Waterville, Maine is a long ways from Vermont. It’s our longest Eastern Cup trip of the year, which gives plenty of time for anticipatory car rides to the races and reflective drives home.
There seemed to be a vibe of malaise and dread among the team leading into the weekend…at least, that’s how it felt to me at times. Despite some nice snow conditions and the excitement of kicking things off for real, there were looming college decisions to be announced and that ever-present fear of “was our training enough?”
As I’ve coached more and more, as Covid has changed our perceptions of what’s important, and as social media and teenage society has evolved, I’ve tried to put less emphasis on things like Junior Nationals, ranking lists, and who-is-beating-who out there. I used to give impassioned speeches at every training camp about how we were going to “show the ski academies that we can be just as strong” and “send more skiers to Junior Nationals than ever” and “be the top club from New England” etc etc…that underdog mentality and need to prove something always motivated me, and I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t still. Sport does inherently involve competition, and if I wasn’t competitive myself things might look very different on this team.
Yet it feels like competition and comparison can be inescapable sometimes. This can lead to negative physical and emotional outcomes, instead of driving inspiration and achievement. How do we celebrate success effectively and in a healthy way? I think it’s easy to recognize and promote something like a podium at face value alone (“That’s a podium! Look how great!”) and then feel the need to clarify other results a bit further down the rankings with more description (“So-and-so didn’t get on the podium, but they really improved their double pole this year!”)
But everyone works hard at this sport, even the people that get on a podium and sometimes make it look easy…and my goal this year is to share more about each skier whenever possible. There are a lot of skiers on this team, so this doesn’t necessarily mean giving you the backstory on every result of every race, but I hope that everyone can appreciate the steps these athletes have taken to get where they are…wherever that currently is!
Saturday: Classic Sprint
You are always one step behind on classic sprint day. Glide, kick, 15 second start intervals, one race after another, then heats, then U18/U20 heats, then U16 heats…things started at sunrise and ended at sunset. Literally.
But everything I wrote about our classic skiing in last week’s blog held true. Classic sprinting is the trickiest format of our sport to master, and yet somehow again and again our club shows our prowess in this technique and race type. A classic sprint has been held at Junior Nationals 4 times since 2014, and MNC has had a Junior National Champion in the event on 3 of those occasions (Forrest Hamilton 2014, Aidan Burt 2019, and Ava Thurston 2022, respectively).
Our crew came out of the gates absolutely firing for the first event of the 23/24 Eastern Cup season. In the open women’s race, MNC had 4 juniors make the rounds, second only to home course racers of Colby (5 skiers) in terms of presence! Across all open heats, U18/U20 heats, and U16 heats, we were well-represented. Lots of racing throughout the afternoon!
For some, this was the first classic sprint they had ever done. While some first-timers made it into rounds, just getting the experience of this format can teach a lot about classic racing. Things are not quite as simple as “kick, glide, double pole” as power, running, tempo, and pacing are all thrown into the mix.
In the open heats were Kate, Gillian, Virginia, Julia, and Anders. Of course, as is common at the first Eastern Cup, many MNC alums were present skiing for their respective schools. One heat even featured four past-and-present MNC skiers: Gillian, Hattie (UNH), Julia, and Emma (UVM):
On the men’s side, Anders found himself racing with Charles (UNH):
Kate is a U16, and was one of only three U16 women to make the open heats. Always one for a wise and prophetic phrase at the right moment, before her heat Kate said “I know everyone in my heat, so I’m trying to ignore how fast I expect them to be.” Pretty strong psychological approach right there.
Despite a college-heavy field, our open skiers all held their own. Anders advanced all the way to the final, earning him a 6th place overall finish and 3rd overall U18. Kate’s efforts earned her the top among the U16 field, and her first Eastern Cup victory!
Kate skiing totally un-phased among many older competitors
Kate for the win!
Following the open heats were rounds for both U18/U20 skiers, and then U16 heats at sunset. The U18/U20 fields still featured many collegiate athletes, although the club competition was also much more heated. Niko, Elsa, and Seven were fighting for position in these heats. After her first summer of ski training (upon learning from teammates on the bus ride back from U16 Championships in Fort Kent last year that summer training was a thing skiers could do) words can’t really describe the technique progress Seven has made, especially in classic, so I’ll have to edit a video or something. Her and Niko didn’t advance from their heats, but put up great battles.
It was Elsa who stormed on, winning her heat and then the final to bring an MNC skier back up to the top of the podium! This race was possibly boosted by Elsa finding out only hours before that she was accepted into Bates (along with Taylor and Rye!) and will be skiing for the Bobcats next year! It was a powerful performance, because the impending decision had clearly been weighing on Elsa. When you have to focus on a race, that’s one thing, but when there are distractions like your future up in the air it can make it doubly hard to execute and perform. It was great to see so many of our skiers able to really focus and nail the process.
