Things continue to change rapidly in the Junior world. Many of us are now aware of Vermont’s updated travel guidelines: travel for out-of-state sports competition requires quarantine, and travel into VT for sporting events is severely restricted. In essence, Vermont is “on its own” this year for ski racing.
We couldn’t live in a better state for this.
At an Eastern Cup, even in other states like Maine and New Hampshire, you may have noticed the makeup of the race field is nearly 75% Vermonters. Our state has the most competitive and deep fields in the country at these races, not to mention a very competitive high school scene. With racing limited to individual states only three come to mind as having the infrastructure, leadership, field depth, quality programming, venues, and race organization to make a season feel “real”.
These states are Vermont, Alaska, and Minnesota.
So what does this mean for all that FIS license/USSA license/Points races/Eastern Cup races, and the like?
Craftsbury FIS/Open Weekends
The original structure of the Craftsbury weekends will remain, with Saturday and Sunday events. However, there had been some confusion over which event would be the best competitive option for Juniors, especially with the stated requirement of a FIS license needed for Saturday. Race director Ollie Burruss summed up the new plan best in a recent email:
“Saturday [will] be elite development days, with FIS race formats on homologated trails, and then Sundays are just open interval starts, probably a bit longer (still would have a U16 category, but then more like 10-20k for open). The Saturday events would be open to anyone with an NRL [USSA] license, with everyone scoring NRL [USSA] points and FIS license holders scoring FIS points. This way kids who are on the edge and don’t need FIS licenses for points and all that but would benefit from racing FIS fields on occasion can race with those fields. And the junior clubs, college kids, and senior athletes all can come on just one day.”
That means that we will look to Saturdays as the best competitive option for Juniors. These are the races to expect elite teams, ski academies, and college racers in attendance. Sundays racing will cater to more to an experienced adult or Masters crowd, based on formats and distances.
Eastern Cup Weekends
The plan in the works is to reschedule and reorganize the Eastern Cup weekends. Instead of 4 weekends across New England, Vermont will host 4 weekends across the state at great venues, with strong organization and a structure that still involves USSA points and the National Ranking List/system. This is where my earlier paragraphs come into play…Vermont is one of the ONLY states capable of doing this, and I’m incredibly proud to say I think we will have some of the best racing of any year, with incredibly strong competition AND the benefit of way less travel and no overnight hotel stays! That savings of $ will be great for the club and families alike.
In Summary
Things change day-by-day, so thank you for continuing to stay updated on news from both the State and from MNC/NENSA/USSA.
We still await some news on High School sports and the HS ski season, for which a meeting will take place Nov. 4th. Keep visiting the MNC pages, and STAY POSITIVE!
-Adam
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