some college skiers have gotten a good night’s sleep, and others have…spent the night prior celebrating the end of the season, you could say. Masters are coming from long tours in the mountains, or even the Craftsbury Mud n’ Ice Quadrathlon the day prior.
After the first round shook out, it was up to Astrid, Acadia and I to head back up for the finals. Those two girls did MNC proud finishing in 5th and 6th, and they rocked some sweet coordinated tracksuits along with Mia. For the U16 podium they were joined by Ford Sayre’s Ollie Hanna.
As you can see, snow was minimal but the excitement was high!
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