With a big helping from some late-winter powder and cold temps, this had to be an EHSC for the record books…sunny blue skies, temps in the teens and twenties, and fresh clean snow made for a pretty amazing weekend. It was being described as “Colorado skiing” and while I can’t say I’ve been to Colorado it was nice however you describe it.
The racing was great, too. Qualifying for EHS is a big goal for many of the MNC athletes, but when the ski bases hit the snow the Pugs showed that they were capable of not just making the team but racing well against the rest of New England. I’d say every single MNC racer had at least one event that was notable, and our presence was pretty strong among the VT team. It’s no secret that clubs and ski academies dominate the VT ranks, and it is encouraging to see that Mansfield Nordic is one of the groups that is really racing with depth and speed.
This trip is starting to be organized more and more like the JN trip, which is in turn modeled on the World Cup: there’s a coach team, and a wax team. After being a member of the coach team at JNs I took a turn as the wax guy along with Mark and Colin. Fun to get to work on all aspects of the sport from the leadership side of things.
Thanks to Gary (Gary’s photos) and Dave (Dave’s photos) we have about 1,500 photos of all the events…whoa. I’ve tried to select a few choice images and I’ll share some more info on racers and races. Thanks Gary and Dave, for all the photos from this weekend AND all season long!
Kai skiing smooth for a strong freestyle finish
The races began on Friday with an individual start skate race. The course was pretty darn hilly and having it be two laps of a 2.5k course made for interesting spectating. Some athletes very clearly started WAY too hard and paid for it on lap 2. I got a chance to talk with Timmy and we settled on a plan to really try and stay in control on the first lap and try and hammer a good second lap. Tim’s time was only slightly slower on lap 2, but the splits of the field show the true story as he moved up from 29th to 19th between lap 1 and lap 2. Lots of the competition moved in the opposite direction!
Timmy putting in another fast race FTB (for the boys)
Nolan spraying up some snow with her furious speed, to the amazement of the crowd behind her
After consuming a LOT of pizza for dinner (wax techs included) everyone got ready for Saturday’s double-race schedule. First up was the classic mass start, which featured only minimal crash chaos…it sounds like Baxter caught the worst of it but he still managed to really move up for a top-30 finish.
Baxter was involved in a crash but got away from the chaos quickly. He also rocked a sweet new haircut courtesy of Nick Wilkerson. Also spotted here are Kai and Alex avoiding the trouble
After being pretty nervous for the 7.5km distance, the Lady Pugs really put the hammer down in the classic race. It was impressive to see Magda, Sammie, and Ali push their hardest when they were faced with the head-to-head racing of the mass start event. They also dealt with a bit of logistical/wax/start time issues at last week’s U16 festival classic race so this was truly some fierce redemption. All three are freshmen and first-year U16 athletes so being able to race so well against the rest of New England is really exciting; lots to look forward to with this group and plenty of the other young Pugs too! Ali ended the race 28th, Magda 36th, and Sammie 41st!
A tough uphill finish meant a striding sprint to the line in the classic race. Here’s Ali notching her second (of three) top 30 results in the EHS individual races.
Marika has battled injuries this season and was a bit sick this weekend, but has had a great attitude and crushed it all weekend with top-15 in every race!
It was a quick turnaround on Saturday after the classic races, with sprint races going down only a few hours after the finish of the morning’s race. This was a chance for the Pugs to show their speed and strength with a fast course. Ali snagged 16th in her favorite event, while Will was just outside the top-20 to score 21st place in what is arguably his favorite event as well.
Will did not waste a lot of time getting to the front of his heat and pulling away…this is about 150 meters into the race on an uphill start
Magda working some great glide on the “Swagshus” Nanosonics!
Alex Warner also made quick work of his heat en route to a great finish! Watching the races, it was easy to tell that VT skiers on the whole had great power application and balance
The final event of the weekend was the mixed relay…2 legs classic, 2 legs freestyle, alternating between girls and guys. The VT team already had a pretty darn untouchable lead but we were aiming for a podium sweep. Unfortunately a fall took team #1 out of the top position on the last leg and a wicked fast Mass team took the title. BUT the top Vermont teams finished in 2nd place, 3rd place, 4th place, and 5th place so…enough said 🙂
There were several teams featuring multiple MNC skiers: Ali and Timmy joined forces. Magda and Will teamed up. Sammie and Kai brought Cougars together. Marika’s team scored a spot in the awards with 5th place overall!
Baxter and Alex skiing together during the classic portion of the relay
Ali speeding around the same corner during the freestyle leg of the relay
Kai was unhappy that he “lost his bucket” during the race, which I think is lax-bro-speak for having his hat fall off. I think he is secretly preparing to join an 80’s metal cover band this spring
After the relays, everyone gathered together to celebrate the end of the busy race season. Vermont ended up winning by over 3,000 points and took home the newly-minted Graham Taylor trophy named for the founder of EHSC, who gave a nice speech at the awards.
ALL RESULTS via Bart Timing
Vermont: Eastern High School CHAMPIONS yet again!
The Pugs of Easterns (also featuring Greg who had a killer weekend). Psyched to see so much great racing from this hard-working group!
Right after the awards and photos the energy was really high as everyone thought about the great weekend and long season that had just concluded. It was the kind of organic energy and excitement that you can’t force or schedule whenever you like…you just have to embrace it. So we did that, literally, as MNC huddled together to just confirm a few truths made evident over the course of the winter:
- This group works hard and works together
- This group has grown and gotten stronger, and will keep doing so
- The Pugs didn’t just “make the team”, they raced fast for the team
- The Pugs kick butt, and have fun doing it
- The Pugs will always kick butt!
SQUAD
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