But the day wasn’t done…the U16 category were racing to reach the finish line before the sun set! Charlotte and Astrid found themselves in a heat together, and neither had experienced a classic sprint before. It was so great that they got to get in both solo (qualifier) and head-to-head (heats) racing in the same day.
Brooke was in another heat, and she skied her way into second place and then third in the U16 final, strong enough for 6th U16 overall when you take into account the three in the open heats!
Jonah and Henry were our competitors in the men’s U16 heats, and although a broken pole didn’t stop Henry from finishing, it did keep him from battling as much as he wanted. Jonah advanced to the U16 final, the very last race of the day. Since no U16 men’s skiers made the open heats, this one was for all the marbles!
It wasn’t really close…by the end of the first climb it was very apparent that Jonah was skiing superbly. With flowing and powerful motions, he easily gapped the competition, and a super push over the top of the biggest climb assured him of a celebratory cruise to the finish line.
Jonah trains pretty damn hard, and despite his exterior persona of chugging Mug root beer and quoting South Park, he is not messing around when it comes to learning about training, working on improving in all aspects, and finding the right headspace to perform. In fact, as a coach I would argue that his balanced approach of hard work on the “grind,” mixed with soda and cartoons, helps to keep everything in perspective and allows for an appreciation of both the highs and lows.
Two different athletes (Kate and Jonah) achieving their first Eastern Cup victories in the same day! Pretty sweet!
Sunday: Skate Distance
Things are always more simple on skate day. Quarry Road did an awesome job grooming in colder temps, which provided a really nice surface that could’ve very easily been a sheet of ice.
You know which club is very accustomed to skiing on manmade ice and sugar this year? MNC of course!
Things got underway with U16 races, in a brutal turnaround to give the youngest age group…racing until sunset on Saturday, and then first out the gate on Sunday? Woof. Some of the athletes mentioned that they had a harder time warming up and feeling ready to race, so it’s a good reminder that sometimes refining the little things like afternoon jogs, warmup protocol or even accessories like hip bands or weights, can make a difference. We’re always learning.
The boys started it off, and although Jonah was unable to recapture the big win of the day before, 4th place was still super solid in an extremely tight 5km field. Henry found himself in 12th and is knocking on the door of the top 10!
The U16 women had extremely strong day as a group, with Kate, Brooke, and Astrid stacking the top-10 with 4th, 6th, and 8th, and winning the race on the day.
In the open races, college skiers and juniors all formed trains up and down the hills. The sugary snow really made climbing difficult (think running through sand, as opposed to on a road or track) while the downhills became icy berms with banks of thick snow to “ride” on with skis thrown sideways.
Anders had his best skate race ever, cruising to 3rd place among U18s and conquering both the steep hills and glide-heavy flat sections of the course. With very little recovery, this was a course that rewarded constant pushing.
Speaking of constant pushing, Taylor Carlson and Niko Cuneo had really strong days after battling some illness and injury recently. It can be easy to have one setback knock you out of whack…whether that’s a cold, Covid, a back injury, or some troublesome shins and ankles. But it’s amazing what rest, sleep, a chiropractor, and well-fitting ski boots can do! Much like identifying warmup strategies and tactics, this is another case of taking care of the margins in order to maximize the main goals.
Fresh off national-level cyclocross competitions, Greta started late (no US Ski and Snowboard pts) in the women’s race but flew through the field. Anyone that knows Gillian is aware that she can thrive in the toughest of situations, and with the women’s race the last of the day, that meant the deepest, thickest snow on the climbs. Skiers were using a sliding herringbone or “coach skate” technique and it was, quite honestly, a solid idea to incorporate!
Stella pushing hard over “Hero’s Hill” on the last lap
As I watched their relentless tempo and effort not only up the climbs, but over the top of them as well, I came to the realization that this was a great race for both Stella and Paige, who carried their XC running season late into November. In fact, both athletes left Thanksgiving camp a few days early in order to drive to NY for Nike Cross Regionals…the race season started for these two in September and has never really stopped, so I am super happy that they’ve been finding the time to train with the club and push forward into ski races.
Paige having her final effort over Hero’s Hill
The rain started to fall right as the teams were packing up, but Kristen had us outta there in record time! I am usually too eager to chat, sit down and eat snacks, and procrastinate on packing…
On that note, a BIG thanks to all our coaches this weekend (Sara, Kristen, Rosemary, Tom) and all the parents who helped cheer, provided food and treats, took photos, shuttled athletes, and so much more!
We had over 20 athletes competing this weekend: more than were mentioned in this post alone. I’m really proud of how EVERYONE has gotten started this year!
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